Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe (pronounced as /MOT-lee kroo/) is a popular
American hard rock band from
Los Angeles, California. The band is made up of
Nikki Sixx,
Tommy Lee,
Mick Mars, and
Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe is considered one of the most successful American
hard rock bands, having sold over 41 million albums worldwide and 24 million records in the US alone.
1980s
Mötley Crüe was formed in
1981, in
Los Angeles, after bassist
Nikki Sixx left the band London, which he and Lizzie Grey had started in
1979 after he was fired from
Blackie Lawless' band Sister. London was also the first band for
Guns N' Roses guitarists
Izzy Stradlin and
Slash, as well as
Cinderella drummer
Fred Coury. They are, today, most famous for their single "Girls Girls Girls".
Drummer
Tommy Lee was in a band called Suite 19 with vocalist/guitarist
Greg Leon, who would later replace
Randy Rhoads in
Quiet Riot. Nikki and Tommy decided to play together, but Leon declined.
Nikki and Tommy met guitarist
Mick Mars â€" at that time still performing under his name Bob Alan Deal â€" through a classified ad in an L.A. music newspaper reading "Loud, rude, aggressive guitarist available." When they first met Mick, Nikki's first reaction was, "I can't believe it! Here's another one like us!" Mick's equipment was quickly set up and shortly after, he was playing the opening riff to "Stick to Your Guns". Mars proceeded to, according to Tommy Lee, "play the shit out of his guitar." After getting drunk and jamming for an hour, Mick fired the band's guitarist, who was a musician known only as Robin (a "pansy" according to Lee).
It was Mick who came up with the band's name. While in his former band, White Horse, one of the band members walked in and called the group "a motley looking crew." Mick copied the name down on paper, with the original spelling Mottley cru. The name was later applied to the band he was to join in 1981 with Nikki and Tommy. However, there is much talk about the band floating the name "Christmas" before they settled on Mötley Crüe. According to Nikki in the band's
VH1 "
Behind The Music" episode, it was his suggestion, thinking that a familiar, popular word for a name would attract fans by itself.
Tommy and
Vince Neil originally knew each other in high school (South Hills H.S.) in West Covina. They had performed in different bands in the garage-band circuit. Mick suggested Mötley Crüe hire Vince after seeing him perform with the band Rock Candy at the Starwood in Hollywood.
At first Vince rebuffed the band when they asked him to audition. Then, as fate would have it, Rock Candy dissolved; Vince broke down and agreed to audition for Mötley Crüe after Tommy called him once more.
They soon met their first manager, Allan Coffman. Coffman's brother-in-law was one of the band's roadies, Robert "Stick" Crouch, and Coffman owned a contracting company in Grass Valley, CA and was looking to invest some money in an entertainment venture. The band's first release was the single "Stick to Your Guns/Toast of the Town," which was released on their own label,
Leathür Records, which had a pressing & distribution deal with Greenworld Distribution in Torrance. In November 1981, their debut album
Too Fast for Love was self-produced and released on Leathür, selling 20,000 copies. Coffman, and his assistant
Eric Greif, set up a tour of Canada, while using the band's success in the Los Angeles club scene to negotiate with several record labels, eventually signing a recording contract with
Elektra Records in late Spring
1982. At Elektra's insistance, the debut album was then re-mixed by producer Roy Thomas Baker and re-released on
August 20, 1982, two months after its Canadian WEA release using the original Leathür mixes, to coincide with the tour. The Canadian jaunt had the desired effect as national headlines were the result of the band being arrested at Edmonton International Airport for trying to enter the country wearing their spiked stage gear, and Edmonton Police being called for a "bomb on the stage" hoax arranged by Greif.
In 1983, the band changed management from Allan Coffman to Doug Thaler and
Doc McGhee. McGhee is best known for managing
KISS, starting with their reunion tour in 1996. Greif subsequently sued all parties in a Los Angeles Superior Court action that dragged on for several years, and coincidentally later re-surfaced as manager of Nikki's former band, London (D'Priest). Coffman himself was sued by a couple of investors for whom he had sold 'stock in the band', including Michigan-based Bill Larson. Coffman eventually declared bankruptcy, as he had mortgaged his home at least three times to cover band expenses.
