RETROSPECTIVE – The Day Nikki Sixx Died

The tour that had supported the release of their fourth album, 1987′s Girls, Girls, Girls, had taken Mötley Crüe to the brink of self destruction. Vince Neil was still haunted by his part in the death of Hanoi Rocks drummer Razzle, Mick Mars had begun to date one of the backing singers and Tommy Lee was dabbling in heroin in between doses of whiskey and cocaine. But it was bassist and principal songwriter Nikki Sixx who would suffer the most during both the recording and promotion of the album. Having struggled to write material for what was to be their follow-up to the mediocre Theatre of Pain, Sixx, who was notorious for enforcing his will on his bandmates, had become distant and absorbed in a world of drugs and self-hatred.

Having returned from an extensive tour of North America, Sixx had turned twenty-nine on December 11th and had spent the day mostly alone in his Van Nuys home, whilst the following day had seen Mötley Crüe head out to Japan for ten days. In between the shows Sixx was arrested, angered the band’s management and had begun to suffer serious heroin withdrawal. Arriving back in Los Angeles on the 22nd, Sixx decided to hit the town with Slash and Steven Adler from Guns N’ Roses, Slash’s girlfriend Sally McLaughlin and an old friend called Robbin Crosby. After collecting heroin from Crosby’s dealer, they made their way in Sixx’s limo to the Cathouse, a popular nightclub on the L.A. scene that was co-owned by Faster Pussycat‘s Taime Downe. Although they had been secretly doing cocaine throughout the night, Sixx returned with Slash and Adler to the Franklin Plaza Hotel where Guns N’ Roses were staying. Slash, who was known for passing out and wetting the bed after a heavy night of drinking, was barely conscious whilst McLaughlin was screaming at him.

Sixx had relocated to the band’s other suite, where a dealer had given him a shot of Persian heroin. He immediately began to overdose and struggled to make his way back to Slash but collapsed on their floor, whilst the dealer ran from the hotel room. McLaughlin began screaming and pleading for Slash to help but he was mostly unresponsive. Adler managed to help McLaughlin drag Sixx into the bathroom and then a moment later Slash appeared at the door and began to freak out at the sight of his friend on the floor. Whist she attempted to perform CPR on him one of the other guests phoned for an ambulance. When the news reached Mötley Crüe‘s tour manager, Rich Fisher, he immediately called Neil who was fast asleep at home. Moments later he received another call, this one from Sixx’s limo driver who claimed that he had seen the dealer running from the hotel. Having been given a shot of adrenaline by the paramedics, Sixx was taken to Cedars-Sinai, a hospital on Beverly Blvd., whilst news of his overdose had somehow leaked to the press. Lee was the next of his bandmates to notified, with Slash informing him that Sixx had collapsed from a drug overdose and had been taken away in an ambulance.

Sixx eventually opened his eyes in a hospital bed wearing just his leather pants, whilst a police officer stood over him shining a light into his face. Far from lucid, it took some time for Sixx to come round as he was asked questions about his drug use and where he had obtained the heroin from. Having been unable to find any narcotics at the scene, the police were unable to bring charges to Sixx, who began to hurl abuse at the officer. Some time later, he tore the tubes from his arms and headed down to the parking lot where he came across two teenage girls sat in a Mazda. The pair had been crying after hearing about his death on the radio and were shocked to see Sixx standing in front of them, barely alive. After being offered one of their jackets and forced to promise them that he would never take drugs again, Sixx was dropped off at his home at almost 6 A.M. where he was greeted by Karen Dumont, who had relocated from New York a year earlier to work PolyGram’s L.A. office and had been given the thankless role of housesitting for Sixx whilst he was away on tour and attempting to police his drug activity when he was home.

Perhaps typical of his dry humour, the first thing that Sixx was change the message on his answering machine to “Hey, it’s Nikki Sixx. I’m not here because I’m dead.” But the joke backfired and he awoke the following day to find several angry messages from friends who did not approve of the tasteless gag. To his disgust, he discovered that there was a needle in his arm from when he had injected himself with heroin after almost dying from a drug overdose. Yet, despite belittling the fact that he had almost died, Sixx woke up on Christmas morning with a newfound sense of optimism about the future and had made a promise to himself that he was done with drugs. Having been prescribed Prozac for his depression, Sixx and his bandmates eventually entered rehab and re-emerged sober for the release of their fifth album, Dr. Feelgood, in 1989.

See larger image The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star (Paperback) By (author) Nikki Sixx List Price: $20.00 USD New From: $10.04 In Stock Used from: $9.49 In Stock Release date October 28, 2008.