Mötley Crüe

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Mötley Crüe

Mötley Crüe (IPA pronunciation: ['mɒtli kru]) is a popular American 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 heavy metal and hard rock bands, having sold over 41 million albums worldwide and 24 million records in the US alone. Their ninth studio album is due to be released sometime in 2007.

History

1980s

Mötley Crüe was formed in Los Angeles in 1981, 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. 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 — at that time still performing under his name Bob Alan Deal — through an ad in The Recycler 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!", and Tommy Lee later said in interviews that Mars "came in looking like Cousin Itt from The Addams Family." 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, Sixx and Lee hired Mars, and 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 Kru. 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 (Royal Oak H.S.) in 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 insistence, 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. 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.

File:Mick, Vince & Nikki.jpg
Mick Mars, Vince Neil & Nikki Sixx

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.

Nikki Sixx

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.

In 1994, Vince's daughter Skylar Neil died of 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 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

File:Mick Mars 12.jpg
Mick Mars on stage

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. (Vince Neil reported to ABC on November 6th, 2006 that Oscar winning actor Christopher Walken will make a cameo in the upcoming movie playing the Godfather of Metal, Ozzy Osbourne. Also, Val Kilmer will play David Lee Roth.) 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' favourite original songs plus three new tracks, "If I Die Tomorrow," "Sick Love Song," co-written by Nikki Sixx and James Michael as well as 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.

Legacy of Mötley Crüe

Mötley Crüe are often cited by many contemporary artists as an inspiration. Artists such as Green Day, Moby, Murderdolls, The Living End, Mana, 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 such as Bowling for Soup, Beck, Red Hot Chili Peppers and the Backstreet Boys.

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.

Nikki Sixx's autobiograpy, The Heroin Diaries: A day in the life of a shattered rockstar, is due out in November 2006.

Members

Mötley Crüe band members
(1981-1992)
(1992-1996)
(1996-1998)
(1999-2000)
(2000-2001)
(2001-2004)
(2004-present)

Former members

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)

Discography

Studio albums

Compilations

Live

Other

Singles

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 #51 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 #50 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
January 4, 1992 - Elektra 64818 "Home Sweet Home '91" #37 Decade of Decadence
1994 "Hooligan's Holiday" - #10 #36 Mötley Crüe
1994 - Elektra 66222-2 "Misunderstood" - #24 - Mötley Crüe
1997 "Afraid" - #10 #58 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 #63 Red, White And Crüe
2005 "Sick Love Song" - #22 - Red, White And Crüe

Music videos

Videography

  • MÖTLEY CRÜE: UNCENSORED
  • MÖTLEY CRÜE: DR.FEELGOOD THE VIDEOS
  • MÖTLEY CRÜE: DECADE OF DECADENCE '81-'91
  • BEHIND THE MUSIC: MÖTLEY CRÜE
  • LEWD, CRÜED & TATTOOED
  • MÖTLEY CRÜE: GREATEST VIDEO HITS
  • CLASSIC MÖTLEY CRÜE: UNIVERSAL MASTERS DVD COLLECTION
  • MÖTLEY CRÜE: CARNIVAL OF SINS

Books

  • The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band
  • Motley Crue in the Studio
  • An Education in Rebellion: The Biography of Nikki Sixx
  • Behind the Boards: Vol I
  • What Mötley Crüe Means to Me

Pop culture trivia

  • 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 "/mœtli 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".
  • "One time we saw some hookers, but when we got closer, we realised it was Motley Crue.": James Hetfield about Mötley Crüe.
  • Denis Leary mentions the group on one of the tracks on his CD No Cure For Cancer in a hostile manner. ("Shit, they're STILL alive...And they're probably gonna release a double live album now, GOD-DAMMIT!!!")
  • 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'.
  • 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.
  • 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 "bodyguards."
  • 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.
  • "Shout At The Devil" is one of the songs that appears in the lineup of the music game Guitar Hero II.
  • "Live Wire" appears in the soundtrack of the game Tony Hawk's American Wasteland.
  • In its continuing effort to shed its stodgy image, the New York Stock Exchange invited Mötley Crüe to ring the closing bell on Wednesday March 2, 2005. (Being so hip, the NYSE folks realized they’d never get these dudes out for the 9:30 am opening bell.) Nikki Sixx wanted a souvenir; as they left the podium, he picked up the gavel and slipped it into his pocket.
  • 'Live Wire' was ranked the #17 Greatest Metal Song Of All Time on VH1's 40 Greatest Metal Songs.
  • Tommy Lee has a book called Tommy Land.
  • The band inspired the Aerosmith hit single "Dude (Looks Like a Lady)" for their glam appearance and frequent use of the word "dude".
  • Motley Crue was the first ever major headlining concert at the Steelback Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario on 2006-12-06

See also

External links

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