After playing the
US Festival, the band took the United States by storm. They were known as much for their backstage groupie antics, outrageous clothing, extreme high-heeled boots, heavy make-up, and seemingly endless abuse of
alcohol and
drugs as for their music. Their mixture of metal and
glam rock stylings produced several massive-selling albums during the
1980s, including
Shout at the Devil (October 15, 1983),
Theatre of Pain (July 13, 1985), and
Girls, Girls, Girls (June 13, 1987).
The band has also had their share of scrapes with the law and life. In 1984, Vince wrecked his car on his way to the liquor store. He was in a head-on collision, and his passenger,
Hanoi Rocks drummer
Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley, was killed. Vince, charged with a DUI and vehicular manslaughter, was sentenced to 30 days in jail (though he only spent 18 days). In 1987, Nikki suffered a near-fatal heroin overdose. He was declared legally dead on the way to the hospital, but one medic refused to give up and gave Nikki two shots of adrenaline to the heart, bringing him back to life. His few minutes in death were the inspiration for the band's song "Kickstart My Heart," which peaked at #18 on the Mainstream U.S. chart, and was featured on their album
Dr. Feelgood. Their decadent lifestyles almost shattered the band, until Doug Thaler and Doc McGhee pulled an intervention, and refused to allow the band to tour in Europe, fearing that "some [of them] would come back in bodybags". Shortly after, all the band members underwent rehabilitation, except for Mick, who cleaned up on his own.
After finding sobriety in 1989, Mötley Crüe reached its peak popularity with the release of their fifth album,
Dr. Feelgood, on
September 1,
1989. On
October 14 of that year, it became their only No. 1 album and stayed on the charts for 109 weeks after its release.
Doc McGhee was fired in 1989 after breaking several promises to the band in relation to the Moscow Music Peace Festival.
1990s
On October 14, 1991 the band's 6th album
Decade Of Decadence was released. It was supposed to be just something for the fans while they worked on the next "all new" album. Unfortunately though, Vince was fired from the band in February
1992. This caused a major decline in Mötley Crüe's commercial success, although a self-titled March
1994 release with new frontman
John Corabi (formerly of
Angora and
The Scream) made the top ten. Doug Thaler would manage the band alone until 1994, after the band did a mass-firing when their album,
Mötley Crüe, failed to meet commercial expectations.
The band reunited in
1997, after their current manager, Allen Kovac, and Vince's manager, Bert Stein, set up a meeting between Vince, Tommy, and Nikki. Agreeing to "leave their egos at the door," the band released
Generation Swine. Although it debuted at #4, and despite the band performing at the
American Music Awards, the album was a commercial failure, due in part to their label Elektra Records' lack of support. The band soon left Elektra and created their own label, Mötley Records.
In the
1990s, Mötley Crüe was perhaps better known for the women married by three of its members. Both Tommy and Nikki married former
Playboy Playmates and stars on the TV show
Baywatch. Tommy married
Pamela Anderson and Nikki wed
Donna D'Errico. Not to be outdone, Vince married former
Playboy centerfold
Heidi Mark. Both Tommy's and Vince's marriages ended in divorce, and Donna D'Errico filed for divorce from Nikki in early 2006.
More tragedy would hit the band in the
1990s. In 1994, Vince suffered perhaps his most crushing blow when his daughter
Skylar Neil succumbed to cancer. Vince along with former wife, stripper and mud wrestler, Sharise Ruddell, would later sue the company
Rocketdyne for dumping cancer-causing chemicals near their former Simi Valley home. Tommy, on the other hand, would go to prison for six months after being accused of abusing his then-wife Pamela Anderson.
In
1998, Mötley Crüe's contractual ties with Elektra Records had expired putting the band in total control of their future. This included the ownership of the masters of all their albums. In announcing the end of their relationship with Elektra Records, the band became one of the few groups in history to own and control their publishing and catalogue of recorded masters. In
1999, the band re-released all their albums, dubbed as
Crücial Crüe. The limited-edition digital re-masters included demos and previously unreleased tracks.
