As promised, this week I picked up the release of Nikki Sixx's new multi-media project. "The Heroin Diaries" is the new release from the Motley Crue bassist and it's a deep look into the dark, drug-addicted years with the eighties hair metal group. I had mixed feelings about checking this CD out, at first I was excited, dug the first single, and I'm a fan of Sixx and Motley Crue; but at the same time, I wondered if this was going to be a novelty project, much like earlier Crue side-projects Brides of Destruction or even Methods of Mayhem.
What you need to understand when listening to this release is that this is a dark look into the mind of a junkie. The first track is an introduction, "XMas in Hell" begins a journal featuring a bassist that's in a group that's on top and has everything, and he's wasting his ride at the top by constantly injecting himself with heroin. Throughout the CD, Sixx narrates his journal as disturbing intros to the next section of his songs. The first single, "Life Is Beautiful" is a great song with excellent observations of life looking in and looking out. The entire collection of songs lyrically captures a trapped soul in a body that is completely addicted to a poison. What irritates me the most about the CD is that it will probably never receive any major radio airplay. Sure, a couple of rock stations in smaller markets throughout the country might play out of some loyalty to Motley Crue fans, but that's about it.
I have a new respect for Nikki Sixx because he throws himself out there lyrically. These are some very personal, vulnerable songs that expose what kind of hell he was trapped. In "Pray For Me", you see a heroin junkie who has someone around him trying to help, and he portrays this person as an enemy who won't quit. "Heart Failure" is a look into the night he died for minutes and was rushed back to life when an adrenaline shot was injected straight into his heart. Heroin, viewed as horrible and digusting, is personified into an angel in the song "The Girl with Golden Eyes." These songs express what this addiction is from the other side. These lyrics and journal excerpts put this ex-junkie among the ranks of great dark poets like Edgar Allen Poe.
I highly recommend giving this CD a chance. It's a great project and I'm looking forward to the movie. To end, I'll quote what I believe is this most powerful line from the song "Life is Beautiful." "There's nothing like a funeral to make you feel alive."
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