Latest / DISGRACELAND / Motley Crue Pt. 2: The Ballad of Nikki Sixx – Dead, Doped Up, and Running Naked with a Loaded .357

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Motley Crue Pt. 2: The Ballad of Nikki Sixx – Dead, Doped Up, and Running Naked with a Loaded .357 · DISGRACELAND

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Disgraceland as a production of Double Elvis. This is a
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: story about stupidity and fun, stupid behavior and fun music,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: stupid music and fun behavior. It's about a dude who, well,
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: after all these years, he's a dude I don't quite
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: know what I think about. He's a rock and roll
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: original who will one day be a rock and roll icon,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: and well, he's also a total cliche. He's created one
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: of the greatest American bands of all time, and I
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: kind of hate them as much as I love them.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: I totally get this guy's importance in rock history, but
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: I could just as easily see a rock history in
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: the rear view that would be just fine without this
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: dude or his band in it. This dude, Nikki six
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: and Motley Crue. They were full of life, yet he
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: died more than once. Same with his band, who are
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: now kind of on life support. But at one point
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: Motley Cruze made great music. Unlike that music I played
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: for you at the top of the show that wasn't
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: great music, And that was a preset loop from my
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: melotron called Ricky Rackman as the bastard child to Casey
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Casem MK two. I played you that loop because I
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: can't afford the rights to Faith by George Michael. And
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: why would I play you that specific slice of tight
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: Jean cheese? Could I afford it? Because that was the
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: number one song in America on December twenty third, nineteen
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: eighty seven, And that was one of the days Nikki
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: six died after being shot up with heroin in a
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Los Angeles hotel room. On this episode Dead Alive, Stupid, Fun, Guns,
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: Dope and Prince Slash and Stephen and Jack Daniels on
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: the bull A train with Nikki six. I'm Jake Brennan
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: and this is Disgraceland. Nineteen eighty West Hollywood, California. Fourteen
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: year old Saul Hudson bent his knees and shifted his
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: way back as he tore us down Santa Monica Boulevard
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: on his skateboard. He looked back to see his friend
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: Steven was cruising right behind him on his own board
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: with his wavy blonde hair a stark contrast to Saul's
• 2:59
  Speaker 1: curly black. It was late and all the Hollywood freaks
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: were out. Dopers, drop ups, and derelics, hung off with
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: every curve bathed the neon lit by the bright lights
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: that glared from movie theater and nightclub Marquis while they
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: took long drags off their camel filters. A kick and
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: a push, and Saul and Stephen were gliding past the
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: Rusty Nail, where men with mustaches and tightly cropped hair
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: wearing tight white T shirts and even tighter jeans loitered
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: before ducking back into the club to find some action
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: on the dance floor. For Saul and Stephen, the real
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: action was just a little further up the road, where
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: the men didn't dress so conservatively. At the Starwood Nightclub,
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: the men wore their hair long, and they teased it up.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: They spray painted at Mick Ronson's silver, and they wore
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: women's jackets turned inside out, a cheet of Prince spandex,
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: and dog collars around their necks. Sunglasses were definitely required
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: at night. The two boys stopped their heels on the
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: backs of their boards and came to a stop right
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: in front of the Starwood. Saul looked up at the Marquee.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Tonight it read London and I'm not talking about the city.
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: I'm talking about London. The band with Nigel Benjamin on
• 4:19
  Speaker 1: lead vocals and the prettiest don't give a fuckiest player
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: on the LA scene Frankie Ferana aka Nicky six on bass.
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: Nigel Benjamin's previous gig had been with Mott, the post
• 4:35
  Speaker 1: Ian Hunter version of Mott the Hooples, so he had
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: legit glam rock credibility, but the newly christened Nicky six
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: was making his own credit, a new breed of LA
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: rock and roll that was heavily indebted to the likes
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: of The Raspberries, the Sex Pistols, and the New York Dolls,
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: but drizzled all over with an unhealthy dose of Hollywood sleeves.
