“So where do we start? I remember when we did The Dirt, the Mötley Crüe book, I was interviewed at The Grand Havana Room in Beverly Hills. A lot of people think I didn’t get to say much in The Dirt. It’s probably true. I didn’t read it. I’m not that big a talker. Some people can f*ckin’ talk … eat up all the oxygen in a room in no time flat. I don’t tend to run my mouth. It’s b*llshit. All … All those years in rehab and counseling–the talking cure? I can’t say I really got that much out of it. All that cure and I should be cured by now, don’t you think? All this talking…
So forgive me if it’s a bit hard for me to slice open a vein and let my blood run red all over this page for you. I’ll fight you or I’ll f*ck you but chances are I’ll be hard pressed to sit there and talk to you.
War stories. War wounds. I know, I know. Old rock stars fall hard. I’m forty-nine years old. I’m five-foot-nine, 170. The spandex is over. I’ve had three plastic surgeries. Still, who do you think gets laid more, me or you? But time does change a man. I ain’t twenty-one anymore.
It’s a miracle we survived at all. A bottle of Jack Daniel’s and uncooked hot dogs do not make for a particularly well-balanced diet. We are all very lucky we didn’t kill ourselves. It might look like we were trying to do that but speaking for myself, death was never my intent. I just wanted to feel good, you know? I was just looking for that kick, that high…
These days I’ve got businesses to run. I like the action. Something to get your heart pumping. Healthier than a syringe full of cocaine powder like I was doing back in ‘81 with my girlfriend Lovey, that’s for sure…
But you got to admit…those days are a lot more fun to talk about…”
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This review is a bit different. I am not gonna review section after section and talk about growth, and plot and so forth; instead, I am just going to write about the man and the experience. And if you like how it is projected, try it.
The book was a rollercoaster ride of experiences. Are you a fan of Motley Crue? Have you ever heard of Motley Crue?
Originally in my teens, I thought they were okay. My mate of the time loved their first album, so I heard it a lot. But after the whole Razzle thing, I tended to ignore them for a time because I was a bigger fan of Hanoi Rocks and always thought their singer Michael Monroe was a better singer than Vince.
To explain, Vince is the singer with Motley Crue, Razzle of Hanoi Rocks died in a car crash when Vince was driving. It put an end for a long time to what could have been one of the great rock bands of its genre.
Anyway, that was thirty or so years ago, so all water under the bridge. Now I like Motley Crue a lot more, and the Dirt was a great movie about their career. So, although I had heard a lot of stuff about Vince and his attitude, I thought I would give the book a go.
I tend to enjoy and play a lot of music. During work, the Alexa is on constantly; right now, it is blasting out Greta Van Fleet.
Vince has a rep, in the same way that Ginger Baker or Eric Burdon or Jim Morrison has a rep, and I was interested in finding out his side of the story.
So he is an egotist. He loves Cars, Drugs, Drink and P***y in his own words. But equally, I always figure how much of that comes from being a star from his teens? No one to reign you in or say you can’t do that. It is all gimme gimme gimme without restraint. Not an excuse, merely an explanation.
The rest of us have to knuckle down and accept what life throws at us. The stars don’t; instead, all they have to do is burn up fast.
So the book was interesting; the style takes a little to get used to, he doesn’t like the rest of the band. They don’t like him, so there is few if any counterpoints to be found in the book since all, but Nikki refused to speak on record.
The book is also filled with did he, didn’t he`s? He will say something, and then the interjections from family or friends or wives say the opposite, making it an amusing read. The bottom line is that what if he did or didn’t? It’s a book; any biography is at least 75% fiction anyway. Led Zeppelins, the Hammer of the Gods, anyone?
Underneath it all, beyond the booze and birds etc., he seems like a lonely, hungry guy. One of those people with a big hole inside that needs filling. It only seems filled when he is on stage, but as he says, have many people lived as many lives as me and done so much, had so many women, and of course, he is right in that respect too.
Sexist and offensive as that sounds, but it is also true; otherwise, women would not buy so many erotic novels, and men would not have access to porn?
There are high points and low points, the success`s and the beginning of their career and the low point, in particular, is the death of his four-year-old daughter Skylar. Whatever you may think of the guy, the loss of a daughter would f**k anyone up. I’ve got three kids, grown-up now, but if anything happened to them, it would destroy the wife and me. In life, the parents should always die before their kids. That should be a rule.