Why Is Coke Glamorous and Heroin Scary?
Reviewed: “The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star by Nikki Sixx (Pocket Books). Bad books can still be important. This one, which is so bad it’s unintentionally funny, still represents an epochal cultural moment: the final trickle-down of a formerly elitist narrative invented by Lord Byron, the wildly talented English 18th century poet, into a sleazy plotline used and abused by a man representing the very bottom of the demographic pyramid — Nikki Sixx, bass guitarist of ’80s rock band Mötley Crüe. George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824), was, among other things, the greatest English poet of the past two centuries, recognized as such everywhere except England and America. He was also the first and finest incarnation of the self-destructive superstar. In fact, stardom didn’t just happen; it was invented by Byron. He showed the rest of the world how to be a star — the whole storyline of early fame, wild decadence, bitter exile and a lonely, heroic death. Byron’s d