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: At least that's what Saul had heard. Typically, the way
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Saul got into these shows that the star Wood was
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: by selling whatever drugs he could get his hands on,
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: thus endearing his underage punk ass to the less discerning
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: clientele of a hard rock nightclub circa LA in nineteen
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: eighty Tonight, however, he wasn't holding, and the fake ID
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: he'd long ago conjured up had gone missing. But there
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: was another way. Saul motioned to Stephen, and the two
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: of them grabbed their boards and walked around to the
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: back of the venue, where Saul opened an unlocked door
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: that wasn't being monitored. In an instant, the thunderous noise
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: of London rattled their skulls. They creeped closer in the darkness,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: fumbling their way to a spot off to the side
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: of the stage where London was playing and where Saul
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: and Stephen could catch a glimpse of the band and
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: not get pinched by one of those lou Ferigno wanna
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: be bouncers out front. London was both sound and vision.
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Nicky six and guitarist Lizzie Gray looked like towering gods
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: on either side of the stage, with big hair and
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: long legs, each of them framed by a giant light box. Literally,
• 6:01
  Speaker 1: these huge rectangles lined with at least sixty light bulbs
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: each vanity mirrors come to life. And the music was fun,
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: it was stupid. It was ninety nine percent rockers and
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: one percent balance, just how Sal liked it and just
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: how Nicky six liked it too, And Nicky liked what
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: he liked, getting high, getting laid and rocking out, though
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: not always in that order, And most importantly, Nicky didn't
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: apologize for any of it, and standing on the sidelines,
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: fourteen year old saw Hudson, the drug dealing skateboarding kid
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: the world would soon know better as Slash, along with
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: his buddy Stephen Adler, both of them just years away
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: from starting their own band, Guns N' Roses. The two
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: of those dudes were watching Nicky six and taking notes.
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: Nicky six put his back into it and mopped up
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: the noxious puddle of pukes splattered on the floor of
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: the Starwood Nightclub. He didn't know what was to deal
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: with the vomit, the piss or the blood. It was
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: all a part for the chorus of the star Wars
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Punk Knights, where violence and uncontrollable bodily functions were as
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: much a part of the game as was a fast
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: tempo three cord tune. For all Nicky knew, that was
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: some of his blood on the floor. He'd been here
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: last night, not as a performer, but as a fan
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: watching the band fear Lay Waste to the place, and
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Nicki had been wearing heels, which he didn't do on
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: Punk Knight unless we wanted to be pummeled by the
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: fist some dude with a shaved head and a bare chest.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: But Nicki could take the heat, and he could hold
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: his own so no one was going to keep him
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: and his band London from their beloved Star Wars. Some
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: nights they played and other nights they watched, and during
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: the day they picked up odd jobs cleaning and repairing
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: the place just to earn a little extra money. Struggling
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: musicians that they were, but London was starting to really
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: come into their own. But once it became Star Wars
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: weekend headliners, they were pulling down something like one to
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: two thousand dollars a night, which Hey sput five ways
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty. That wasn't too shabby. There was just
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: one problem. They still hadn't been paid the two thousand
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: dollars that they were owed for last weekend show, and
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: they had more shows coming up the following weekend, not
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: to mention more puddles of puke to wipe up. So
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: before they left any more of their own blood, sweat
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: and tears on the starboard floor, Niki wanted to get paid,
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: which meant that he, Nigel, Lizzie and the boys had
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: to track down the Star Warards elusive owner in order
• 8:24
  Speaker 1: to do so. And now here's the thing about all that.
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: The guy who owned the star Ward was this dude
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: named Eddie Nash. Eddie Nash had a number of Los
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Angeles rock clubs, nightclubs, and strip clubs in his portfolio,
• 8:38
  Speaker 1: places like the Kitcat Club, The Sold Out, The Paradise,
• 8:41
  Speaker 1: and a tiki bar called the Seven Seas. Eddie Nash
• 8:45
  Speaker 1: was a Middle Eastern businessman with leged ties to the
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: Israeli mob. Eddie Nash had a steel plate in his head,
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: in one lung in his chest, and he was missing
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: part of his sinus cavity, probably on account of how
• 8:56
  Speaker 1: much cocaine he did. Because Eddie Nash was a blue fiend,
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: he was also a straight up gangster, a racketeer, and
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: he oversaw a majority of the night life illicit or
• 9:08
  Speaker 1: otherwise that was currently going down in and around the
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: Greater Hollywood area. Nicky and his band had heard some
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: of the stories about what happened to the poor sons
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: of bitches who were dumb enough to cross Eddy Nash,
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: but Nicki didn't see his particular predicament as a conflict
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: worthy of kneecap breaking retribution. He just wanted the money
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: that was rightly owed to him, So Nicki and the
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: other guys in London tracked Eddie Nash down at the
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Seven Seas tiki bar, where he was holding cord. Upstairs
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: in his office, flanked by a couple of pituitary cases
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: with cheap suits and loaded guns, Nash sat in a
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: very fancy and very large leather chair behind his desk,
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: stoned out of his gourd and in full on Gangster lean,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: what can I do for you? Boys? He asked, you
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: owe us money for last Saturday show at the star
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: Ward Nikki responded, cognizant of the two big dudes with
• 9:59
  Speaker 1: their pieces bulging from their waistbands, but nonetheless feeling secure,
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: surrounded as he was by his own posse, Nash laughed.
