Peeking into the rock star life...

I was surprised to find Tommyland at my favorite public library so when I saw it, I didn't hesitate to pick it up. After all, Tommy Leeof Motley Crue is one of my favorite drummers in rock history. I was curious to know what he might have to say about his crazy life story that might be different from all the tabloid stories I've read about him. Did you know that he had such supportive parents as a teen that even though they feared that he would forever be an unknown musician making noise in their garage, they didn't try to stifle his dreams? They'd even go to his gigs when he was still struggling. Such proud parents...

In stark contrast, Axl Rose of Guns N Roses (like I even had to say which band he's from) had a troubled childhood (he had an abusive stepfather who surprisingly forced Axl to basically memorize The Holy Bible but yet couldn't seem to practice what he preached). It's no wonder Axl ended up getting into so much trouble later in life. I read about this in Stephen Davis's Watch You Bleed: The Saga of Guns N Roses, which I also borrowed from the public library a few weeks ago.

Sometimes, it can be quite interesting to get an insight into a celebrity's world - which is why entertainment gossip columns get so many readers (both in print and on the Internet). I even enjoyed reading The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star - the autobiography that Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx wrote, detailing his descent into drugs and his near death experience that brought him back to the real world. I even bought the The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack he recorded with Sixx:A.M. to accompany that book. And man, his life is truly something! I mean, after all that he's been through, he's really lucky to be alive - and considering all the toxic things he's put into his body, he still turned out not so bad looking for his age, too.

Anyway, out of these three books I mentioned, I really enjoyed Nikki Sixx's Heroin Diaries book the best. Tommy Lee's Tommyland was just so-so. Personally, I think it would've been better without the constant "interruptions" of conversations between his male member and himself. The graphic descriptions of the women he had sexual encounters with were a little much for me. Watch You Bleed, on the other hand, was just a little dry and other than the details of Axl's childhood history, the book didn't present much more than I already knew about Guns and Roses.