In
1999, Tommy left the band to pursue a solo career due to increasing bad tension between himself and frontman Vince. He was replaced by
Randy Castillo, who drummed on several
Ozzy Osbourne albums. Randy died of
cancer on
March 26,
2002. No replacement had been named which sent the band into a hiatus following a
2001 tour in support of their most recent studio release,
New Tattoo.
New Tattoo charted at #41 and sold less than 150,000 copies. Drummer
Samantha Maloney filled in on drums during the tour for this album. (This served to be a bad idea, as it's been rumoured that Nikki and Sam had an affair and then-wife Donna found out about it.) She is perhaps best known for her work with
Courtney Love after she replaced original
Hole drummer Patty Schemel in 1998. Samantha later toured with Love in 2004 in support of the latter's solo album
America's Sweetheart. The Crüe released the DVD
Lewd, Crüed & Tattooed after a performance in Salt Lake City.
2000s
|
Mick Mars on stage yesterday |
Within the following six years, Nikki played in the bands 58 and
Brides of Destruction, while Tommy formed
Methods of Mayhem and performed as a solo artist. Vince continued touring on an annual basis as a solo artist, singing mostly Mötley Crüe songs. Mick, who suffers from a degenerative back condition called
ankylosing spondylitis, went into seclusion in 2001.
A
2001 autobiography entitled
The Dirt told their full story. The book made the top ten on the
New York Times best-seller list. It also introduced the band to a whole new generation of fans.
The Dirt has become a sacred text and "bible" for rockers all over the world and is set to become a major motion picture through Paramount and MTV Films. A later book,
Tommyland, which was co-written by Tommy, was released in 2004.
A promoter in
England, Mags Revell, started the ball rolling for Mötley Crüe's reunion when he started a promotion that basically revealed how fans wanted the band to reunite. After meeting with management several times, in September
2004, Nikki announced that he and Vince had returned to the studio and had begun recording new material. In December
2004, the four original members announced a reunion tour which began February 14, 2005, in
San Juan, Puerto Rico. The band's latest compilation album,
Red, White & Crüe, was released in February 2005. It features the band members' favorite original songs plus three new tracks, "If I Die Tomorrow," "Sick Love Song," and a cover of
The Rolling Stones' classic "Street Fighting Man." A small controversy was caused when it was suggested that neither Tommy nor Mick played on the new tracks (duties were supposedly handled by Vandals drummer Josh Freese and ex-Beautiful Creatures guitarist DJ Ashba). However, a VH1 documentary of the band reuniting would later show that Tommy Lee did indeed play on some of the tracks. The Japanese release of Red, White, & Crüe, includes an extra new track titled "I'm a Liar (and That's the Truth).
Red, White & Crüe charted at #6, and has since gone platinum.
The tour itself took many people in the media by surprise by becoming one of the biggest in 2005, grossing $33 million and making it the 8th biggest money maker for the year. The band had to add a second leg of sixty additional dates to meet fan demand. This ongoing tour included performances at the
KROQ Weenie Roast and
Live 8. A live DVD called
Carnival of Sins, filmed in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was released on October 25th 2005. Also, on December 10th 2005 in
Perth,
Western Australia, Mötley Crüe along with
Motörhead played an encore together onstage of "
Anarchy in the U.K.", a worldwide first. On December 31st 2005, Mötley Crüe played the
Crüe Year's Evil show in Detroit, MI.
Nikki's long-awaited book
The Heroin Diaries is set to be released in 2006. On
January 26th 2006 the band was awarded a star of the
Hollywood Walk of Fame, on occasion of their 25th anniversary. As of January 2006, they are set to return to the studio in May 2006 to record a new album with long-time producer,
Bob Rock.
On Monday, June 19th, Motley.com reported that Mötley Crüe will co-headline The
Route of All Evil Tour tour with
Aerosmith. The band promises a new bag of tricks with massive production and pyro. The tour will start in
Columbus, Ohio on September 5th.
Mötley Crüe were often regarded as '
hair metal' and compared to their peers such as
Warrant,
Poison,
Whitesnake and
Faster Pussycat. But one could argue that Mötley Crüe's music was in reality much closer to 1970's hard rock pioneers like
Cheap Trick and the
New York Dolls. These bands such as Poison were formed in a response to success of Mötley Crüe and owe much to them. As such, being labelled 'hair metal' led Mötley Crüe to be critically panned by the music industry throughout the 1980s, despite being one of the key architects in 80s rock and roll and having amassed a legion of fans.
