Nikki Sixx
Author of The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band
About the Author
Image credit: Christopher Peterson
Works by Nikki Sixx
This Is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography and Life Through the Distorted Lens of Nikki Sixx (2011) 171 copies, 5 reviews
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Birthdate
- 1958-12-11
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- musician
- Organizations
- Mötley Crüe
Sixx:A.M. - Nationality
- USA (birth)
- Places of residence
- San Jose, California, USA
El Paso, Texas, USA
Anthony, New Mexico, USA
Twin Falls, Idaho, USA
Seattle, Washington, USA
Los Angeles, California, USA - Associated Place (for map)
- USA
Members
Reviews
This was an incredibly, surprisingly, astoundingly good book.
The Heroin Diaries has not only introduced me to the actuality of Nikki Sixx, of whom I had been completely unaware of prior to the existence of this book (I was never a Mötley Crüe fan), it’s also started a new and deep interest in 80s metal bands and has entirely broadened my concept of depression. It’s, it’s, it’s…. I must own this book.
I had found out about it through the radio, actually. Sixx put out a soundtrack show more companion album to the book shortly before the book was published, and the first single started getting some play time. I really liked the song, and I only had to catch it a couple of times before making the effort to google it and see if I liked the other songs on the CD. I found that Sixx had written a book. This was even better. (The CD was very good, too. I also must own this CD.)
The Heroin Diaries encapsulates a single year in Sixx’s life, specifically the year he reached rock bottom with his heroin use, as taken from his apparently extensive diary collection. It runs from entries dated Christmas Day, 1986, through Christmas Day, 1987; and covers events on touring, near death experiences, family and relationship drama, and several efforts to get clean; and also his interests in music and books. It basically amounts to a retrospective of what Sixx considers his most pivotal year.
I was entirely unprepared to see the amount of effort that went into creating this memoir. Not only do Sixx's diaries appear in print, but also corresponding perspectives from Sixx's friends and family. Sixx (or more likely, Gittins) took the effort to contact people he knew during that time period, show them the diaries, and ask if they would write their memories of the events on paper. The book was also packed with artwork and graphic designs on nearly every page, from photographs from that year, to sketches and artwork, to contrasting font colors and backgrounds.
This was, however, a very intense read; many times I had to stop reading after only a few entries and let the book rest for an hour or a night before starting it up again. My normal reading experience with just about any genre of literature is that I tend to devour a book in one sitting, or at least within a matter of hours. This one took me days. Halfway through it, I got the itch to start writing notes on the margins, which I couldn’t possibly do because the copy I was reading was a library book, and I probably wouldn’t anyway, for fear of obscuring the graphics. I made due with sticky notes flagging the particular pages that caught my eye. I had to go back to the beginning and speed read the first half again to make sure I found all of those particular pages. By the time I had finished, the right edging of the book was solid yellow. I must own this book.
I would highly recommend The Heroin Diaries to just about anyone for any reason. If you have even a passing interest in music, creativity, drug use, or depression, this is a book you should look in to.
I have no idea if Sixx is planning on publishing any other volumes of his diaries (I would certainly read them), but he has made some entries of his current volume available for public view. You can visit his online diary at his official webpage: http://www.nikkisixx.net/ show less
The Heroin Diaries has not only introduced me to the actuality of Nikki Sixx, of whom I had been completely unaware of prior to the existence of this book (I was never a Mötley Crüe fan), it’s also started a new and deep interest in 80s metal bands and has entirely broadened my concept of depression. It’s, it’s, it’s…. I must own this book.
I had found out about it through the radio, actually. Sixx put out a soundtrack show more companion album to the book shortly before the book was published, and the first single started getting some play time. I really liked the song, and I only had to catch it a couple of times before making the effort to google it and see if I liked the other songs on the CD. I found that Sixx had written a book. This was even better. (The CD was very good, too. I also must own this CD.)
The Heroin Diaries encapsulates a single year in Sixx’s life, specifically the year he reached rock bottom with his heroin use, as taken from his apparently extensive diary collection. It runs from entries dated Christmas Day, 1986, through Christmas Day, 1987; and covers events on touring, near death experiences, family and relationship drama, and several efforts to get clean; and also his interests in music and books. It basically amounts to a retrospective of what Sixx considers his most pivotal year.