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: It started small, and then it grew to comic proportions.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: His two bodyguards were laughing too, and NICKI looked at
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: Nigel and the others, but no one else in the
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: room was cracking a smile. And then suddenly Nash stopped laughing.
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: I don't believe I owe you boys anything, came to
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Gangster's cold butter response, how about that? One year later,
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: in nineteen eighty one, an LAPD swat team kicked in
• 10:34
  Speaker 1: the front door of Eddie Nash's home following a brutal
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: quadruple murder at a Wonderland Avenue townhouse, seizing a million
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: dollars worth of cocaine in the process. That didn't stop
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: Nash from being the badass thug that he was, Just
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: like getting stiff by Nash didn't stop Nicki six. The
• 10:52
  Speaker 1: same year that the Star Wars owner got himself tangled
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: up in the infamous Wonderland murders, Nicky ditched London and
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: formed a new and Motley Crue along with singer Vince Neil,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: guitarist mcmars and drummer Tommy Lee, with the stated goal
• 11:07
  Speaker 1: to rock even harder and to be even more fun
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: and more stupid, even if that inherents stupidity men playing
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: more gigs at the Star Wars. Nicky knew when to
• 11:17
  Speaker 1: back down and take the punch, But there was one
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: thing he didn't do. Nicky six did not apologize. When
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: it comes to the nineteen eighties and the debauched world
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: of so called glam metal in Los Angeles, it's super
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: cliche to talk about all the cocaine and heroin that
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: everybody was doing. I guess that's cliched because it's true.
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: I mean, this was a time when dealers drove around
• 12:08
  Speaker 1: in sports cars with personalized license plates that said DA
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: l e Er. But still it feels like such an
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: obvious transgression to talk about, and in a way a
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: lazy thing to talk about as well, because yeah, no
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: shit Rat and Wasp or Motley Crue and later GNR.
• 12:26
  Speaker 1: They were snorting and shooting and smoking all kinds of
• 12:29
  Speaker 1: illegal drugs like there were handfuls of Skittles. And yet
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: deep within that well worn history of lines of blow
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: and syringes of junk, there was something truly shocking and
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: anomaly that existed in a higher gear, and its name
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: was Nikky six. Nicky's addiction drove him to psychosis, to madness,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: but not at first. You don't just go crazy overnight.
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: You start out just another fiend, just another guy who
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: has more in common with the Eddie Nashes of the
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: world than your mother would perhaps like to believe. One
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: day you're copping a fix in a Denny's bathroom with
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: a Pepsi bottle cap as a makeshift spoon, and the
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: next you're in a London taxi with Andy from Hanoi
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: Rocks after a show at the Hammersmith Odeon. On Motley
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: Cruz nineteen eighty six theater a pain tour pulling up
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: to an apartment building in some shady part of town,
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: and inside the dealer shoots you up, and as soon
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: as the heroin hits your bloodstream, you're out. Andy from
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: the dealer and everyone else there, they all think you're dead.
• 13:35
  Speaker 1: The dealer grabs his baseball bat, raises it above his head,
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: and brings it down, swinging it directly into your chest.
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: Nothing the color drains from your skin. He does it again,
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: this time driving it straight into your back. Again, and
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: again he beats you where a baseball.
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: Bat, not because he's trying to hurt you, but because
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: he's trying to bring you back to life, because you're
• 13:56
  Speaker 2: so zonked on heroin. But it doesn't work, and now
• 13:59
  Speaker 2: the dealer pissed oi he shuts throwing your limb body
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: over his shoulder and walking out the front door, outside
• 14:05
  Speaker 2: around back and tossing your overdosed junkie ass into a dumpster.
