KEY POINTS:
Ah yes, Christmas. 'Tis the season for more ruinous overindulgence than usual. If there's someone in your life who's not so much burning the candle at both ends as setting fire to the building, perhaps the gift of a little cautionary reading material is in order.
One of the many rock star biographies released in time for Christmas will have one of two effects. Either the hard-living reader will be scared straight and make New Year resolutions of the yoga and lentils variety, or it may backfire entirely and they'll think, "Crikey, I haven't even been trying," and vow to double their deviant efforts.
Taking out the prize for "most shocking" in the class of 2007 rocker bios is The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star, (HarperCollins, $44.99), by Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx.
Part memoir, part cautionary tale, this is a collection of Sixx's diary entries written between the Christmases of 1986 and 1987, chronicling his descent into many addictions, of which heroin was king. Much of the Crue's often stomach-churning path to world domination and personal annihilation has been chronicled before, in The Dirt and Tommy Lee's Tommyland. This is a more personal look at Sixx's demons, often ones he sees literally, chasing him naked into his closet.
Sixx famously died twice before eventually deciding that perhaps his lifestyle needed a little healthy tweaking. Both incidents are documented in a graphic, novel-style layout. It is darkly funny, breathtakingly grim and surprisingly moving, often all at the same time.
To complete the terror twinset, try that of legendary Guns 'n' Roses guitarist Slash, a close friend of Sixx. It is an equally deviant look at what happens to extreme personalities when they start making a lot of money and nobody ever says "no".
Slash: The Autobiography (Harper Collins, $39.99) lacks the same degree of Sixx's in-the-moment honesty, but is a rare inside glimpse of the always fraught inner workings of one of the biggest bands of recent times. And yes, Axl does come off as a ginger git.
To slow down the pace a bit, or if you're a music fan rather than merely an audience for deviance, try Don Felder's autobiography Heaven and Hell (Hachette Livre $39.99), an account of his time as guitarist with The Eagles.
By comparison to the Sodom and Gomorrah of Sixx and Slash, Felder's joyride to fame seems positively angelic. Although there is much talk of sex and drugs, it is the rock'n'roll element of the triumvirate of sin in focus here, or rather the difficulties of getting on with it when you're the scratching post for The Eagles' twin super-egos Glenn Frey and Don Henley, as Felder often was, especially in the band's latter years.
Beneath all that mellow stoner music was a world of bitch fighting, hair pulling and name calling. Felder definitely wants to be seen as a simple country boy who just wanted to play guitar. He's also wanting greater recognition for his role in one of the biggest bands of the 70s.
Meanwhile, one of the musicians from Felder's youth, Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers are the subject of a new biography, Running Down A Dream (Chronicle Books, $59.99). It's a fascinating overview of a 30-year career.
- Detours, HoS