I was entirely unprepared to see the amount of effort that went into creating this memoir. Not only do Sixx's diaries appear in print, but also corresponding perspectives from Sixx's friends and family. Sixx (or more likely, Gittins) took the effort to contact people he knew during that time period, show them the diaries, and ask if they would write their memories of the events on paper. The book was also packed with artwork and graphic designs on nearly every page, from photographs from that year, to sketches and artwork, to contrasting font colors and backgrounds.
This was, however, a very intense read; many times I had to stop reading after only a few entries and let the book rest for an hour or a night before starting it up again. My normal reading experience with just about any genre of literature is that I tend to devour a book in one sitting, or at least within a matter of hours. This one took me days. Halfway through it, I got the itch to start writing notes on the margins, which I couldn’t possibly do because the copy I was reading was a library book, and I probably wouldn’t anyway, for fear of obscuring the graphics. I made due with sticky notes flagging the particular pages that caught my eye. I had to go back to the beginning and speed read the first half again to make sure I found all of those particular pages. By the time I had finished, the right edging of the book was solid yellow. I must own this book.
I would highly recommend The Heroin Diaries to just about anyone for any reason. If you have even a passing interest in music, creativity, drug use, or depression, this is a book you should look in to.
I have no idea if Sixx is planning on publishing any other volumes of his diaries (I would certainly read them), but he has made some entries of his current volume available for public view. You can visit his online diary at his official webpage: http://www.nikkisixx.net/ show less
This is Gonna Hurt: Music, Photography, and Life Through the Distorted Lens of Nikki Sixx by Nikki Sixx
I don't even know what Sixx has been doing musically since Dr. Feelgood. Kudos to him for the edgy photographic explorations of darkness and damage somewhat like Arbus but more staged. The memoir-ish essays and Sixx A.M. lyrics recount Mötley Crüe highs and lows, post-band, looking for skid rows to shoot, a relationship with Kat Von D., and some reflective, deep, and wise reflections on the human condition.
The Heroin Diaries ♦ Nikki Sixx | Rezension
Eigentlich müsste Nikki Sixx tot sein! Und das schon seit vielen Jahren. Mit seiner Autobiographie The Heroin Diaries – A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star erzählt er eindringlich, mit unsagbar viel Gefühl und einer Prise Humor, wie er dem Tod von der Schippe springen konnte. Ich habe dieses Buch in drei verschiedenen Ausführungen gelesen: der erste Auflage, einer Auflage 10 Jahre später (Ten Year Anniversary) und von Nikki Sixx show more selbst gelesen als AudioBook.
The Heroin Diaries – A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star
Du denkst, der Lebensstil eines großen Rock’n’Roll-Stars auf dem Höhepunkt seines Ruhms ist nichts anderes als luxuriöse Dekadenz und lustige Zeiten, oder? Nun, das ist es und das ist es nicht. Denn wenn du dich nie mit deinen Schmerzen der Kindheit befasst hast, scheint der Kampf mit Depressionen und einer erdrückenden Einsamkeit und dem Leben auf der Straße endlos und leer zu sein, und du behandelst dich selbst mit Sex und Drogen. Jedenfalls war dies so für Nikki Sixx und die Dinge sind schnell aus dem Ruder gelaufen und wurden zu seinem schlimmsten Albtraum.
Nikki Sixx, Bassist und Hauptsongwriter bei Mötley Crüe, hatte es in den 80ern geschafft.
Er hatte alles. Ruhm, Geld, Alkohol, Drogen, Mädchen und nebenbei entwickelte er eine Sucht, die sein Leben mehrfach fast beendete und ihn zu einem wütenden, paranoiden und gefährlichen Kerl machte.
Ob ich es ihm abkaufe, dass er während dieser Zeit, 1987, ein Tagebuch führte? Ich weiß es nicht, aber ich habe diese Tatsache einfach hinten angestellt. Denn seine Geschichte ist so schwer zu lesen. Es hat mir schier das Herz gebrochen, wie er seine Selbstzerstörung, seine Depression, sein Ego und seine schlechte Einstellung im Allgemeinen beschreibt. Auch die schrecklichen, rücksichtslosen Dinge, die er getan hat, wenn er unter Drogen stand (sofern er sich erinnern kann!) lassen ihn oft wie das größte Arschloch der Welt erscheinen. Und doch geht es in The Heroin Diaries um einen Menschen, der verzweifelt um sein Leben kämpft und dies trotz aller Widrigkeiten.
