The Dirt: Confessions Of The World's Most Notorious Rock Band
by
Motley Crue,
Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Neil Strauss (Goodreads Author) , Mick Mars
Whiskey and porn stars, hot reds and car crashes, black leather and high heels, overdoses and death. This is the life of Mötley Crüe, the heaviest drinking, hardest fighting, most oversexed and arrogant band in the world. Their unbelievable exploits are the stuff of rock 'n' roll legend. They nailed the hottest chicks, started the bloodiest fights, partied with the biggest
...morePaperback, 431 pages
Published
July 1st 2002
by It Books
(first published 2001)
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i remember when i was 13 or so and i finally realized that all of the r.l. stine books i'd been reading were pretty trashy and devoid of any literary merit. i felt a little silly for devouring something like 100 fear street books. i didn't feel too bad about it, though. i mean, i was reading, and it wasn't like i ONLY read fear street books. i read good stuff too.
this book is like that, only now i'm 25, and this book is friggin DIRTY. i kind of feel like i'm writing a review for soft...more
this book is like that, only now i'm 25, and this book is friggin DIRTY. i kind of feel like i'm writing a review for soft...more
I’m not a huge Crue fan. Their first two LPs spent a fair amount of time on my teenage turntable but, by the time Theater Of Pain pranced and prissed its way into release, I had lost interest. I do like some Crue songs enough to get stoked when I hear them, even later compositions like “All In The Name Of…”, “Kickstart My Heart” or “Wild Side”. Their ballads stand out of the 80’s hair metal miasma as being of a certain quality. “Nona” and “Without You” are just the right mix of sincerity and sap...more
High atop my list of "guilty pleasures" (sandwiched somewhere in between "Valley of the Dolls" and airplane food) is Motley Crue. They're ugly as hell, crude, and their music is of dubious artistic merit.
And yet I was first in line to buy this "autobiography," helped along considerably by Neil Strauss (I somehow doubt that Vince Neil would drop the word "nacreous" in his everyday conversation). It's a fascinating read. We learn that Vince Ne...more
And yet I was first in line to buy this "autobiography," helped along considerably by Neil Strauss (I somehow doubt that Vince Neil would drop the word "nacreous" in his everyday conversation). It's a fascinating read. We learn that Vince Ne...more
Paul Hathaway
rated it
Recommends it for:
Anyone who thinks their lives are fast paced and interesting.
Recommended to Paul by:
Steve
11am. Woke up. Vomited. Started reading this book.
4pm. Neck started hurting. Took huge amounts of cocaine, bottle of Alleve, 5th of Jack, decided reading in bed wasn't the best thing for my posture.
4:15pm. Went crazy, destroyed hotel room, terrified groupies in varying stages of dress, played rock show.
6pm. Was woken up, informed previous rock show was in head by manager, told had to go to real rock show later. Read more book.
8pm. Arrived @ show. Drank 2 more b...more
4pm. Neck started hurting. Took huge amounts of cocaine, bottle of Alleve, 5th of Jack, decided reading in bed wasn't the best thing for my posture.
4:15pm. Went crazy, destroyed hotel room, terrified groupies in varying stages of dress, played rock show.
6pm. Was woken up, informed previous rock show was in head by manager, told had to go to real rock show later. Read more book.
8pm. Arrived @ show. Drank 2 more b...more
I used to think that I could not be shocked by tales of celebrity shenanigans. Well, I was wrong. After a few recommendations I read The Dirt, the story of Motley Crue. For most of their career, the behavior of these people (Mick Mars excepted) is flat out appalling. As Nikki Sixx notes, if they were not famous they would have been in jail. I'm pretty sure that if you saw any of these people in their heyday, you would hate them immediately.
If it was written in the 80s, it would proba...more
If it was written in the 80s, it would proba...more
I ripped through "The Dirt" while suffering from a nasty bout of the flu. Because of its accessibility, its fast pace and its sporadic-yet-easy-to-track narrative (which simply switches between points of view), I finished it in about a day and a half.