• 14:12
  Speaker 2: Months later, you're still feeling the pain from that one,
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: still feeling like the walking dead. You do a bunch
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: of cocaine to take your mind off of it, but.
• 14:20
  Speaker 1: The coke makes you paranoid, so you shoot some heroin
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: and that calms you down. And you don't know it yet,
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: but the madness is coming. It's looming there in the
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: dark corners of your house on Valley Vista Boulevard and
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: Van Nys. Soon you'll be home bound, freaking the fuck
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: out in your bedroom closet. But right now you still
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: have some autonomy left in you. So you hop on
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: your Harley Davidson China White as your trusty coal pilot
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: and drive over to Vanity's house. Vanity as in Vanity
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: six the female pop groups Bengali by none other than Prince.
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: But Vanity doesn't fuck with the Purple one anymore, or
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: so you think she fucks with you when she feels
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: like it. You two are like a moth in a flame,
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: though you never know which one is which. Usually it
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: goes down like this. She cooks up some bass, you
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: guys get high, and then more often than not, she
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: gets crazy and it starts ranting about Jesus and God
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: and you can't handle it. When she does that. You
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: think of what your grandfather used to say, who needs God?
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: And you have a Chevy pickup truck and a twelve
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: gay shotgun. You've got the shotgun at home, not the truck,
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: but your Harley David said. It's what God himself would ride,
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: isn't it. But tonight Vanity is still prepping the base.
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: When you see them there on her dining room table,
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: something like two hundred roses inside the biggest vase you've
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: ever seen. Who the hell are these from? You ask,
• 15:38
  Speaker 1: She doesn't answer. She's either too busy cooking up your
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: next fix or she's ignoring you. And there's a card
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: there next to the flowers, so you pick it up, Vanity.
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: It reads, drop them, take me back, Prince. Your blood
• 15:53
  Speaker 1: boils that fucking backstabbing midget. You'll fucking murder him. You'll
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: break his knees, just like you try to break Jack
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: Wagner's knees. You never did get to finish the job
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: on the General hospital, pretty boy who fancied himself a singer.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: You were ninety nine percent sure that this other girl
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: you've been seeing, this chick Nick Cole, that she was
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: cheating on you with Jack Wagner while you were on
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: tour with Motley Crue. Not that you weren't cheating on
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: her at the same time, but in your drug addle brain,
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: you felt disrespected your macho fucko. Glenn went into overdrive.
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: You called in a favor from some biker friends, the
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: kind that would have run security at Altama back in
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: the day. He told him where Jack Wagner taped General Hospital,
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: and then further told him to bust his kneecaps when
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: he came walking out at the end of the day,
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: and then when he was writhing about on the ground
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: crying like a little bitch, to tell him Nikki six
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: sends his love. But they never get the chance because
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: Jack Wagner, the klutz that he was, tripped over himself
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: while filming his TV show and broke his own fucking knee.
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: N Cole thought you did it. She never forgave him whatever.
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: You try your hardest to forget about that shit show
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: and passive aggressively take a hit off Vanity's pipe instead
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: thinking the whole time, I'm about taking out Prince with
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: a fucking golf club that you didn't even golf. You
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: ride back home and feel like having some company. You
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: call up some friends and soon your house is full
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: of people in cocaine and whiskey, and your boys Slash
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: and Stephen Adler are there. Hooligans that they are the
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: same kids used to sneak into your shows back in
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: the day, and now they want you to produce their
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: debut album. You're flattered, but your habit is overtaking you,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: and while you don't have many of your wits about you,
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: you at least recognize that you're in no state to
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: produce anything, never mind anyone's record, not that Guns and
• 17:36
  Speaker 1: Roses are in any better state. The next morning, you
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: wake up to find that Stephen is fucking some chick
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: on your toilet, and Slash has pissed in the guest bed.
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Soon your place is empty again and you wait impatiently
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: for your dealer to show up. He's there right on time,
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: with the goods and the gear, and once he leaves,
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: you shoot coke into your leg or maybe to your arm,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: doesn't matter. But unlike any other time you've done that,
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: this time it's different. Perhaps it's the accumulation of your habit,
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: perhaps it's the miles you've logged, so to speak. But
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: as soon as you do it this time, you get
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: an overwhelming feeling that someone is in your house. You
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: run to your bedroom to hide, and as you do so,
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: you pass by a window and you see people outside
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: in the trees staring in it. You holy fuck you
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: jump into your bedroom closet and slam the door behind you.
