Digging “the Dirt”

I haven’t done a very good job of posting and an even worse job of posting about what I have been reading.  I have read (or listened to on tape) several books since the last time I posted about what I am reading.  I have read some good books, some just OK books, and one terrible book.  The book I want to write about today is the book I just finished yesterday…..”the Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band” by Motley Crue.

Before I start about the book however, I’d like to give more background about my love affair with “Hair Metal”.  I didn’t always like all Hair Metal.  In fact when I was younger I had this strange idea that most Metal bands in general worshipped the devil.  Therefore, I would not listen to them.  This included Motley Crue, AC/DC (someone had told me it stands for After Christ/Devil Comes or something idiotic like that), or even KISS (stood for Kids in Satan’s Service).  I don’t know why I was so obsessive about it, but luckily as I grew older I also grew more open-minded or I would have missed out on a lot of great music.

So now that I am a fan of Motley Crue and Hair Metal in general and it was time for me to select a non-fiction book to read, I decided to grab “the Dirt”.  I was not disappointed.  Within awaited all the tales of decadence I could have hoped for.  There was, of course, sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll but also death, divorce, fights, tears, life lessons, and really a lot more than I expected.  Each member of the band wrote several chapters so you get most of the notorious instances in band history from several different points of view.  Even people like the band’s former managers threw in a chapter or two. 

There were times when I was totally disgusted by the band’s antics, like the time they invited in a homeless girl off of the streets, stole all her clothes, and then sent her back out on her way.  I read several reviews on Amazon.com where reviewers gave the book a one-star rating because of such instances.  But I know that everyone has done things they aren’t proud of (maybe they aren’t as bad as the example above, but you know what I mean).  It doesn’t excuse their behavior, of course, but every member of the band has issues ranging from being abandoned by their father to having a degenerative skeletal disease and they all went from being dirt poor to filthy rich in the blink of an eye.  What really amazes me is that these guys were able to put out some good albums as messed up as they were.  When they finally decided (for the most part) to get serious and sober, the result was the Dr. Feelgood album, which elevated the band to an entirely new level. 

You also get to read about the failed marriages like Tommy and Heather Locklear, Tommy and Pamela Anderson, and Nikki and Donna D’Errico and the intra-band fighting which lead to all the breakups and reunions.  You get to see how the guys matured, became fathers (reading the chapter about Skylar Neil broke my heart), and a lot of times, how they are just like you and me in a lot of ways.  The book was published in 2002, so there is a lot that’s happened since then but at the end they mentioned “the Dirt II”.  If they do, I’ll be one of the first in line to read it.  Until then I’ll just keep enjoying their music….they are actually releasing a new one later this month and I for one can’t wait!