The Dirt

By Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, Vince Neil , Nikki Sixx , Neil Strauss

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

Book description

Celebrate thirty years of the world's most notorious rock band with the deluxe collectors' edition of The Dirt-the outrageous, legendary, no-holds-barred autobiography of Motley Crue. Fans have gotten glimpses into the band's crazy world of backstage scandals, celebrity love affairs, rollercoaster drug addictions, and immortal music in Motley Crue books…

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Why read it?

5 authors picked The Dirt as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

I’m reluctant to recommend it because these guys don’t need the money. Four raging narcissists/rapists/drug addicts create a band and proceed to destroy themselves and everything around them. I remember reading it and thinking, “This is the stuff they admit to.”

This book is the very definition of “If they were black, they’d be locked up.” By the point I was reading Vince Neil whine about not being able to tour Japan because he was on probation for drunkenly killing his friend, I realized I was witnessing pure evil. However, evil can be fascinating.

This book is so singularly revolting…

From Elwin's list on staring into the abyss.

I feel it’s important to note that I never liked this stupid band. But Mötley Crüe's book was all guilty pleasure for me: pleasure because I knew Seattle grunge had already killed their L.A. hair-band era, and guilty because (a) there turned out to be genuinely poignant moments, which revealed that (b) I’m a snob.

This book is a fast read of a slow-motion car crash, documenting the squalid, drug-sick lives of four self-consumed dingbats who stepped in success and somehow couldn’t scrape it off their shoe. I find this book revolting and recommend it highly.   

From Rich's list on books by musicians, for musicians.

If you’re already aware of The Dirt (the book or the Netflix series), you know why it’s on my list, but for those who aren’t and may be thinking, “Hang on, Motley Crue didn’t want to be rock stars, they were rock stars,” then it’s the earlier chapters that we’re interested in.

Back when they were living in squats, playing backyard parties and spending more on guitar strings and booze than food. Told in their own words and voices, you really feel the hunger, the yearning, and the sheer desperation to succeed. Motley fought through poverty, adversity, and apathy to…

When I was asked to co-write Nikki Sixx's biography, I was initially nervous about attempting to follow this stone-cold-classic rock autobiography. The Dirt demonstrated that Nikki Sixx was far from the only pathologically confessional member of Mötley Crüe. A masterful chronicle of warped ambition, alcoholism, drug abuse, intra-band friction, and extremely pre-#MeToo behavior, The Dirt was perfectly named: you feel as if you need a shower when you’ve finished reading it. 

This is the off-the-wall, outrageous rock n’ roll autobiography that satisfies your guilty pleasures. It’s the insider story of Mötley Crüe’s ultimate rock star life that is at once disgusting, exciting, and freeing. Post up on a beach somewhere with this whirlwind tour diary for a fun afternoon of sex and drugs.

From Taylor's list on journalism and alternative culture.

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