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: You're shaking. You've got your shotgun on one side of
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: you're in your three fifty seven on the other. They're
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: coming for you, man, They're fucking coming for you, coming
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: for your cocaine. Fucking dea FBI fucking tree people. You
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: gotta get rid of the drugs, even though you just
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: have them delivered thousands of dollars down the drain. You
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: take a deep breath, throw open the closet door, make
• 18:42
  Speaker 1: a mad dash to the bathroom, and flush the rest
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: of your stash into the toilet. Thankfully, no one saw
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: you do it, or did they. You're back inside your
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: closet now, and you look down and realize that you're naked,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: which whatever, Man, you're in your own house. You can
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: be naked if you want to be naked. But now
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: you're hearing more noises in the house, coming from the
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: living room, the dining room. You can't be too sure.
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: You just hear people talking. Is it those damn tree
• 19:08
  Speaker 1: people that they get in my fucking house. They're gonna
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: find you here eventually, even though the drugs are gone,
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: and then.
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: What you pick up the three fifty seven magnum. You
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: check the cylinder to make sure it's loaded, and then
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: flick it shut. Another deep breath. It's go time, motherfuckers.
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: You bust out of the bedroom closet, buck naked, every
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: tattoo on full display, tearing through the house with the
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: butt of the three fifty seven pointed straight out like
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: a magnet. The gun pulls you into the living room,
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: screaming at the top of your lungs, or you instinctively
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: squeeze the cold trigger, firing off multiple rounds that seemed
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: to burst your ear drums wide open. Nikki six stood
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: alone in the middle of his house. Smoke billowed from
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: the muzzle of his magnum. He just shot up his
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: front door in his stereo, which seconds before had been
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: on the sound of which he mistook for the sound
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: of people invading his private residence. And now he had
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: no two uns, no drugs, and a front door with
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: bullet holes in it. He also soon realized that he
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: had no nemesis in Prince because the flowers in the
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: car that Nicky found in Vanity's house, these were bought
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: and written by Vanity simply to fuck with him. It's
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: easy to understand on an intellectual level that your addiction
• 20:20
  Speaker 1: is quite literally destroying your life, and Nicky six, writing
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: in his own diaries at the time, did understand it
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: that way. He also understood, at least in his sobering moment,
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: that not only was there no beef with Prince, but
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: that there weren't people climbing in the trees outside his house,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: that no one was coming to get him, not tonight.
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: But make no mistake, death was coming for Nicki six.
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: We'll be right back after this.
• 20:52
  Speaker 3: We're were were.
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: It wasn't just Nicky Six's days that were numbered. At
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: the end of nineteen eighty seven, glam metal or hair metal,
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: the sub genre turned money making machine by the likes
• 21:11
  Speaker 1: of Nicki's band Motley Crue, was living on borrowed time,
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: but nobody knew it. Hair metal was actually entering a
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: new phase of its life thanks to Motley Cruez disciples
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: and Guns N' Roses. In a little more than three years,
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Nirvana's smells like teen Spirit would flick on a light switch,
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: and suddenly Big Hair and Spandex would appear to be
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: far more schlocky than they were a trend setting but
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: right now. In December of eighty seven, hair metal still
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: ruled the airwaves. White Snakes, Here I Go Again, bon
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: Jovi's Living on a Prayer, def Leppards, Pour Some Sugar
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: On Me, and Motley Cruez Girls Girls Girls, the lead
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: single from their fourth studio album of the same name,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: an arena rock owed to one of the CRU's favorite
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: groups of people strippers. By December, the album Girls Girls
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: Girls had already gone double platinum, and Motley Crue had
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: taken their hard living, always partying, mega hedonistic rock and
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: roll lifestyle as an export from Los Angeles all the
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: way to Japan. That lifestyle, for Nicki six at least
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: for the time being, meant kicking junk, which would explain
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: the routine visits he was making to the bathroom on
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: the bullet train they were riding from Osaka to Tokyo.