I will admit to never having been a huge fan of Motley Crue, or hair metal in general. I could take or leave Warrant, Poison, Ratt, et cetera. I originally picked this book up because I had heard that its storytelling was both ...more
I will admit to never having been a huge fan of Motley Crue, or hair metal in general. I could take or leave Warrant, Poison, Ratt, et cetera. I originally picked this book up because I had heard that its storytelling was both ...more
As a Crue fan, I of course loved this book...but anyone with an interest in rock history would get a kick out of it. There are quite a few disturbing and hilarious stories, an way the way the book is written...each chapter changes to be from each band member's perspective...paints a wonderful picture of each of them as individuals, not just their band persona. The chapters by Mick were my favorites and Vince's chapter about losing his daughter was absolutely heart-breaking.
There's a scene in Gilmore Girls where Lorelei stays home one night because she can't put this book down. I can fully understand why now.
I loved this book. We read books to escape, and this book had me leave my world and be a cliche rock star in the hair metal 80s. It's not about liking hair metal, and it's not about liking rock, and it's not even about Motley Crue (who I knew nothing about at the start of this adventure). It's about what drives people, how lives intersect, and ab...more
I loved this book. We read books to escape, and this book had me leave my world and be a cliche rock star in the hair metal 80s. It's not about liking hair metal, and it's not about liking rock, and it's not even about Motley Crue (who I knew nothing about at the start of this adventure). It's about what drives people, how lives intersect, and ab...more
How on earth are these dudes STILL ALIVE!? Sweet baby jeebus! Let's face it - we've all fantasized about being in Motley Crue. Money, crazy debauchery, booze, women...more money, more crazy debauchery, more booze, more women...*sigh* a girl can dream, can't she? Vince Neil killing someone in a drunk driving accident, Nikki Sixx dying two or three times and coming back to life, and Tommy Lee writing awful poetry are really just a sliver of what this book has to offer. You may have to sacrific...more
As a non-fan of Motley Crue (I mean a complete and total non-fan; I didn't care for them during they're heyday), I came to this book for the well-advertised decadence and debauchery. While the bandmembers' nefarious escapades (as well as Strauss's clever, 18th-c. picaresque chapter frames) sustained me for a while, I eventually grew tired of spending time with the Crue. However, the book did have the interesting effect of simultaneously raising and lowering the band in my esteem. Musically, I st...more
Possibly the most entertaining book I've read in my research for a current project, The Dirt follows the most infamous example of '80s hair-metal excess on their long journey through Hell's Hall of Fame.
Told through chapters by the five band members (Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, classic vocalist Vince Neil, and his temporary replacement John Corabi), plus a handful of interviews with producers, ex-managers, and the head of the band's former label, the book careens from the bandma...more
Told through chapters by the five band members (Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, classic vocalist Vince Neil, and his temporary replacement John Corabi), plus a handful of interviews with producers, ex-managers, and the head of the band's former label, the book careens from the bandma...more
This has to be THE quintessential rock n roll book. If there is one out there crazier than this, I would love to read it. There is some absolutely wild stuff on here.....the licking of urination with Ozzy and the phone call with the receiver up someone's vagina are just a couple that immediately come to mind....that is sure to cement Motley Crue's image as one of the most decadent bands of all time without much argument. The amount of drug use alone mentioned in this book is absolutely staggeri...more
The rock bio by which all other rock bios should be judged.
This book was terrific. I enjoyed it so much, I've read it three times, and each time, I've caught something I didn't really "get" the first few times around.
The four members of Motley Crue, along with others who worked with/for them through the years, write this book together. Each person gets their own chapters, which works wonderfully. We get to hear their stories in their own voices - and it really g...more
This book was terrific. I enjoyed it so much, I've read it three times, and each time, I've caught something I didn't really "get" the first few times around.
The four members of Motley Crue, along with others who worked with/for them through the years, write this book together. Each person gets their own chapters, which works wonderfully. We get to hear their stories in their own voices - and it really g...more
An interesting case study in what happens to young men from small-city America once you remove all the consequences from their actions.
The results aren't pretty, but they are entertaining and appalling at the same time. Like a horrific traffic accident, you will not be able to look away.
However, at the heart of these cautionary tales, there is the element of struggle at every level. Struggle with poverty and irrelevance as youths, struggle with personal demons of insecurity, ...more
The results aren't pretty, but they are entertaining and appalling at the same time. Like a horrific traffic accident, you will not be able to look away.
