Rock 'n' roll excess

16 April 2008 12:00am

In the world of rock and heavy metal, the top dog is not always the best looking or the lead singer, but who has the best guitar riffs or the most outrageous rock 'n' roll lifestyle.

Take Motley Crue. When you think of the US band, you think of drummer Tommy Lee, with his marriage to Pamela Anderson or bassist Nikki Sixx, who only just survived his drug excesses.

As the original Crue line-up announce Crue Fest - a major tour of America in the summer - we look at them and other notable rockers who have enjoyed the wilder side of life.

:: Tommy Lee

The Motley Crue drummer is known for living the sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll mantra to the letter.

As well as his much publicised marriage to Baywatch babe Pammy, Tommy has also tied the knot with Heather Locklear and lived with the model and actress Bobbie Brown.

Tommy and a bikini-clad Pammy married on the beach after knowing each other for only a few days. However, their relationship was doomed to failure, although not before their infamous sex tape, later entitled Stolen Honeymoon, was widely circulated

The couple divorced in 1998, after Tommy spent time in jail for kicking his wife. His sentence was extended after he was sentenced for attacking a security guard at one of his concerts.

In 2002, Pammy's people announced that she had hepatitis C, and said she contracted the disease by sharing a tattoo needle with Tommy.

:: Nikki Sixx

Tommy's bandmate, bassist and songwriter Nikki Sixx had his first taste of trouble when he was expelled from school for selling drugs and he ran away to LA to form the band.

He needed adrenaline shots to revive him after he nearly died from a heroin overdose in 1987 - an incident which later provided the inspiration for the song, Kickstart My Heart.

Nikki has been married to two former Playboy playmates; Brandi Brandt and Donna D'Errico.

:: Ozzy Osbourne

The Black Sabbath vocalist has been dubbed the "godfather of heavy metal" but it is his off-stage antics that have gained him fame.

After the band's massive success in the 1970s, Ozzy was fired because of his unreliability because of drink and drugs.

He always been a controversial character, facing a lawsuit over the 1985 suicide death of a Californian teenager which the boy's parents claimed had happened while he was listening to Ozzy's track Suicide Solution. The case was overturned.

He has been accused of biting the head off a dove, and has admitted that, at the height of his drug addiction, he shot the family pets.

In 1989, things came to a head when he was arrested for the attempted murder of his wife Sharon while under the influence. He went into rehab and Sharon dropped the charges.

In December, 2003, Ozzy needed emergency surgery after an accident involving an all-terrain vehicle on his estate in Buckinghamshire.

:: Anthony Kiedis

Perhaps the baddest bad boy in rock, Anthony was apparently taking heroin by the time he was 14.

In his 2004 autobiography Scartissue, the Red Hot Chili Peppers' frontman tells how his drug dealer father first introduced him to narcotics by mashing them into bananas.

In 1988, he vowed to kick his drug habit after the death of Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak.

He has reportedly had relationships with the actress Ione Skye, singer Sinead O'Connor and director Sofia Coppola.

The musician is widely suspected to have nine lives. He broke his back attempting to dive from the roof of a five-storey building into a swimming pool.

© The Press Association