Book Review: The Heroin Diaries by Nikki Sixx

As far as Motley Crüe is concerned, there isn’t much that shocks me anymore. Anyone who’s read their tell-all autobiography, The Dirt, knows what I’m talking about. One of the major parts of that story is the saga of bassist/chief songwriter Nikki Sixx’s heroin addiction, which spiralled out of control for much of the late eighties, and resulted in him being pronounced clinically dead twice. Hence the hit Crüe song, ‘Kickstart My Heart’.

Having gotten into Sixx’s new band, Sixx:A.M. recently, (And really digging their music; James Michael is a brilliant vocalist and Sixx can write brilliant songs) I figured it was time to open The Heroin Diaries. In fact, the debut album by the three-piece outfit was a sort of soundtrack to the book, which made me even more interested.

The basis of the story is a year in the life of Sixx, around the time of the highly-successful “Girls, Girls, Girls” album, when Motley Crüe was of the biggest bands in the world, and getting the full rock-star treatment. During that time, he kept exhaustive diary entries about all sorts of things, and discovered them in amongst other Crüe-related paraphernalia only recently, hence the delayed publication.

Man, this was tough to read. I mean, heroin addiction isn’t ever a good thing, but the sort of things Sixx went through – paranoia chief amongst them – made for some uncomfortable reading. Some of the things he did without any sort of care were, frankly, shocking. The amount of drugs Sixx and the rest of the Crüe did makes me honestly surprised that they’re still alive today. It was probably more luck than good management.

If ever there’s a poster child for getting clean, it’s Nikki Sixx. He’s done a good job to be clean and sober, and makes no secret of the fact that his quality of life has gone through the roof. In that regard, it’s probably a good thing that he’s gone down the road of publishing what is unquestionably a tough account of what someone addicted to heroin – and all sorts of other drugs – goes through, quite aside from the depression and loneliness of being out on the road, and the fall-out from an interrupted childhood. If it saves a few people from dying strung out on heroin somewhere, then it’s a good thing. Kudos to Sixx for releasing what some others might not.

The Heroin Diaries was a tough book to enjoy, per se, but it was certainly an interesting glimpse into the life of a shattered rock-star. Comparing where Sixx was then and where he is now, it’s proof positive that you can come out the other side of addiction and lead a normal life.