Mötley Crüe are often cited by many contemporary artists as an inspiration. Artists such as
Green Day,
Moby,
Murderdolls The Living End ,
Wednesday 13 and
Marilyn Manson have praised them in recent years, most notably for
Too Fast For Love and
Shout At The Devil. They've also been parodied for their early
glam rock look in music videos by a variety of artists.
In the
Beavis and Butt-Head movie, it is revealed that the duo's fathers were Mötley Crüe roadies.
Besides music, Mötley Crüe also set the scale for decadent rock and roll behavior. Since the release of "The Dirt", the band has been known as one of the most decadent and self-destructive groups in rock music history, if not the most.
*
Vince Neil - vocals/guitars (
1981-
1992,
1997-present)
*
Mick Mars - guitar (
1981-present)
*
Nikki Sixx - bass (
1981-present)
*
Tommy Lee - drums (
1981-
1999,
2004-present)
Former members
*
Greg Leon - guitar (
1981)
*
Robin - guitars (
1981)
*
O'Dean - vocals (
1981)
*
John Corabi - vocals (
1992-
1996)
*
Randy Castillo - drums (
1999-
2000)
*
Samantha Maloney - drums (
2000)
Temporary players
* Harvey Warren - drums (
2006) (Played April 5 at the Enmax Center in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada when Tommy was injured)
* Will Hunt - drums (2006) (filled in for injured Lee on the last few dates of their just-completed North American tour)
Studio albums
Image:Too Fast.jpg|Too Fast for Love
(November 10, 1981) Leathur
(August 20, 1982)
Elektra 60174
#77 U.S.Image:Mötley Crüe Shout at the Devil.jpg|Shout At The Devil
(September 26, 1983) Elektra 60289
#17 U.S.Image:Theatre of Pain.jpg|Theatre of Pain
(June 21, 1985)
Elektra 60418
#7 U.S., #36 U.K.Image:Girls, Girls, Girls.jpg|Girls, Girls, Girls
(May 15, 1987)
Elektra 60725
#2 U.S., #14 U.K.Image:MotleyCrueDr. Feelgood.jpg|Dr. Feelgood
(September 1, 1989)
Elektra 60829
#1 U.S., #4 U.K.Image:Mötley Crüe.jpg|Mötley Crüe
(March 15, 1994)
#7 U.S., #17 U.K.Image:Gencover.jpg|Generation Swine
(1997)
#4 U.S.Image:New Tatoo.jpg|New Tattoo
(2000)
#41 U.S.There is also Supersonic & Demonic Relics (63985-78031-2).
Compilations
*
Raw Tracks (
1988);
*
Raw Tracks vol. 2 (1990);
* Decade of Decadence (October 14, 1991, best of 1981-1991); #2 US, #20 UK
* Quaternary (1994);
* Greatest Hits (1998); Best of 1980-1998; #20 US
* Supersonic and Demonic Relics (1999)
* Music to Crash Your Car To, Vol. 1 (2003);
* Music to Crash Your Car To, Vol. 2 (2004);
* Loud as F*@k (2004, best of box set including DVD)
* Red, White and Crüe'' (2005); #6 US
Live
*
Live: Entertainment or Death (
1999); #133 US
*
Carnival Of Sins â€" Live: Volume 1 (Wal-Mart Exclusive) 2006
*
Carnival Of Sins - Live: Volume 2 (Wal-Mart Exclusive) 2006
Other
*
Quaternary (
1994, mail-away)
| Year, Label & Catalog # | Title | Chart positions | Album | |US Hot 100| US Mainstream Rock | UK |
| August 16, 1982 Elektra | "Live Wire" / "Take Me To The Top" & "Merry-Go-Round" | - | | - | Too Fast For Love |
| January 4, 1984 Elektra | "Looks That Kill" / "Piece Of Your Action | #54 | - | - | Shout At The Devil |
