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By GREG MAKI
The debauchery of Mötley Crüe is the stuff of legend, immortalized in an unforgettable episode of VH1’s Behind the Music and the band’s outrageous memoir The Dirt. Everyone knows about Tommy Lee’s love life and legal issues, Vince Neil’s fatal car crash and Mick Mars’ near-crippling illness. They also know about Nikki Sixx’s heroin overdose. Most laugh it off as Sixx continues the story of how he hitchhiked home from the hospital, cooked up an even larger shot of heroin and woke up the next day with the needle still in his arm. But there’s nothing funny about that.
Sixx has chronicled the year leading up to that incident in his new book, The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star. He also has recruited two of his recent songwriting partners, James Michael and former Beautiful Creatures guitarist D.J. Ashba, to form a new band, Sixx:A.M., and record a soundtrack to the book.
The advance copy of the CD arrived with a 31-page excerpt from the book, and I think you need at least that much to get an idea of where the songs are coming from. The story begins on Christmas Day 1986 with Nikki alone in his Van Nuys mansion deep in the throes of his addictions. Heroin, cocaine and any other substances he can put in his body rule his life. His only human contact is with other junkies. Most nights end with him hiding in his closet with his grandfather’s gun, strung out and consumed by paranoia. This CD, then, isn’t just a soundtrack to the book; it’s the soundtrack to Nikki’s insanity.
The disc offers an eclectic mix of songs, ranging from spoken word pieces to straightforward rock tracks (the 30 Seconds to Mars-like “Life Is Beautiful”; “Pray for Me,” which channels The Killers; “Heart Failure”) to more progressive selections (the demented Christmas carol “X-Mas in Hell”; “Dead Man’s Ballet”). The strong thematic link holds the album together despite the many shifts in style. Michael handles lead vocal duties, and though it is odd to hear someone else sing the most personal lyrics Sixx has ever written, he has an emotive voice that effectively conveys the essence of each song.
This is a horror story as surely as any slasher movie is. It virtually slams the listener over the head with its warning of the evils of drugs. More subtle is its indictment of an industry that looked only at record sales and the money pouring in and did little to stop the man most responsible for it from slowly killing himself. The book is set for release on Sept. 18, 2007, and I expect having the full text will enhance the listener’s appreciation of the soundtrack. This isn’t an album I envision going back to for repeated listens, but it is a powerful piece of work. The most amazing aspect of it is that Sixx survived to make it happen.
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