However, at the heart of these cautionary tales, there is the element of struggle at every level. Struggle with poverty and irrelevance as youths, struggle with personal demons of insecurity, ...more
You've just awakened with the worst hangover of your life. A handful of aspirins and a little hair-of-the-dog later, you begin to piece together the events of the previous night... the bottles of Jack, the fat lines of coke, the rock concert fistfight, the car crash, and, oh god, that scabby prostitute in the back room of LA's sleaziest strip club... Jesus, what have you done? Your agenda for the day: A) get an AIDS test, B) get a liver transplant, C) find a good lawyer, and D) adopt a religion ...more
Reading this book was like watching a car wreck, you know it's awful to look at, yet you can't look away, somehow you are fascinated by it.
Motley Crue is an American hard rock band that formed in 1982. In Motley Crue: The Dirt - Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band, each of the four band members tells his story beginning from thier childhood through thier time with the band. It was about sex, drugs and rock 'n roll, but you also get to see another side to these guys. ...more
Motley Crue is an American hard rock band that formed in 1982. In Motley Crue: The Dirt - Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band, each of the four band members tells his story beginning from thier childhood through thier time with the band. It was about sex, drugs and rock 'n roll, but you also get to see another side to these guys. ...more
I have to say first that I never got into Motley Crue, and didn't know much about them outside Tommy Lee's shenanigans. But EW gave this such a high rating that I thought I'd expand my horizons a bit and check out a memoir all about sex, drugs and rock-and-roll. I enjoy travel books, as well as fiction set in other cultures: Iceland, Japan, Stalinist Russia, wherever. This felt like one of those books, providing the reader a peek into a place she would never actually go.
Written b...more
Written b...more
The Dirt: Confessions of the Worlds Most Notorious Rock Band
Motley Crue
Pages: 448
ISBN:0060989157
There aren't any bands in the world that compare to the hard-core nature of Motley Crue. An autobiography of the band with the ups and downs of the band, encounters with the law, and many other events that occurred off stage.
Finally, an autobiography of a band. Recently I've been listening to bass solos, and I happened to come across the name, Nikki Six, Mot...more
Motley Crue
Pages: 448
ISBN:0060989157
There aren't any bands in the world that compare to the hard-core nature of Motley Crue. An autobiography of the band with the ups and downs of the band, encounters with the law, and many other events that occurred off stage.
Finally, an autobiography of a band. Recently I've been listening to bass solos, and I happened to come across the name, Nikki Six, Mot...more
Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee and Mich Mars make up Motley Crue. One of the most seemingly decadent hair metal bands from the 80's. “The Dirt” is basically the story of their debauchery from the very beginnings through their epic success during the Dr. Feelgood era to their flame-out. The book is written in almost a diary form. It moves chronologically and takes turns giving each person's point of view of certain situations. Everyone gets their voice heard including their various m...more
I like the way this book is written, with each member of the band telling their story, along with contributions from the management and others close to the band. Also, I like the clash between the archaic introductions of each chapter and the contemporary content.
There are so many women in this book, but none of them really has a voice. The only exception is a short interview with record company big shot Sylvia Rhone, a woman who, according to Nikki Sixx, "did not necessarily comp...more
There are so many women in this book, but none of them really has a voice. The only exception is a short interview with record company big shot Sylvia Rhone, a woman who, according to Nikki Sixx, "did not necessarily comp...more
There are books and then there are BOOKS and then there is The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band. This is the Granddaddy of all Rock and Roll Biographies. It's the benchmark for which all future Rock Bio's will be judged. Everything that you have heard about The Dirt is all that and more. This is Book Report #20. That's how long I had to wait in line with the waiting list for this one at the Library. I've been on a major book reading binge and the first book that I put a ...more
Good Lord. I could not put this book down. It was one of the most engaging, vile, disturbing, hilarious, and, quite honestly, enjoyable books (on the lighter side, anyway) that I've picked up recently, and I don't consider myself much of a Motley Crue fan. More of an intrigued observer/FM classic rock enthusiast. I got everything out of it that I was expecting to: deranged tales of women, constant drug/alcohol abuse and ensuing trips to rehab, and discussion of and meditations on their own music...more
Really good autobiography of Motley Crue, that is guided well by Neil Strauss. I haven't listened to this band for years, but it brought me back to sixth grade when Dr. Feelgood was a big album, and back to junior college, when Generation Swine wasn't. I had almost forgot that in one of my favorite years of music (1994) they released a self-titled album with John Corabi as the lead singer. I never bought it and heard it wasn't that great, but it was nice to hear about that album in this book alo...more
Holy crap, what an unexpectedly awesome book. This book is disgusting and wonderful, which is confusing because it also made me openly weep. Really? Really.
