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Satyros Brucato's Reviews > The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band
The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band
by
by
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 bandmates' dysfunctional childhoods to the rolling atrocity of the band's heyday. Wryly perceptive of their own terrible behavior, the guys range from oddly metaphysical conspiracy rambles (Mars) to Yo-Dude! platitudes (Lee), capturing five distinctive personalities running a demolition derby with success. To their credit, most of them (Sixx especially) take some measure of responsibility for their obnoxiously shitty behavior; Lee slings a fair amount of pity-me bullshit, but the other guys square their shoulders and deck themselves with sledgehammers even while admitting they had the time of their lives.
With the possible exception of Corabi, these are not nice people. By the most generous assessment, they're bitter, reckless, selfish, drug-bent and grotesquely misogynistic assholes who started off bad and just got worse until their fame, luck and cash ran low... at which point, they were forced to wonder how they might put the pieces of themselves back together again. Admittedly, their antics are kinda fun to read about... until you realize (and they admit) just how much human wreckage they left in their wake. Despite their genuinely entertaining voices, these aren't guys I'd ever want to meet (except, again, possibly for Corabi... and maybe Sixx). That said, The Dirt helps you understand how the Crue became the fucked-up individuals they were and, on some levels, still are today. The book is vicarious (if often vicious) fun for guys... and if it leaves female readers wondering, "Why the hell would any women put UP with this shit?", so much the better.
So yeah - I give this one four stars, raised high and burning from self-inflicted fire. Great shit, especially if you like reading real-life adventures fueled by too many drugs, too much emotional damage, and far too little common sense.
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 bandmates' dysfunctional childhoods to the rolling atrocity of the band's heyday. Wryly perceptive of their own terrible behavior, the guys range from oddly metaphysical conspiracy rambles (Mars) to Yo-Dude! platitudes (Lee), capturing five distinctive personalities running a demolition derby with success. To their credit, most of them (Sixx especially) take some measure of responsibility for their obnoxiously shitty behavior; Lee slings a fair amount of pity-me bullshit, but the other guys square their shoulders and deck themselves with sledgehammers even while admitting they had the time of their lives.
With the possible exception of Corabi, these are not nice people. By the most generous assessment, they're bitter, reckless, selfish, drug-bent and grotesquely misogynistic assholes who started off bad and just got worse until their fame, luck and cash ran low... at which point, they were forced to wonder how they might put the pieces of themselves back together again. Admittedly, their antics are kinda fun to read about... until you realize (and they admit) just how much human wreckage they left in their wake. Despite their genuinely entertaining voices, these aren't guys I'd ever want to meet (except, again, possibly for Corabi... and maybe Sixx). That said, The Dirt helps you understand how the Crue became the fucked-up individuals they were and, on some levels, still are today. The book is vicarious (if often vicious) fun for guys... and if it leaves female readers wondering, "Why the hell would any women put UP with this shit?", so much the better.
So yeah - I give this one four stars, raised high and burning from self-inflicted fire. Great shit, especially if you like reading real-life adventures fueled by too many drugs, too much emotional damage, and far too little common sense.
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Reading Progress
Finished Reading
July 30, 2011
– Shelved
