By Jessica Hopper
Special to MSN Music

It's a strange world when Nikki Sixx becomes as well known for being an author as he is for being the bassist for Mötley Crüe. Sixx recently published "The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star," which debuted at No. 9 on the New York Times best-seller list.

The book chronicles Sixx's life from 1986 to 1987, using his journals from the time as the primary source. The picture it paints is much gorier than the sheer hedonism of "The Dirt," Neil Strauss' classic biography of Mötley Crüe: Amidst the pages of "Heroin Diaries," the band is at the height of their fame, but Sixx is hitting the lowest points of his drug addiction. Entry after entry describes days lost in drug-induced blackouts; there are only passing glimpses of the rock 'n' roll good times. Strung out and coasting on a death wish, he's frequently holed up in his closet, hallucinating and holding a gun. Now in his late 40s, Sixx is sober and father to five children. And, as he tells us, he's moving beyond being one of rock's most legendary bad boys.

MSN Music: Why did you publish "Heroin Diaries," and not a full-scale autobiography?

Nikki Sixx: After keeping diaries and journals for so many years, I was reading through them all, and, especially in the early ones from 1980-81, there was a kid with a dream. Then flash forward to 1984, [we're] starting to have a following, people singing your songs, 30,000 people all shouting together. [We're] also having huge hit albums and sold-out tours and the actual debauchery that came along with the fun. And then hitting this period from '86-87, and wondering what happened to this kid with the dream.

That being 20 years ago, I've had a lot of opportunity to flush all those demons out, so for me it was almost like reading someone else's diary. I thought: If I throw myself under the wheels of the bus, and I show how bad a person can be, and I can show the upside to getting through it and out of it and on with it, maybe it will help someone.

After each entry, you give other people -- your mom, your band mates, your girlfriend at that time, Vanity -- a chance to respond with their version, which is similar to "The Dirt" and how each chapter has multiple sides of the story. Since this book is a diary instead of an oral history, why include other people's takes on what was happening?

In my recovery, my experience is that the issues extend into family, into the workplace, into romantic relationships. When you have been around for a while, you see the devastating effects, but you also see that people who never got into recovery, you see that they are still in the same place they were back then. Someone might say, "He was an a------" and that's it, like they don't have a part in it too. I like that, because you can look at that and say, "Well, he already said he was an a------." He said he was an a------ and a slave driver, but if he wasn't and he wasn't so passionate, even if he was in his addiction, we would have never got very far!

Having my mother say, "I don't have any responsibility in this, I was a victim." And then for my grandfather to say, "You're full of s---." And then for me to be able to say, "No wonder I was so f----- up!" If I'm in my 40s and I can digest that information OK, it's still hard to read, and I think, "G-------, get your stories straight." But when you're a teenager? That's devastating!

Were you ever hesitant to put that in there because it's so personal? So much of it's just your family squabbling with one another.

I think it better illustrated the story.

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