• 22:24
  Speaker 1: Nicki puked in shit, his brains out, and then returned
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: to his seat next to Motley Cruz drummer Tommy Lee,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: who was already half in the bag on pills and booze,
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: and Nicki joined in and caught up fast because although
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: he may have been abstaining from heroin and cocaine as
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: much as possible. That didn't mean he was actually sober.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: From a few rows down, a Japanese businessman dressed to
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: the nines was giving Nicki a look. It was a
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: look that said, check out these Hollywood freaks with their
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: women's clothing and loud, disruptive behavior. It was bad enough
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: when they let the Beatles play Buddhakan some twenty years ago.
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: Now they're taking junkie shits and our bullet trains like
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: their king in the castle. And Nicki locked eyes with
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: the stone faced Japanese gentleman. He knew that if the
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: guy wasn't bound to his own cultural decorum, he would
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: spit in Nicki's face, make him feel sorry for himself,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: make him feel regret. But he couldn't squeeze regret from
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: Nicki six, just like he couldn't wring or drop of
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: blood from the stone. Fuck regret, fuck being dope, sick,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: and fuck this guy. Nicki grabbed the Jack Daniels bottle
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: he was passing back and forth with Tommy and hurled
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: it in the man's direction. It exploded on the wall
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: above the man's head, sending shattered glass and brown liquor
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: all over him, and Nicki laughed as the man leapt
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: from his seat and ran down the aisle screaming. But
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: when the Bullet train pulled into the Tokyo station and
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Motley Cruz stepped off their train car to find one
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: hundred Japanese police officers waiting for them, Nicki six wasn't
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: laughing anymore. Actually, yes he was, because Nicki was fucked up,
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: drunk on whiskey, high on pills, reveling and being stupid
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: and engaging in his definition of fun and not making
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: excuses for any of it. But He's man whom Nicky
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: had hurled the Jack Daniel's bottle at was there too,
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: pointing at him, outing him to the cops, and they
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: put Nicki in handcuffs and took him in immediately to
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: the police station, where he was tossed into a cramped cell.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: It wasn't long until Tokyo's Chief of Police made an appearance.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: And this guy didn't want an autograph, and he didn't
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: want to keep Nicki locked up forever either. Polly wanted
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: was an apology. The translator sitting between Nicki and the chief,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: communicated this request to Nikki and Nicki moulded over for
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: a moment and then said to the translator, ask the
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: chief this, ask him if my balls were on your chin,
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: then where would my dick be. The translator blushed and
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: Nicki grinned, and the police chief followed his brow and
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: asked what Nikki had said. The translator composed himself, turned
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: to the chief and told him that Nicki had said
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: he was very sorry for what had happened and didn't
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: mean any disrespect. The chief gave a curt nod. He
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: was satisfied, and Nikki six was set free on an
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: apology he never made. Within a few days after playing
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: to thousands of screaming fans in Japan, Nicki six and
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: Motley Cruze were back home, back in Los Angeles, where
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: the familiar sights and smells brought out familiar urges, strippers,
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: porn stars and boku, alcohol at Ricky Ragman's cathouse, Club,
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: cocaine and the limousine, tooling up to the sunset strip,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: and heroin courtesy of a friend. Nicky's friend slash in
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: the logic of an addict choosing to not hit up
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: your own dealer and instead procuring heroin from a dealer.
