A review by jaimewrites
The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star by Nikki Sixx

3.0

I'm an old-school Motley Crue fan, so Nikki's firsthand accounts of the Girls, Girls, Girls era - when he was so strung out on heroin that he was barely functional - was really interesting to me. Nikki doesn't come across as a terribly likable person in this book, but I give him props for seeming to understand what a raging asshole he was at that time. (As opposed to, say, Anthony Kedis, whose autobiography made me want to punch him in the face.) Also interesting are the present-day footnote commentary provided by not only Nikki, but many of the people who interacted with him at the time.

My biggest complaint about this book is the layout and typography. I'm old-school when it comes to books, I really only want to see black text on white background. The pages with black backgrounds and white text, or the pages full of red text, were all incredibly hard to process and read. It took the "edgy" feel of the book a couple of steps too far, especially when combined with the off-center positioning of the entries. Somebody needed to rein the designer in on this one, seriously.

All in all, this is a good look at the destruction the 80s rock/L.A. glam scene wrought on its participants. If that's an era that interests you, I recommend this book!