Tattoos & Tequila: To Hell and Back with One of Rock's Most Notorious Frontmen [Hardcover]

Vince Neil (Author), Mike Sager (Contributor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 23, 2010

"So where do we start? I remember when we did The Dirt, the Mötley Crüe book, I was interviewed at The Grand Havana Room in Beverly Hills. A lot of people think I didn't get to say much in The Dirt. It's probably true. I didn't read it. I'm not that big a talker. Some people can f*ckin' talk ... eat up all the oxygen in a room in no time flat. I don't tend to run my mouth. It's b*llshit. All those years in rehab and counseling--the talking cure? I can't say I really got that much out of it. All that cure and I should be cured by now, don't you think? All this talking...

So forgive me if it's a bit hard for me to slice open a vein and let my blood run red all over this page for you. I'll fight you or I'll f*ck you but chances are I'll be hard pressed to sit there and talk to you.

War stories. War wounds. I know, I know. Old rock stars fall hard. I'm forty-nine years old. I'm five-foot-nine, 170. The spandex is over. I've had three plastic surgeries. Still, who do you think gets laid more, me or you? But time does change a man. I ain't twenty-one anymore.

It's a miracle we survived at all. A bottle of Jack Daniel's and uncooked hot dogs do not make for a particularly well-balanced diet. We are all very lucky we didn't kill ourselves. It might look like we were trying to do that but speaking for myself, death was never my intent. I just wanted to feel good, you know? I was just looking for that kick, that high...

These days I've got businesses to run. I like the action. Something to get your heart pumping. Healthier than a syringe full of cocaine powder like I was doing back in '81 with my girlfriend Lovey, that's for sure...

But you got to admit...those days are a lot more fun to talk about..."

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Like so many rock stars who survive into their 40s, Mötley Crüe front man Neil has produced an autobiography. Raised in Compton, Calif., just as gangs were starting to take over, Neil turned multiracial good looks and a bad attitude into a career singing for the leading hair band of the 1980s. Mötley Crüe embraced the values of rock star excess and garnered fame as much for their drunken exploits as for their music. In one grim episode, an inebriated Neil crashed his Ford Pantera into a Volkswagen, killing his passenger and critically injuring two others. Later, Neil was ejected from the band but eventually returned. Today, he lives in Vegas, making music and running several businesses, including a chain of tattoo parlors. Neil makes no pretense of being thoughtful or reflective, but with Sager's help he's done a more than adequate job of representing himself. Much is said about all the women he's had, all the drugs he's done, all the nice cars he's owned, and all the celebrities he's met. Yet within the rock-star braggadocio lies an entertaining story of a handsome, insecure guy with a lot of energy who got really lucky. Interviews with friends, business associates, and ex-wives bring much-needed depth to the narrative. To his credit, Neil deals honestly with the suffering he's caused.
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About the Author

Vince Neil has been the frontman of Mötley Crüe for the past thirty years. He lives in Las Vegas and San Francisco with his wife.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing; 1 edition (September 23, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446548049
• ISBN-13: 978-0446548045
• Product Dimensions: 6.3 x 1.2 x 9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (67 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #124,918 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #50 in Books > Arts & Photography > Music > Musical Genres > Heavy Metal

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

45 of 49 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Disapointing book on one of rock's most excessive and abusing frontman September 24, 2010

By Tommy Sixx Morais

Format:Hardcover

If you've read Motley Crue's 2001 book The Dirt, the content here may not seem all that different to you, and that's because it's not. Tattoos & Tequila is the autobiography of Motley Crue's Vince Neil, the book has new content that was not previously in The Dirt and it does go more into Vince's life and what it was like and he can certainly tell interesting stories. But a lot of it was already in The Dirt. Honestly, Tattoos & Tequila seems a bit of a cash-in, at this point there's already been The Dirt, Nikki released his book-journal, The Heroin Diaries, Tommy had Tommyland, maybe it was time for Vince to release a book. Unfortunately, it's not as good as either Nikki's or Tommy's book, it's badly written, and there are many errors (repeated sentence for one, not correctly spelling "girls" among others...), the book seems too rushed. Vince also released his new solo album Tattoos & Tequila in June so maybe they wanted to bring more cash in by writing a book, I don't know.

I feel genuinely sad for Vince, I love Motley Crue and he was a terrific singer but I certainly don't envy him. Neil got married quite a few times, had sex with a ton of women and truly lived the rock'n'roll lifestyle but he comes off as ungrateful and arrogant. In Vince's life there have been many divorces, the death of his daughter Skylar, he killed his buddy Razzle and severely injured two other people in a car accident, lawsuits, facelifts, band disputes, unsuccessful band and other struggles and interesting events. You'd think that Vince would have learned a lesson or two and try to live a more normal life and do something to help himself...but no, sadly he is still getting drunk and living the same way he lived all his life. The worst part is he probably doesn't even know it, or simply refuses to acknowledge it. At the same time there are some truths in T&T, Vince knows he's a singer for hire in Motley Crue these days and he tells the reader about it but there are other occasions where you would want more insight. For instance, he talks about Sharon Osbourne, Ozzy's wife, and says how evil he thinks he she is but doesn't tell us a whole lot of "why he hates her", he ends the part on Sharon by saying "Man, if only you knew...".

