Tattoos & Tequila: To Hell and Back with One of Rock's Most Notorious Frontmen

Do you have a favorite band? A favorite musician that you follow and read whatever you can get your hands on about him/her/them? I didn't until my Boy got me into Motley Crue. See he's a die hard fan. Seen almost every show. Has all the CD's, Carnival of Sins Blu Ray (watched about 300+ times) and most of the books. I've now read more about Motley Crue than I have about any other music persona. So when I noted the Vince Neil now had his own auto biography out I had to read it. This time I didn't buy it though. As much as my Boy loves their music he's not really a book person. So off to the library I went.

Now I've read The Dirt and Tommyland. We have Heroin Diaries which I haven't read yet but will someday. So I had a pretty good idea show more about the band (and Tommy Lee). However, Vince's version was a nice refreshing twist. The Dirt was a nice change up since it had each perspective plus a few others, but Vince didn't say a lot in that book. Tommyland was all about Tommy Lee and Heroin Diaries is Nikki Sixx`s year hooked on that shit. Vince seems a little more low key. Although if you want my opinion the auto that I`d read would be Mick Mars. That man was so silent in the back that you only heard the music.

On to Vince's tale. From beginning to end it was like I was sitting with him and listening to his life story pour from his own two lips. Two lips I might add that have been super duper busy!!! I know most of the back story of Motely Crue, however each individual perspective, particularly on the break up, is a wonderful treasure. The brief light of Skylar and his loss of his young daughter brought tears to my eyes. It was a truly moving story to behold. It was also nice to see the wives (there are four) perspective on his life and demeanor too!

Interestingly only Nikki Sixx agreed to be interviewed for this book. Huh?! A must read for any Rock 'n' Roll die hard fan, regardless if Motley Crue is your #1 or not. The lifestyles of the Rich and Ridiculous Rocker never goes out of style! show less

I would give this book negative stars if I could. As a super-fan of the Crue I knew that it was not going to be as good as any of the other Motley biographies, but how bad it was I could have never truly imagined. In truth I did not read past chapter 2. the 1st chapter is written from the point of view of the guy actually writing the book, and it was an ok beginning, but the next chapter is non-stop Vince. And you're thinking 'duh' the whole book is Vince, but no. The writer gave no stops of any sort and the result was that the whole thing sounded like one big run on sentence. I even skimmed through to see if the style changed and it did not. My opinion, unless you SUPER love Vince, its not worth reading. . the album is not half bad though.

Vince Neil tells his story in the first person in an off the cuff manner without much thought or editing. He's a high school drop out with a limited vocabulary and not much skill in story telling. His main vices were women, booze (and fast cars) which result in fathering a child at 17, four marriages, vehicular manslaughter charge and countless failed rehabs. Today he is sober, happily married and living in Vegas and San Francisco. His a business man with restaurants, tattoo parlors, a clothing line, a brand of tequila and a luxury air charter service. He also runs a foundation dedicated to his daughter (who died of cancer) and performs as a solo artist as well as part of Motley Crue. The book is not terribly interesting but it's always show more fun to real about rock star excess and celebrities. show less

Vince is one of the best front men in history and this book is awesome. I would never of guessed Vince dislikes the other band members so much. I was surprised and relieved to read Nikki's comments toward the end but would of loved to have comments from Tommy, Mick and maybe some other rock luminaries. At some points I was wondering if some of the things Vince said are true and other times amazed by the sense of honesty. A compelling read for any Crue head.