by Vince Neil
First published 2010
Vince Neil sits in The Grand Havana Room in Beverly Hills, reflecting on a life that nearly killed him. The Mötley Crüe frontman admits he stayed quiet during The Dirt interviews, letting his bandmates dominate the conversation. Now at forty-nine, he's ready to tell his own story. Neil describes the reckless days of living on Jack Daniel's and uncooked hot dogs, shooting cocaine with his girlfriend Lovey in 1981, and the miracle that any of them survived. He's blunt about his limitations as a storyteller and his years of failed rehab attempts. The spandex era is over, but Neil has found new energy running businesses instead of chasing highs through syringes. He struggles between his natural reluctance to bare his soul and the compelling nature of those dangerous, exhilarating years that shaped rock history. This is Neil's attempt to slice open a vein and let the blood flow onto the page.
Genres: addiction, autobiography, biography-memoir, music
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: addiction, redemption, self-reflection
Setting: Beverly Hills, The Grand Havana Room
Period: 1981
290 pages · Hardcover · Grand Central Publishing
Content warnings: addiction, drug-use, substance-abuse