On a tip from my buddy Chris, I checked out Nikki Sixx’s book The Heroin Diaries. Its a walk through one of the darkest periods in the life of the Motley Crue bassist. In the mid-80’s when Motley Crue was topping the charts, Sixx was secretly wrestling with the demons of heroin addiction. Though its not a pretty picture, it is compelling reading. I’m amazed Sixx had the presence of mind to keep a diary when he was so strung out.
Despite at times spending up to $5,000 a day on smack, Sixx was (and remains) a very savvy businessman. He somehow managed to wrest ownership of Motley Crue’s master tapes from their hated record label, Elektra. Few artists have ever pulled this off, and Sixx ain’t talking: he had to sign a nondisclosure agreement as part of the deal. Gotta hand it to him for that coup.
Being a rock star certainly isn’t always the glamorous life. We’re lucky Sixx can share his story.
You are the 2nd person this week that I am aware of reading that book due to my blog post. I should Nikki up for concert tickets or something 🙂
“Sixx was secretly wrestling with the demons of heroin addiction”
secretly?? 🙂
Well, ok. People knew he was shooting up but even his bandmates had no idea how bad he was.
Actually, I think people close to him knew he was in very bad shape. However, just about everybody close to him also depended on him for at least part of their income. So they looked the other way as long as long as he could continue to write and tour.