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: You don't know a dealer who provides goods to your
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: friend's friend. It's logic that says, hey, you're just ordering
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: something on the side here, because if you order from
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: your guide, then of course that's a rabbit hole where
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: you start ordering on the regular again and then before
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: you know it, you're hallucinating people who aren't there. But
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: this having your boy Slash talk to this guy and
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: then scoring from Slash his dealer, that's just a one off, brother,
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: that's a lark. This was a logic that led Nicky
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: six into Slash hotel room at the Franklin Plaza just
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: two days before Christmas on December twenty third, nineteen eighty seven,
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: along with a group of friends, including Nicky's limo driver
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: and Slash, his girlfriend at the time, Sally. Nicky wasn't
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: already fucked up to begin with, so he had the
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: dealer shoot him up, and the junk turned him catatonic.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: Nicky curled up into a fetal position on the floor,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: a skinny ball of hair and tattoos. The dealer then
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: noticed that Nicky's skin was turning blue. He kneeled down
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: for a better look. He checked for a pulse oh shit, yo,
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: the dealer cried out, Nicky's dead. The dealer jumped out
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: of the hotel window and I mean that literally, go
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: look it up, and disappeared down the street. Sally started
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: giving Nicky mouth to mouth and it did nothing, so
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: she dragged his body into the bathroom, hoping to get
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: him into the shower and blast him with cold water.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: But Slash, helpless and drunk, went into a blind rage
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: and punched out the shower's glass door, so instead of
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: water from the shower head, Sally and Nicky were showered
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: with broken glass. In frustration, she yelled for someone in
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: the room and call nine to one one, as it
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: was obvious that even such a simple task was impossible
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: for Slash carry out. At the moment. Seconds later, Sally
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: could hear someone else screaming Nicky six is dead into
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: the phone, and looking at Nicky's lifeless body, she couldn't
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: help but agree. It's a strange feeling to wake up
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: in a place you don't recognize, surrounded by doctors and
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: cops and wearing nothing but a pair of your tight
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: leather pants and hooked up to machines that are beeping
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: and humming. You're so disoriented that you rip the tubes
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: and wires from your body, and you yank the ivy
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: from your vein and swing out of bed and on
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: to your feet. You stumble through the halls past nurses
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: and first responders, pass some dude with a bleeding head wound,
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: and another complaining about a car that ran over his foot,
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: and you do it all with one goal in mind,
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: to get yourself out of there. And as you make
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: your way through the darkness of this place, through the
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: smell of death and disease, all the way to the
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: front door, where you finally burst outside, the bright la
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: sunshine suddenly blinding your eyes. You gotta admit it feels
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: like you've just been reborn. Nah, that was a bunch
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: of horseshit reborn to fucking cliche. But then you are
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: a cliche, or more accurately, you're dead, a dead cliche,
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: at least you're supposed to be. That's why there are
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: two teenage girls sitting outside the hospital holding a candlelight
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: vigil in the middle of the day. But you don't
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: know that's why they're doing what they're doing. They see
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: you wobbling forward, no shirt, just those leather pants that
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: lead absolutely nothing to the imagination, and suddenly they stop
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: crying and look like they've seen a ghost. You don't
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: get what all the fusses about, because well, you also
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: didn't bother to check yourself out of the hospital. He
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: asked the girls to give you a lift home in
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: their little mobs the shipbox, and they gladly oblige, and
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: as they drive you back to Van Nuys, you get it.
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: You listen in complete shock as a DJ on the
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: radio gives a full report on the sudden and tragic
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: death of you, Nikki six, at twenty nine years old,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: And for two minutes Niki six was dead. Depending on
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: which version of the story you believe, he was either
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: brought back to life by Guns and Roses drummer Stephen Adler,
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: who said he revived Nikki by getting him in the
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: shower inside Slash's hotel room, or as Nikki himself tells it,
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: he was brought back to life in truly dramatic fashion
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: by the paramedics who rammed syringes loaded with adrenaline into
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: his chest in the back of an ambulance as it
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: raced through the streets at La en route to Cedars Sinai.
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: Just like young Slash once raced on his skateboard down
• 29:55
  Speaker 1: Santa Monica Boulevard to catch Niki's show in London at
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: the Starward. Look, I'm not suggesting that hustling to a
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: rock show involves the same stakes as getting a dead
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: or dying heroin addict to the hospital. But where a
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: Slash little saw Hodson had once craved the stupid and
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: fun aspects of the rock and roll that London and
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: later Matt mccou dished out, Nikki six two found himself
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: in this predicament because of his devotion to the stupid
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: and the fun. And just like there's a fine line
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: between the two, there's an even finer line between stupidity
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: and disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan and this is Disgraceland, all right.
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: I hope you dug this episode. Apple podcast listeners, make
• 30:54
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• 30:56
  Speaker 1: missed an episode of Disgrace LAMD. This week's question of
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: the week is who is the greatest hair metal band
• 31:01
  Speaker 1: of all time? Was it Motleykue or was it someone else?
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: I want to know, school me glam Metalheads, let me know?
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: Six one, seven, nine oh six six six three eight.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: Leave a voicemail or send me a text and be
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: part of the show. We plan read some of your
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: answers on the afterparty bonus episode.
• 31:14
  Speaker 3: That's coming up right after this in your feed.
• 31:16
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• 31:23
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• 31:26
  Speaker 1: and you might win some free merch. Okay, here comes
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: some credits. Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: produced in partnership with Double Elvis. Credits for this episode
• 31:38
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• 31:41
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• 31:45
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• 32:28
  Speaker 1: Don Man.