One of the book's most interesting moments comes when Nikki Sixx writes a page or two about Vince and Motley Crue. Sixx says that he feels sorry for Neil as he doesn't understand why Vince would be in a band with people he doesn't like and can barely tolerate, Nikki has kind words about Vince and considers him a friend and a big part of Motley Crue obviously. That right there should tell you something. I was surprised this part was even included in the book; but you can't help but be sorry for Vince as well.

In conclusion the book is poorly written and you don't gain any sort of respect for Vince Neil (in fact it might be the opposite) afterwards, Vince doesn't come off as someone who's learned anything from his mistakes or his life. If you're a fan of Motley Crue you might want to read Vince's autobiography and you have every right too, I too am a fan and wanted to read Tattoos and Tequila. A good co-author would've really helped Vince's book, he could have given Vince some good ideas on what the fans wanted to know or it could have an overal better and more organised book. Maybe I'd wait until the price comes down a little to buy it, 3 stars.

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Information, Poorly Co-Authored. October 2, 2010

By stacebabe

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

As a teenager, Vince Neil's face adorned just about every single inch of my room. At 35, while I may not have his posters up anymore, I still go to Crue concerts every chance I get with the zeal of a teenager. With that said, I was excited to learn more about Vince from his own words.

I wasn't disappointed in the content, per say, but the way it is written is horrendous and hideously unprofessional. In the beginning, when Vince is talking about growing up in Compton there's a section where he got knifed. Then he ate ice cream. And then somehow that turned into a crush on his teacher, and then there was an interjection out of nowhere from his mother about getting his girlfriend Tami pregnant. As a Vince fan, of course I knew about her and his son, but the book had not yet introduced her to us, and the part he was discussing before the mother's entry was from when he was 10-11 years old.

Then there's an interview with his sister, and his family apparently doesn't know if they're Spanish or Mexican but they're not Irish. What? Some of it was cool hearing about how they grew up together, but then she goes on to mention how she doesn't tell people who her brother is, except her business card mentions "Crue" at the bottom. After that she points out how she doesn't ask Vince for houses, or cars, or money, but if he wants to give them to her, that's cool. Really? Does that even need to be in the book? How is that even relevant? If anything, it makes Vince look like a cheapskate for not buying her houses/cars etc...

The word "Like" is used way too many times. "Like this one time we were like, over there in a yard, you know, next the blue house that was like kinda creepy?" My 8 year old can write a better sentence.

The book certainly gave me a different view of Vince, and unfortunately, not for the better. He's got the emotional depth of a pencil. When Razzle was killed in the accident, after they had just removed his friends bloody body off of him, his first thought was how destroyed his new car was. Wives are interchangeable. In fact, I'm surprised after number 2, any self respecting woman would even think of marrying him. The latest one, the one he calls his "partner", Lia, wife #4 - well, he just left her. You can even tell in the way he writes, even though they were together, he was pretty ambivalent about her.

There was some humor - the way he described Sharon Osbourne arriving on the 1984 tour gave me a vision of Ursula at the end of Little Mermaid. Giant, imposing, and scaring the crap out of everyone.

None of this is Vince's fault. He did what he was supposed to do. He gave the interviews, and told the tale, but the co-author failed miserably at his job. It's almost as though he plugged his voice recorder into a computer and had the computer type it up and, "Presto!" there's the book.

I wouldn't say, "Don't buy the book" because there really is quite a bit of interesting stuff, but buyer beware. You're going to want to rip your hair out when you see how poorly written it is.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Is Vince Neil the Underdog he Claims to Be? October 15, 2010

By Bonnie

Format:Hardcover

I read the majority of this book in one day. It was hard to put down. I think any fan of Motley Crue will enjoy reading the book. I thought it was interesting and at times shocking to hear about Vince Neil's sex life and his dislike of mostly everyone including his bandmates.

There's two sides to every story. In this book, we are only getting his side. Only one band member wrote a section for the book. It makes me wonder why the others wouldn't contribute anything to the book. Other people have refused as well. In other reviews, references are made about the biography The Dirt. If your going to read this book, then it makes sense to get the whole story by reading the other one as well. It would be very interesting to hear other perspectives of how things may have really happened.

Vince Neil does a lot of talking about other peoples' problems, but I'd like to know what his were? All through out the book he never owned up to his shortcomings with the band. As much as I liked the band/Vince Neil growing up, I can't take everything he says as the absolute truth. I have to question the accurateness of his personal accounts within the story. I'm not saying he's a liar, I'm just saying that how one person perceives something is different from how another will preceive something.

I do like how the book is told in a chronological order in his voice. I liked reading the excerpts from people in his life of stories that either confirm or contradict his own. What would have been better was to interview some of the people who he made mean comments about (sharon osbourne and izzy stradlin) just to see what they had to say about him and how they would describe certain instances. Then the book wouldn't have been so one sided.

Regardless, I enjoyed the book because it leaves you with many questions still to be answered.