Ich wusste bereits, bevor ich das Buch gelesen habe, dass Nikki Sixx in den 80en schwer drogensüchtig war, was daran liegt, dass ich schon seit vielen Jahren ein Fan der Band Mötley Crüe bin. Umso schmerzhafter war es das Buch zu lesen, denn es ist so brutal ehrlich, dass ich das Gefühl hatte emotional alles mitzuerleben. Ich stürzte mit ihm ab, umklammerte unter Paranoia mit ihm das Schrotgewehr und fühlte seine Einsamkeit ganz tief in mir. Eine Einsamkeit, deren Kälte nicht zu erklären ist, aber sie zerfrisst dich von Innen heraus.
Nach jedem Tagebucheintrag gibt es Kommentare von seinem aktuellen Ich und anderen ‚Weggefährten der damaligen Zeit. Auch finden sich Auszüge aus (teils unveröffentlichten) Songtexten und Poesie zwischen den Einträgen. Diese Ergänzungen seiner Freunde und Bekannten, sowie seine Texte erweitern das Gesamtbild und sind oft furchtbar schmeichelhaft.
Ich muss sagen, es war mutig von ihm, dieses Buch zu veröffentlichen und sich Jahre später öffentlich mit seiner Drogensucht auseinanderzusetzen und heute, nach 40 Jahren im Musikbusiness hat er seine wahre Bestimmung darin gefunden, den Drogen den Kampf anzusagen.
Zitate aus „The Heroin Diaries“
Eigentlich müsste Nikki Sixx tot sein! Und das schon seit vielen Jahren. Mit seiner Autobiographie The Heroin Diaries – A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star erzählt er eindringlich, mit unsagbar viel Gefühl und einer Prise Humor, wie er dem Tod von der Schippe springen konnte. Ich habe dieses Buch in drei verschiedenen Ausführungen gelesen: der erste Auflage, einer Auflage 10 Jahre später (Ten Year Anniversary) und von Nikki Sixx show more selbst gelesen als AudioBook.
The Heroin Diaries – A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star
Du denkst, der Lebensstil eines großen Rock’n’Roll-Stars auf dem Höhepunkt seines Ruhms ist nichts anderes als luxuriöse Dekadenz und lustige Zeiten, oder? Nun, das ist es und das ist es nicht. Denn wenn du dich nie mit deinen Schmerzen der Kindheit befasst hast, scheint der Kampf mit Depressionen und einer erdrückenden Einsamkeit und dem Leben auf der Straße endlos und leer zu sein, und du behandelst dich selbst mit Sex und Drogen. Jedenfalls war dies so für Nikki Sixx und die Dinge sind schnell aus dem Ruder gelaufen und wurden zu seinem schlimmsten Albtraum.
[…] why I was angry and confused for all those years. I lived my life being told different stories: some true, some lies, and I still don’t know which is which. Children are born innocent. At birth, we are very much like a new hard drive – no viruses, no bad information, no crap that’s been downloaded into it yet. It’s what we feed into that hard drive, or in my case „head drive“ that starts the corruption of the files.
- Nikki Sixx, The Heroin Diaries – A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star
Nikki Sixx, Bassist und Hauptsongwriter bei Mötley Crüe, hatte es in den 80ern geschafft.
Er hatte alles. Ruhm, Geld, Alkohol, Drogen, Mädchen und nebenbei entwickelte er eine Sucht, die sein Leben mehrfach fast beendete und ihn zu einem wütenden, paranoiden und gefährlichen Kerl machte.
Ob ich es ihm abkaufe, dass er während dieser Zeit, 1987, ein Tagebuch führte? Ich weiß es nicht, aber ich habe diese Tatsache einfach hinten angestellt. Denn seine Geschichte ist so schwer zu lesen. Es hat mir schier das Herz gebrochen, wie er seine Selbstzerstörung, seine Depression, sein Ego und seine schlechte Einstellung im Allgemeinen beschreibt. Auch die schrecklichen, rücksichtslosen Dinge, die er getan hat, wenn er unter Drogen stand (sofern er sich erinnern kann!) lassen ihn oft wie das größte Arschloch der Welt erscheinen. Und doch geht es in The Heroin Diaries um einen Menschen, der verzweifelt um sein Leben kämpft und dies trotz aller Widrigkeiten.
