The Dirt
Motley Crue & Neil Strauss.
Fun read! Yeah, I've no idea about Motley Crue. I always figured they were poseurs and arseholes with shitty music. Without hearing their music, this book didn't do a lot to dispell my first two criticisms.
Told from the perspective not only of the four original band members, The Dirt also features chapters from the point of view of ex members, girlfriends and managers etc. giving a more rounded analysis of their decade of ridiculousness. It really is quite an interesting and joyful read. The guys all come across as really fucked up. Tommy Lee as a lost little boy who never grew up. Nikkie as a drug addict with major family issues. Mick has crippling physical pain matched only by his emotional self esteem problems. Vince comes across as the biggest asshole of all time, completely unapologetic with it too, for the most part, but a dude who experiences a lot of loss in his life.
As I've said, the book tells the various tales of debauchery from many perspectives which is an interesting way to keep the book unique. The short chapters ensure that boredom rarely creeps in. Only Mick's self-pitying, sparse, chapters are difficult - there's only so much 'woe is me' you can read.
Aye. Good stuff. Wonder how their music is...
4/5.
