Former MÖTLEY CRÜE singer John Corabi recently completed work on his autobiography. Titled “Horseshoes And Hand Grenades”, it was written wih the help of MÖTLEY CRÜE historian/author Paul Miles, and is due on April 12, 2022 via Rare Bird Books.
In a new interview with Meltdown of Detroit’s WRIF radio station, Corabi stated about his book: “It goes all the way back to, obviously, me being born, but it talks about my parents. My grandparents were first-generation Italians from the Calabria section of Italy. My mother’s side of the family, I talk about them. It talks about me being born, my childhood being very kind of ‘Wonder Years’ — whatever — and then just it completely derailing and falling apart. And it goes into everything. There’s a lot of things that fans don’t know about me — some of my marriages. It talks about, again, my youth, childhood. I dive into the Uncle Jack stories.
“Basically, the book is really kind of a testament to [the fact that] I knew at a very young age that I wanted to do what I’m doing for a living,” he continued. “Now, has it panned out the way that the magazines, the articles — you know, Learjets, limousines and all that other stuff? Probably not. But I’m still pushing forward, still trying to find my slice of the pie. But it’s really kind of a testament to perseverance. And it goes right from the time I took my first breath to maybe a year ago.”
Corabi previously spoke about his upcoming autobiography in a November 2020 interview with the “Thunder Underground” podcast. At the time, he said: “It literally goes from my birth — back to the very beginning. It talks about my side of the family — and my mom’s. My dad’s side of the family came from Italy; my mom’s side of the family came from somewhere in Ireland. And the neighborhood I lived in. And just everything. It goes all the way back. It explains the Uncle Jack. If you’re familiar with the MÖTLEY record [I sang on], you know that [the song ‘Uncle Jack’] was about my uncle, and it goes through all of that shit. Marriages and divorces and infidelities, and then the bands as well. What I was going through trying to get a record, and once I got the record deal. So it’s not just focused on MÖTLEY or one band; it’s literally my life from front to back, right up until now. [It covers] THE DEAD DAISIES — leaving the DAISIES to [going] back to pursuing my solo career, making John Corabi a brand or a household name. And there’s no punches [being pulled]. I know I’m being honest. I know there’s a few people I’m probably gonna piss off — a few ex-wives and whatever. But fuck it. It is what it is. It’s honest.”
Corabi joined CRÜE in 1992 as the replacement for the group’s original singer, Vince Neil, who was dismissed due to personal differences. With Corabi on vocals, MÖTLEY CRÜE released one critically acclaimed full-length CD, which ended up being a commercial failure in the wake of grunge despite a Top 10 placing on the album chart. When Neil returned to the fold in 1997, Corabi was left on his own and formed the band UNION with ex-KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick.
In February 2018, Corabi released a live album of his performance of MÖTLEY CRÜE‘s entire 1994 self-titled album, recorded on October 27, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee. “Live ’94: One Night In Nashville” documents the album in its entirety along with the bonus track “10,000 Miles”, which was originally released as a bonus track on the Japanese version of the “Quaternary” EP.
