Mötley Crüe’s The Dirt: Confessions of the World’s Most Notorious Rock Band is, despite my initial assumptions, a really great music book. Even if you haven’t read it, I’m sure you’ve heard the stories about the band hanging out with Ozzy Osbourne, snorting ants and whatnot. Yes, it’s all in there and it is indeed all pretty outrageous. Which makes for a good giggle, and the occasional turned stomach – all perfectly good reasons to read a book if you’re feeling up for something trashy.

But never underestimate The Crüe. The Dirt is more than just sensational ant-snorting. I finished the book with a much better appreciation of where 80s ‘hair-rock’ fits into music history and how it came to be what it was. I’ll admit that, although I love it, I still can’t take that kind of rock completely seriously – but I do understand it better now. And I definitely never expected to find The Crüe (or most of them) oddly endearing; once you get past the drinking and the groupies and the drugs, you get into the regular stuff that makes them human and that stuff is, much to my surprise, way better than all the insane backstage antics.

   Mötley Crüe – Dr. Feelgood