| April 30, 1984 - Elektra | "Too Young To Fall In Love" / "Merry Go-Round" | #90 | - | - | Shout At The Devil |
| June 24, 1985 - Elektra 7-69625 | "Smokin' In The Boys Room" / Use It Or Lose It | #16 | #7 | - | Theatre Of Pain |
| September 30, 1985 - Elektra 7-69651 | "Home Sweet Home" / Red Hot | #89 | #38 | - | Theatre Of Pain |
| May 11, 1987 - Elektra 7-69465 | "Girls, Girls, Girls" / Sumthin' For Nuthin' | #12 | #20 | #26 | Girls, Girls, Girls |
| August 10, 1987 - Elektra 7-69449 | "Wild Side" / Five Years Dead | "Girls, Girls, Girls |
| October 19, 1987 - Elektra 7-69729 | "You're All I Need" / All In The Name Of... | #83 | - | #23 | Girls, Girls, Girls |
| August 28, 1989 - Elektra 7-69721 | "Dr. Feelgood" / Sticky Sweet | #6 | #7 | - | Dr. Feelgood |
| November 20, 1989 - Elekta 7-69248 | "Kickstart My Heart" / She Goes Down | #27 | #18 | - | Dr. Feelgood |
| March 12, 1990 - Elektra 7-64985 | "Without You" / Slice Of Your Pie | #8 | #11 | #39 | Dr. Feelgood |
| May 28, 1990 - Elektra 7-64962 | "Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)" / Rattlesnake Shake | #19 | #13 | - | Dr. Feelgood |
| August 20, 1990 - Elektra 7-69942 | "Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.)" / Wild Side | #78 | #34 | - | Dr. Feelgood |
| October 10, 1991 | "Primal Scream" | #63 | #21 | #32 | Decade Of Decadence |
| 1994 | "Hooligan's Holiday" | - | #10 | #36 | Mötley Crüe |
| 1994 | "Misunderstood" | - | #24 | - | Mötley Crüe |
| 1997 | "Afraid" | - | #10 | - | Generation Swine |
| 1997 | "Beauty" | - | #37 | - | Generation Swine |
| 1998 | "Bitter Pill" | - | #22 | - | Greatest Hits |
| 1999 | "Teaser" | - | #35 | - | Supersonic And Demonic Relics |
| 2000 | "Hell On High Heels" | - | #13 | - | New Tattoo |
| 2004 | "If I Die Tomorrow" | - | #4 | - | Red, White And Crüe |
| 2005 | "Sick Love Song" | - | #22 | - | Red, White And Crüe |
*Live Wire (
Too Fast For Love )
*Take Me To The Top (
Too Fast For Love )
*Public Enemy #1 (
Too Fast For Love )
*
Looks That Kill (
Shout At The Devil )
*Too Young To Fall In Love (
Shout At The Devil )
*Home Sweet Home (
Theatre Of Pain )
*Smoking In The Boy's Room (
Theatre Of Pain )
*Wild Side (
Girls, Girls, Girls )
*Girls, Girls, Girls (
Girls, Girls, Girls )
*You're All I Need (
Girls, Girls, Girls )
*
Dr. Feelgood (
Dr. Feelgood )
*
Kickstart my Heart (
Dr. Feelgood )
*
Same Ol' Situation (
Dr. Feelgood )
*Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away) (
Dr. Feelgood )
*
Without You (
Dr. Feelgood )
*
Primal Scream (
Decade of Decadence )
*
Home Sweet Home '91 Remix (
Decade of Decadence )
*
Anarchy in the U.K. (
Decade of Decadence )
*Hooligan's Holiday ( Mötley Crüe )
*Misunderstood ( Mötley Crüe )
*Smoke the Sky ( Mötley Crüe )
*
Afraid (
Generation Swine )
*Shout At The Devil 97' (
Generation Swine )
*
Enslaved ( Greatest Hits )
*Hell On High Heels (
New Tattoo )
*
If I Die Tomorrow (
Red, White and Crüe )
*Sick Love Song (
Red, White and Crüe )
*Home Sweet Home feat.