*
Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx, notoriously known as Motley Crue, tell all in this wild ride through the band's history. Replete with drugs, sex, alcohol, addiction, ratted hair, playmates, hookers, incarceration, death, and plenty of Jack Daniels, no topic is sacred. Decadence at its finest.
...more
*
Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx, notoriously known as Motley Crue, tell all in this wild ride through the band's history. Replete with drugs, sex, alcohol, addiction, ratted hair, playmates, hookers, incarceration, death, and plenty of Jack Daniels, no topic is sacred. Decadence at its finest.
...more
Before reading "The Dirt," my knowledge of the Crue didn't really expand beyond knowing Tommy Lee was the drummer and vaguely remembering the words to "Shout at the Devil" and "Girls, Girls, Girls."
While it's not difficult to guess what you're getting into before you even open this book, there's a serious part to it that took me by surprise. Long after the drug-addled days of booze and babes, the four Crue kids hit hard times in their adulthood, taking o...more
While it's not difficult to guess what you're getting into before you even open this book, there's a serious part to it that took me by surprise. Long after the drug-addled days of booze and babes, the four Crue kids hit hard times in their adulthood, taking o...more
This is THE BEST non-fiction book I have ever read not to mention THE BEST rock and roll bio I have ever read and I have a thing for rock bios (check my shelves). I love the captivating, raunchy, steamy tales of back stage and tour bus antics!
The Dirt raised the bar for books of this genre. Not only is it written in a strikingly frank, no holds barred fashion--it is also written by all four original band members. They ALL get their say and yeah...sometimes their stories don't exactl...more
The Dirt raised the bar for books of this genre. Not only is it written in a strikingly frank, no holds barred fashion--it is also written by all four original band members. They ALL get their say and yeah...sometimes their stories don't exactl...more
Written by each band member separately, plus a few chapters from agents and managers and that one-time ersatz vocalist, this tome chronicles the true depravity that was --- and I guess still is --- Motley Crue. The guys don’t lack introspection (except for that bloated beach bum Vince Neil) and are quick to point out their flaws and insecurities.
Of course, it’s one thing to be able to parrot your therapist and another to live a lesson, so they come off as immature fools more than anyt...more
Of course, it’s one thing to be able to parrot your therapist and another to live a lesson, so they come off as immature fools more than anyt...more
Finished it in two days. After reading "Life" by Keith Richards and this book in the same month, I have but one tip to those about to (write) rock (memoirs) - Less chapters on the drugs you did and more chapters on the people you did. Talking about drugs all the time is a super snore. We get it - you did drugs. It was fun at first, then it got to be a drag after a while. Even Nancy Regan could tell me some stories about this, and hers would probably be a whole lot more revelatory than ...more
Absoultely compelling! This book took me the fascinating and repulsing world of Motley Crue. These guys have lived all klichées there are about rock n roll. Even if you don't like the music of Motley Crue (like me), this is a real good read. Recommeded to anyone who are curious about other "lifestyles"....
Four drunken, drugged up, rock'n'roll millionaires (who likely can't even spell) enlist Neil Strauss to help them communicate to their fans their stories of how they formed Motley Crue, and how they have left and/or come back to the band, and the personal stories in between. I give it four stars for the creativity, done with four narratives. After a while, you could imagine each of the four speaking, as they are so different. What I liked most was that all four at one point humble themselves ...more
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“Looking down on it from the helicopter, with a bottle of Jack in my left hand, a bag of pills in my right hand, and a blond head bobbing up and doen in my lap, I felt like the king of the world.”
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3 people liked it
“There was one dude in a jeans jacket who I swear to God shit in his pants when all of a sudden I was inches away from his face playing drums in the air.”
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2 people liked it
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