I had no idea who Bobbie Brown was when I got a hold of this book, but I've read other biographies and books about 80s rock stars so thought it might be an interesting wee read. To be honest, I still don't really know who Bobbie Brown is. If you know the Warrent song "Cherry Pie", then she's the girl in the video. As far as I'm aware, even after reading the book, that's pretty much as far as her career went.
Bobbie moved to LA from Louisianna to be a model and ended up starring in some hair metal music videos. Her biggest being for Warrent. She then went on to marry and have a kid with the lead singer of the band. After their divorce, she dated Tommy Lee, who proposed and when they broke up, he married Pamela Anderson 4 days later on a beach in Hawaii - now that must have hurt. You're probably wondering why I'm telling you this but it's because that's pretty much all this book is about - Brown moving from one rock star to another. I mean it opens with her picking up a pre-Romeo and Juliet Leo di Capro and complaining he was too sweet in the bedroom for her. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that lifestyle but it's just so monotonous and nothing particularly worth writing a book about.
Obviously, it's rock and roll in the 80s and drugs and alcohol are involved. Brown becomes addicted to various substances and does seem to try to get clean a few times but she really glosses over her trips to rehab. If you're going to write an autobiography then surely this would be important as well, not just discussing how skinny being on speed made you? Another thing that didn't sit right for me is the lack of discussion about her daughter. She is mentioned but never really in detail. Brown seems more wrapped up in her life of partying and drugs and she frequently mentions shipping the kid off to her mothers in Lousianna. I'm not saying Brown was a bad mother, obviously she was battling addiction but this is being discussed looking back and she doesn't seem to show any remorse for the upheavel she caused for her daughter.
What I will credit Brown for is her honesty. She doesn't seem to be sugar-coating things, for example when talking about physical abuse at the hands of her husband or dishing the dirt on the people she's hooked up with (apparently Leo is very well endowed, more so than Tommy Lee).
One thing that does come up are the comparisons to Pammy - they're both busty blonde bombshells and obviously Tommy Lee married one right after breaking up with the other but to me, Brown just seems like a poor comparison. I've never read anything about the life of Pamela Anderson but I used to love her on Baywatch and still quite like her, so maybe I'm biased.
I guess I didn't hate this book - I pretty much read it in two sittings because it's very easy to read and some bits were interesting but I suppose I just found it a bit pointless. Brown doesn't seem to have done anything worthwhile so it seems a bit of a waste of paper writing a book about her life. Nor does she impart any great wisdom so I'm left with this feeling that the book is a bit unecessary.
I'll leave you with the Warrent video as I actually really like this song!
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