Chester Bennington (Hurricane Relief fund)
MÖTLEY CRÜE: UNCENSOREDMÖTLEY CRÜE: DR.FEELGOOD THE VIDEOSMÖTLEY CRÜE: DECADE OF DECADENCE '81-'91BEHIND THE MUSIC: MÖTLEY CRÜELEWD, CRÜED & TATTOOEDMÖTLEY CRÜE: GREATEST VIDEO HITSCLASSIC MÖTLEY CRÜE: UNIVERSAL MASTERS DVD COLLECTIONMÖTLEY CRÜE: CARNIVAL OF SINS*Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band
*Two fictional Mötley Crüe
roadies in the movie
Beavis and Butthead Do America are unknowingly the fathers of Beavis and Butthead.
*At one Mötley Crüe performance in Germany, the entire audience started chanting "/mÅ"tli kry/". They did this due to the band's use of
umlauts over their name.
*During the band's first international tour, 'Crüesing Through Canada Tour '82' (dubbed the 'I'm in Hell' tour by the band members), there were several widely-publicized incidents. First, the band were arrested and then released at Edmonton International Airport for wearing their spiked stage wardrobe through Customs and for Vince's small carry-on filled with porn magazines (both PR stunts) - considered 'dangerous weapons' and 'indecent material', Customs eventually had the confiscated items destroyed. Second, a spurious 'bomb threat' against the band, playing Scandals Disco in Edmonton, made the front page of the Edmonton Journal where manager Coffman's assistant
Eric Greif was interviewed. This ended up being a PR stunt perpetrated by Greif. Lastly,
Tommy Lee threw a television set from the upper story window of the Sheraton Caravan Hotel. Word was that the band were 'banned for life' from the city.
*
Larry Flynt appears in the music video for "Afraid".
*The album "Theatre of Pain" was originally going to be titled
Entertainment or Death.
*The album "Shout at the Devil" was originally going to be titled
TV & Violence.
*
Tommy Lee and
Pamela Anderson have been married twice, at one wedding, they wore space costumes. At the other Pamela was in a bikini and Tommy was in board shorts. In
1998 when they renewed their wedding vows Tommy was dressed as a 'Knight in Shining Armour'.
*Two of the bands members
Tommy Lee and
Vince Neil have had successful solo careers.
*
Nikki Sixx bought his first bass guitar with money he got from selling a guitar he stole from the same store.
*After
Metallica's infamous battle with
Napster caused major controversy, members of Mötley Crüe decided to cooperate with
Bob Cesca, creator of the
Napster Bad! cartoon, to raise their voice for
MP3 distribution and to promote their upcoming tour and album.
Camp Chaos also created the music video for the song Hell on High Heels, the song available for download at the end of the cartoon. [
1]
*Tommy had a spinning drum set during the Girls, Girls, Girls tour, and a drum set that went out into the audience during the Feelgood tour. During the Carnival of Sins tour, he had two different drum sets high above the stage that he swung back and forth from. He now has hopes of a set-up where his drum set would be on a roller coaster type track.
*Among the names the band members considered before settling on Mötley Crüe were Bad Blood, Suicidal Tendencies, Trouble and CHRISTmas.
*'Home Sweet Home' was ranked the #12 greatest power ballad of all time on
VH1.
*There were rumors floating around that Mick was going to be replaced on the Better Live Than Dead tour, so for the first performance of the tour he came out fully dressed and covered with a mask. According to
Nikki, he could see people in the crowd saying 'That's not Mick'.
*Mötley Crüe was the first band ever to have two singles released at the same time on
MTV, Anarchy In The UK and Primal Scream in 91.
*In 1998 Mötley Crüe performed at
WWF RAW is WAR. Wrestler
Test made his debut on that show, as one of the band's "roadies."
*Every album (except Raw Tracks I & II) has a different "Mötley Crüe" logo.
*Home Sweet Home was the first ever power ballad played on
MTV.
*Dr. Feelgood was ranked the #10 Greatest Air Guitar Song on
VH1.
*Dr. Feelgood was ranked the #46 Big Hair Song of all time on
musicMAX.
*The Dirt spent 10 Months on the
New York Times Best Seller list.
*"Too Young To Fall In Love" appears in the soundtrack of the game
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, in the playlist of heavy metal radio V-Rock.
*
Best selling music artists*
Heavy Metal Umlaut*
Timeline of heavy metal*
Mötley Crüe official website*
Chronological Crue website*
HitSquad website*
Mötley Crüe Videos*
Greg Leon website 
