The 80s metal scene was a big part of my life and countless others growing up. That was a time when MTV actually played music videos and the bands over-the-top appearances seemed a perfect marriage with short-form videos.
It was out of this atmosphere that a gorgeous blonde bombshell by the name of Bobbie Brown rose to video infamy like a … well, like the most perfectly formed cherry perched atop a slice of delicious cherry pie!
Although Brown starred in many key videos of the era, it was Warrant‘s innuendo filled “Cherry Pie” that made her the Queen of the 80s!
For many of us at home, she became the girl who many of us dreamed of being with. Little did we know, many of the musicians in the scene also dreamed of being with her. After reading her new book, Dirty Rocker Boys: Love and Lust on the Sunset Strip, I now realize that none of us mere mortals ever stood a chance.
Bobbie really lets it all out in a no-holds-barred fashion in Dirty Rocker Boys, which she co-wrote with Caroline Ryder. The book chronicles her journey from an awkward Louisiana tomboy to a Hollywood party animal and the object of many people’s desires. Through the depths of drugs addiction, lovers, lost loves and stalkers, Bobbie sometimes stumbled, but ultimately seems to have found some sense of peace in allowing herself to feel, care and take life at a little bit of a slower pace.
The book is brutally honest and she really opens herself up to the many judgmental people around who are quick to jump on their soap boxes and preach. I don’t think she gives a damn. I think it’s all a part of the healing process and finding peace within herself, which Bobbie seems to have done. But, wow does she have some awesome stories to tell along the way of getting there!
Bobbie’s not shy about her drug use of multiple substances including a severe addiction with crystal meth. She’s also extremely open about the many famous men that she has either partied with or been involved with including: Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe, Jani Lane of Warrant (to whom Bobby was married), Kevin Costner, Leonardo DiCaprio and others. It’s an eye opener to hear her stories of men practically attacking her like piranha on raw meat whenever they saw her alone. It’s as if they were vultures just circling and waiting for their chance. It also seemed that a lot rockers were very insecure about themselves, which they projected onto the women in their lives. Although at the end of the day, from what Bobbie wrote, it sounds like a lot of them were just downright paranoid that one of their friends was going to stab them in the back and go after their woman, which caused a lot of grief.
The section of her book dealing with her marriage to Jani Lane of Warrant was both touching and heartbreaking to read. Her star did rise, along with the band’s, after her appearance in their video, which led to Brown and Lane to tie the knot and the birth of their daughter Taylar the following year. That in itself was a miracle given the fact that doctors told her she would never be able to conceive. She sheds a lot of light on Jani’s long battle with alcohol addiction which continued right up until his death in 2011. It’s a painful tale and one that will give you chills as well as provoke some tears.
Bobbie’s relationship with Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee was one that originated as a teenage crush and became a reality after she separated from Jani Lane. It was a relationship in which she became engaged to the drummer, but she also saw her life parallel her mom’s abusive relationship to her birth father, Bobby Gene Brown. Ironically, Bobbie was actually responsible for introducing him to her friend Pamela Anderson, whom Tommy would eventually marry four short days after he and Bobbie split up.
The book brings us up to date with the hit reality show Ex-Wives of Rock, in which Bobbie stars alongside her closest friends for the 
past decade: Athena Lee (ex of Scorpions drummer James Kottak & also sister of Tommy Lee), Sharise Neil (ex of Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe) and Susan “Blue” Dixon (ex of Jerry Dixon from Warrant). Bobbie even has a “normal job” working as an assistant at a pet talent agency now. (Note to self: start training my cat to do amazing tricks)
Overall, Dirty Rocker Boys is a great read and a real eye-opener to the road that the music scene can sometimes lead you down. I think a lot of people believed the life that she was living was all glamorous, with champagne and caviar – and it was, but not always. It’s been far from a fairy tale for Bobbie Brown. There has been quite a bit of pain from her early childhood right up until the recent years. But, thankfully Bobbie is in a much different place now and I think it’s a much better place for her. Bobbie is a survivor; all that she’s been through has made her stronger and much more at peace with who she is. Oh yes…and she’s still that gorgeous girl from those videos with that same sense of determination as well, but much wiser.
By: Johnny Price, Managing Senior Journalist
Check back for Johnny’s super fun interview with Bobbie in the January 2014 RockRevolt®Magazine!
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