The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band

Not much of a ready but after watching the movie, I had to give it a shot. I fly often so I figured this would be perfect to pass the time. Youll land before you know it because this book keeps u so busy!

I'm a big Mötley Crüe fan. In fact, watching the Looks that Kill video on MTV back in 1984 turned this average football loving eleven year old into a crazed headbanger and sent me on a lifelong quest for the loudest, heaviest, hardest hitting music possible.So, fitting squarely in the target group this book's aiming for, I really doubt that I can write a fair, impartial assessment of the book.For heshers like me, who grew up rocking endlessly to tunes like Looks That Kill, Shout at the Devil, Red Hot, Too Young to Fall in Love, Bastard, Ten Seconds to Love, Wild Side, Girls, Girls, Girls, and ...All in the Name Of yet still have a soft spot in their hearts for a schmaltzy power ballad like Home Sweet home, this book is like a dream come true.The astonishing rise of the band, from local LA glam metal misfits to worldwide hard rock juggernaut is told both with graphic detail and candid detachment, keeping the narrative flowing and the reader hooked with these lecherous lunkheads' exploits, while their failings as human beings and subsequent fall from grace are dealt with a brutally honest style. The story is told by multiple narrators, most of the time the band members adding some important collaborators here and there. Even if this technique might bring contradicting versions on some incidents, it makes for a truly interesting and entertaining read.This book is not for the squeamish. Much like Led Zeppelin, Queen and Van Halen before them and Guns 'n Roses after them, the Crüe built a bad boy reputation based on their sexually decadent behavior and drug excesses, but unlike the aforementioned bands, their music didn't prove to be strong enough on the long run to stand on it's own outside the band's image.That said, Neil Strauss manages to weave the story in a way that it ultimately becomes a tale that anybody can identify with: a scarcely talented yet very driven group of misfits pay their dues and achieve their dreams of rock 'n roll stardom, succeeding despite their life threatening drug and alcohol addictions yet ultimately loosing it all to their own hubris and fighting to rise from their own ashes.Yes folks, this is the formula both for a Greek tragedy and a Behind the Music special, and that's the main reason this book works so well regardless if the reader is interested in the band or not.For big fans of the band like me, this book delivers most of the dirty details we already knew and delivers a few we missed over the years.I mean, before reading the book I already knew that Vince Neil's a selfish alcoholic bum who's only in it for the girls and the money, that Nikki Sixx's an immature drug addict incapable of confronting his problems who will always blaming his failings on childhood issues and that Tommy Lee is little more than a stupid and violent manchild, but on the other hand, I didn't know about Mick's health or personal issues and was shocked about how much his fellow band members kicked him around over the years.During its 80s heyday, fans perceived the band as an airtight unit, an unlikely yet unbreakable brotherhood of wild, unpredictable rock misfits united by music, tragedy and success. True, with Vince Neil's sacking in 1992, this perception began to crumble, but the author doesn't pull any punches at exposing the band's feuding and backstabbing, proving that said brotherhood was nothing but a carefully cultivated image.One interesting point the book doesn't address is Mick's real age: despite the claim that he's about five years older than the other guys, there's a persisting rumor among hardcore Crüe fans that he was actually in his early forties when the band fame's exploded, which doesn't seem that implausible after all if you look at old band photos.In the end, The Dirt is that rare rock biopic that not only delivers all the sordid details the band's fandom expect, but also manages to build an engaging human interest story that can appeal to anyone interested in rock music.

I didn't approach The Dirt as a cautionary tale but now that I've finished reading it I realize it is. I came to the book through the Netflix movie of the same name which was surprisingly well done.When Motley Crue came on the scene I was living in Key West, sun-bleached hair, sun-kist skin, cool cotton clothing. Bob Marley and the sounds of the Caribbean made the music that accompanied our lives.LA was a continent and a chain of tropical islands away. Emerging bands made up of bad boy musicians in make-up and spikey dyed black hair made no impression on those of us in our island paradise.Eventually the world and his wife came to know of Motley Crue though. I never cared for them--what little I knew of them, their music wasn't written for me, never cared for bad boys--musicians even less, or poor hygiene, studded black leather, silly hair and red lipstick, skull rings and all the other trappings of metal costume. Leather pants are hot though.I knew nothing of Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars, Vince Neil. Tommy Lee, yes, but mainly because of Pamela Anderson.The book might have the anticipated appeal of revealing shocking behind the scenes backstage shenanigans and gossip, and it does, but what is truly shocking is the vast amount of money wasted due to poor decision making. Just the hundreds of thousands spent on drugs alone is depressing. Then there are the law suits, fines, multiple rehabs, messy divorces and vengeful wives. Dollars fly out of bank accounts almost as fast as dollars are deposited.Pamela Anderson understandably doesn't come off well. Aside from Tommy, no one in the band or their wives seems to have liked her. I remember the Pam and Tommy bust up, I thought at the time there was too much of the drama queen in her version of events, in her relentless rounds of the talk shows both on radio and tv. Tommy was much more dignified about the whole incident. The delusional man actually wanted to get back together with her even after she filed charges against him, took out a restraining order against him, and tried for sole custody of the couple's children.The structure of the book is creative. Each band member tells the story from his point of view, sometimes contradicting each other with wry comments or even insults. It's clear Tommy and Vince don't like each other but it's not clear exactly why. Tommy didn't even seem to like Nikki very much at the end and they had once been so close.But each of them are very open about their shortcomings and failures. There is a little bit of bragging and a little bit of poor me but most of the time the tone in the telling of their tales is dumb me or even stupid me.Throughout the book they do the dumbest "I'm bulletproof" things but they're honest about admitting it when they do.Five stars for that and for an interesting read.

Actualmente tengo 17 años por lo que no me tocó vivir esta época y tampoco era muy fan, pero aún así disfrute enormemente este denso libro.Es un obra que abarca todo lo que simboliza ser una estrella de rock desde los glamurosos excesos, todas las implicaciones del negocio de la música -como engranes de una máquina regida por el dinero que nunca para-, hasta el cómo su estilo de vida se infliltra en sus relaciones personales para contarnos como sufren las mismas aflicciones que todos el mundo: problemas amorosos, legales, perdidas de seres queridos, o la falta de los mismos.No solía leer mucho antes de este libro aún así atrapó mi atención por lo gracioso que es, pero sin duda fue una gran primera experiencia con un libro, lo recomendaría para adolescentes que quieran sembrar un hábito de lectura.Este libro tiene un mensaje muy especial que hace que dejes de ver cómo ídolos a los artistas y los veas como humanos normales explotados por una industria ambrienta de talento para exprimir.Mi capitulo favorito es el capítulo de Vince sobre la muerte de su hija; cuando lo leí por primera vez llore en cada página y aún después cuando lo recuerdo me parece sublime el como Vince describe ese dolor.Esta demás decir que amo este libro y que lo recomendaría a cualquier persona dispuesta a reír, llorar y rockear con un libro entre sus manos.

Arrived with no problem on the cover and such. The book itself is pretty entertaining, I don’t have to force myself to keep reading it like I do with other books, I literally couldn’t put it down since it was that good for me. Furthermore, I like the fact that it says who’s POV it was and the photos help with the stuff they’re talking about.

I absolutely love the cover and everything if your looking to get the book keep in mind to get hard cover since its better value and has a cuter box

Kom fram i tid

Libro increíble en todos los aspectos. De obligada lectura aunque no seas fan de Mötley Crüe o del Rock. Innumerables anécdotas. Te lleva al Subset Strip de los 80.