Nikki Sixx was twenty-two when he co-founded Mötley Crüe, a heavy metal band destined to become one of the most successful music acts in history. As the band’s bassist and principal songwriter, Sixx played a key role in developing their iconic rebellious persona, his escalating addictions to alcohol and drugs serving both as fuel and hindrance for his creativity. In 1987, when he wrote the following diary entry, Mötley Crüe were once again on tour, and it was a month after the release of their fourth album. This was also a year after Geffen Records signed Guns N’ Roses, an up-and-coming band Sixx was keen to help.

The Diary Entry

July 27th 1987

The Summit, Houston, Tx

Hotel, Houston, 3 p.m.

Checked my messages at home. David Crosby called – he said he would break my arms if I was getting high.

I guess I won’t be calling him back. My machine was completely full, so I just erased the rest of them without listening…there really isn’t anyone I wanna talk to anyway.

The band is tight as hell, everything is on autopilot musically, the crowds have been insane, all the shows have been sold out. You’d think I would be happy all the time.

I’m reading Diary of a Rock Star by Ian Hunter.

Maybe I’ll release my diary as a book one day…yeah, right, can you imagine?

P.S. Doug called today and said everyone liked the idea for Wild Side to be the next vid. Radio is digging the track too. I think a live video is in order. Off to the venue now…

P.P.S. I told Slash when we were back in LA I’d try and get his band (Guns N’ Roses) a support slot on the tour. It looks like it’s gonna work out. Played the music to the guys and they liked it…there’s no interest in them right now, but maybe this will help them (anything is better than Whitesnake). Slash is a good guy when he doesn’t piss the bed…ha ha…

P.P.P.S. Maybe having these dealers follow us is a bad idea.

Further Reading

In 2007, a year-long stretch of Nikki Sixx’s diaries were published by Pocket Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, in a book titled, The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star. 1987 was a particularly desperate year for Sixx, and as a result his diary is exhausting, offensive, drug-filled, and tragic, and yet somehow fascinating. How he survived those twelve months is a mystery.

Guns N’ Roses did indeed support Motley Crue in 1987. The next year, the two bands fell out, kickstarting a decades-long rivalry.