According to Steven Adler, former Guns N’ Roses drummer and no stranger to chaos himself, those 120 seconds nearly erased Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx from the face of the earth. And yet somehow, impossibly that same night would end with Sixx tearing IVs out of his arms, pulling on leather pants, and escaping the hospital like a man who refused to die.
This isn’t rock mythology. This is a survivor’s memory, retold by Adler with the kind of haunted clarity that only comes from watching death up close.
“He Turned Purple Right in Front of Us”
It was December 23, 1987. The height of the Sunset Strip excess. Cocaine, heroin, alcohol no rules, no brakes, no fear. Until suddenly, there was.
Steven Adler remembers the moment everything stopped.
“Nikki just collapsed,” Adler has said in interviews. “Not dramatic. Not screaming. He just… went down.”
Within seconds, panic replaced the party. Nikki Sixx wasn’t breathing. His lips darkened. His face lost color then gained the wrong kind.
“He turned purple,” Adler recalled. “That’s when you know something is really wrong.”
Paramedics arrived fast, but even they seemed shaken. Sixx had overdosed on heroin so powerful it shut down his system entirely. No pulse. No response.
For two full minutes, Nikki Sixx was clinically dead.
Two Shots Straight to the Heart
What happened next is the stuff of horror films and medical miracles.
Paramedics administered adrenaline. Not a gentle IV drip. Not a cautious injection.
Two shots. Straight into the heart.
Adler remembers watching in disbelief, convinced he was witnessing the end of one of rock’s most infamous figures.
“You don’t forget seeing that,” Adler said. “They hit his chest twice. Hard.”
And then against all odds Nikki Sixx gasped.
A violent inhale. Like life crashing back into a body that wasn’t ready to let go.
The man who had just been dead was suddenly alive.
But the story doesn’t stop there. In true Nikki Sixx fashion, it was only getting started.
Waking Up Furious… and Free
Most people who wake up after being clinically dead stay put. They thank doctors. They rest. They reflect.
Nikki Sixx did none of that.
He woke up furious.
“He ripped the IVs out,” Adler said. “Just yanked them right out of his arms.”
Blood. Chaos. Nurses shouting.
Sixx wasn’t confused he was determined.
Still high. Still wired. Still wearing leather pants.
He stood up, ignored medical staff, and walked out of the hospital.
No discharge papers. No clearance. No fear.
“He just left,” Adler said. “Like, ‘I’m not done yet.’”
It’s one of the most insane hospital escapes in rock history and somehow perfectly on brand.
“Not Ready to Quit”
Later, Nikki Sixx would reflect on that night with brutal honesty. He didn’t see heaven. He didn’t see hell.
He saw emptiness.
And that scared him more than death.
That moment two minutes gone, revived by violence and chemistry became a turning point. Not immediately. Not cleanly. But permanently.
Sixx would later write the song “Kickstart My Heart” inspired directly by that overdose.
The title alone says everything.
A heart that stopped. A heart that needed to be jump-started. A heart that refused to quit.
Steven Adler: “That Could’ve Been Any of Us”
For Steven Adler, the story hits close painfully close.
He’s lived that edge. He’s flirted with the same demons. He’s buried friends who didn’t come back.
“When I talk about Nikki, I’m really talking about all of us,” Adler admitted. “That could’ve been me. That could’ve been anyone back then.”
The ’80s weren’t just loud they were lethal.
Back then, surviving wasn’t guaranteed. It was luck. Timing. Sometimes pure insanity.
Nikki Sixx had all three that night.
A Death That Created a Legend
The irony is brutal: Nikki Sixx didn’t die that night but something else did.
Invincibility.
The myth that rock stars couldn’t fall.
From that moment on, Sixx carried death with him not as a threat, but as a reminder. A spark. A fuel.
“Kickstart My Heart” wasn’t just a hit it was a resurrection anthem. Every pounding beat echoed those two minutes when everything stopped.
Every lyric screamed defiance.
Not today. Not yet. Not me.
Why This Story Still Shocks Decades Later
Even now, decades later, the story refuses to lose its power.
Because it’s not just about drugs. Not just about excess. Not just about rock ‘n’ roll.
It’s about standing on the absolute edge and stepping back.
Steven Adler doesn’t tell this story for shock value. He tells it because he remembers the color of Nikki Sixx’s face. The sound of adrenaline hitting bone. The sight of a man ripping himself free from death and hospital sheets alike.
It was insane,” Adler said. “But it was real.”
And that’s why the story still grips us.
Because for two minutes, Nikki Sixx was gone.
And when he came back, he didn’t whisper.
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