Ich wusste bereits, bevor ich das Buch gelesen habe, dass Nikki Sixx in den 80en schwer drogensüchtig war, was daran liegt, dass ich schon seit vielen Jahren ein Fan der Band Mötley Crüe bin. Umso schmerzhafter war es das Buch zu lesen, denn es ist so brutal ehrlich, dass ich das Gefühl hatte emotional alles mitzuerleben. Ich stürzte mit ihm ab, umklammerte unter Paranoia mit ihm das Schrotgewehr und fühlte seine Einsamkeit ganz tief in mir. Eine Einsamkeit, deren Kälte nicht zu erklären ist, aber sie zerfrisst dich von Innen heraus.
When you die, every single muscle in your body hurts. Your body has closed down because it thinks it’s done, and when it gets rebooted, every inch of you hurts. Plus I’d had the shit beaten out of me with a baseball bat.
- Nikki Sixx, The Heroin Diaries – A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star
Nach jedem Tagebucheintrag gibt es Kommentare von seinem aktuellen Ich und anderen ‚Weggefährten der damaligen Zeit. Auch finden sich Auszüge aus (teils unveröffentlichten) Songtexten und Poesie zwischen den Einträgen. Diese Ergänzungen seiner Freunde und Bekannten, sowie seine Texte erweitern das Gesamtbild und sind oft furchtbar schmeichelhaft.
Ich muss sagen, es war mutig von ihm, dieses Buch zu veröffentlichen und sich Jahre später öffentlich mit seiner Drogensucht auseinanderzusetzen und heute, nach 40 Jahren im Musikbusiness hat er seine wahre Bestimmung darin gefunden, den Drogen den Kampf anzusagen.
Zitate aus „The Heroin Diaries“
The dying could be easy…it was the living that I didn’t know if I could do…
- Nikki Sixx, The Heroin Diaries – A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star
When You’ve lost it all….that’s when you realize that Life is Beautiful.”
- Nikki Sixx, The Heroin Diaries – A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star
[…] only way to be truly alive is to confront your mortality…show less
- Nikki Sixx, The Heroin Diaries – A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star
Fazit
Es bedarf einer gehörigen Portion Mut sich mit einem Tagebuch aus der schlimmsten Zeit des eigenen Lebens an die Öffentlichkeit zu wagen. Dies ist ein einmaliger, trauriger, erschreckender, faszinierender und abgründiger Einblick in das Leben einen Rock Stars der 80er Jahre.
Wenn du dich auch nur ansatzweise für die sexuellen Handlungen und Heldentaten des Straßenlebens und den verheerend langsamen Weg eines Mannes zur Genesung aus der Drogensucht interessierst, dann wirst du um dieses Buch nicht herumkommen.
©theartofreading.de
How on earth are these guys still alive? Sorcery? Maybe Nikki Sixx dabbled in some black magic, or they all sold their souls to the devil. Who knows?
A really good read on the more lighter side for me, I enjoyed it immensely, this book had me in tears from both sadness and hilarity (The tour with Ozzy Osbourne...that chapter had me laughing so hard that my stomach hurt). Then jump to the chapter that Vince wrote about dealing with the loss of his daughter was incredibly well written and show more truly devastating.
These guys have been through everything possibly imaginable, they've done every type of drug, induced more alcohol than I could possibly even fathom, suffered many broken hearts, numerous divorces and more lawsuits than I can count on my hands and wrote some truly rad music.
Truly a wonderful read. One of the best music biographies I've ever read. show less
A really good read on the more lighter side for me, I enjoyed it immensely, this book had me in tears from both sadness and hilarity (The tour with Ozzy Osbourne...that chapter had me laughing so hard that my stomach hurt). Then jump to the chapter that Vince wrote about dealing with the loss of his daughter was incredibly well written and show more truly devastating.
These guys have been through everything possibly imaginable, they've done every type of drug, induced more alcohol than I could possibly even fathom, suffered many broken hearts, numerous divorces and more lawsuits than I can count on my hands and wrote some truly rad music.
Truly a wonderful read. One of the best music biographies I've ever read. show less
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