Motley Crue co-founder/songwriter/bassist Nikki Sixx is releasing a book this September based on his heroin addiction, depression, cheating death, and recovery. The book covers a year in Nikki’s life, which he kept in a diary that he doesn’t even remember writing. After making sense of all of his scribbles, Nikki decided to release it as a book called The Heroin Diaries. To coincide with the release of The Heroin Diaries, Nikki Sixx collaborated with former Beautiful Creatures guitar whiz/ producer DJ Ashba and producer/songwriter James Michael to write a soundtrack for the long-awaited book.
The trio known as Sixx A.M. will be releasing The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack on Aug. 21. This concept CD, which is in the vein of a Tommy meets The Wall, takes the listener on a journey of Nikki’s drug addiction through his eyes. The CD starts with Nikki reading an excerpt from the book, which takes place in Van Nuys, CA, on Christmas Day in 1986 (sometime during the Theater Of Pain era), in a song called “X-Mas In Hell.” The first single off of the CD, “Life Is Beautiful,” is still the best song on the record, even though for me, “Pray For Me” and “Accidents Can Happen” come in at a close second and third. The songs on the soundtrack coincide with each chapter of the book, with Nikki reading excerpts throughout the disc on songs like “Intermission” and “Permission” (where he talks about his recovery process) and “Life After Death” in which he mentions “I’m a drug addict, we think everything is about us.” Those are powerful words from a man who can’t believe that he’s even alive today to tell his story.
The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack was everything that I thought it would be and more. It just proved to me even more that Nikki Sixx is a true musical genius and should be recognized for it. This CD will do that for him. The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack is set to hit shelves on Aug. 21 and the book The Heroin Diaries is set to be released on Sept. 25.
In A Word: Genius
