cover image The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band

The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band

Motley Crue, Tommy Lee, Vince Neil. HarperEntertainment, $27.95 (448pp) ISBN 978-0-06-039288-8

In the beginning there was the Motley House, crawling with cockroaches and rats, beer cans piled on the porch so high they threatened to spill into the house every time you opened the door. ""That place gave birth to Motley Cr e,"" the band recalls in The Dirt: The Autobiography of Motley Cr e. After the record contract, they write, ""like a pack of mad dogs we abandoned the bitch, leaving with enough reckless, aggravated testosterone to spawn a million bastard embryo metal bands."" Cr e members Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, Vince Neil and Nikki Sixx also team up with New York Times music writer Neil Strauss to tell the story of their band's rise to phenomenal success: their tours, friendships, alcohol and drug problems, music, influence and, above all, girls. No heavy metal fan will want to be without this crude, honest chronicle. ( May 22)