Mickey Avalon

Mickey Avalon endured an upbringing so grueling that it virtually assured a future in rock notoriety. By the close of his teenage years—according to the sparse details he has disclosed—he had already dealt marijuana alongside his mother, battled dependence on heroin and other narcotics, produced graffiti throughout Los Angeles, adopted Orthodox Judaism (his parents being non-observant Jews whose own parents on his father’s side survived Auschwitz), married and welcomed a daughter, sold sex to fund his habit, seen his father pass away, and discovered his sister’s corpse. These experiences supplied plentiful subject matter for the rhymes he began composing once his friend, former MTV VJ Simon Rex, urged him to write original material. Avalon, Rex (recording rhymes as Dirt Nasty), and Armen Melik (aka Andre Legacy) formed the Dyslexic Speedreaders, a brash trio whose tracks delivered a mocking yet frequently salacious portrait of Los Angeles club life and drug use. His live performances, which fused an exaggerated and often indeterminate sexuality echoing the sleazy glam rockers of the 1970s, attracted DJ and budding manager Kev-E-Kev, who promptly helped sell copies of Avalon’s self-titled album—packaged inside newsprint advertising adult services—directly on the sidewalks. The track “Jane Fonda,” boosted by its placement in the HBO series Entourage and its circulation on his MySpace page, drew a growing audience, leading in 2006 to the album’s reissue as the debut release from MySpace Records in partnership with Interscope.