Formed in 1981, bassist Nikki Six met drummer Tommy Lee through a mutual friend, and decided to form a band together. The two set out to find other members and met guitarist Mick Mars (real name Bob Deal) who was immediately auditioned and hired. Lee then recruited his high school mate Vince Neil, who was still a part of the band Rockandi, to be their lead vocalist. After a bit of apprehension, Neil gave in and joined the trio to form the band you know and love as Mötley Crüe today.
In November 1981 they released their first album “Too Fast For Love” which was entirely produced and released by their own record label Leathür Records and set out on a Canadian tour. Using this forward movement of cult popularity in Los Angeles, their manager at the time, Allan Coffman, helped them obtain a record deal with Elektra Records; which they signed in Spring 1982. The signing meant a re-mastered mix of the album “Too Fast For Love” as well as a new album entitled “Shout At The Devil” in the works, which was consequently released in 1983. A mere two years later, they released a third album, “Theatre of Pain.”
Their quick success was not without consequence however. Their party hard mentalities meant a few run-ins with the law, reaching their first breaking point when Vince Neil crashed his car, resulting in death and severe injury to other passengers. While “Theatre of Pain” was sitting atop the music charts, Neil was found guilty of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence and served time in 1986. If that wasn’t enough, following the release of their fourth album “Girls Girls Girls,” their 1987 tour had to be canceled due to Sixx being found dead from heroin overdose; however, he was revived back to life. Eventually their new managers Doug Thaler and Doc McGhee convinced them to attend rehab and the band took a step out of the spotlight.
A clean and sober band, Mötley Crüe recorded and released “Dr. Feelgood” in 1989 and it shot straight to the charts and stayed for weeks. By October 1991, the band released their first compilation album “Decade of Decadence” which also shot straight to the Billboard charts; however, the 90s was generally not a strong decade for the band. Neil left, was shortly replaced by John Corabi for the release of “Motley Crue” which didn’t meet the commercial expectation as their previous albums. With contractual obligations lived out in 1998, the band took back their catalog, but tensions were still high resulting solo projects by Tommy Lee, Nikki Sixx and Vince Neil.
Luckily things picked back up in the 2000s resulting in a reunion, and release of the “New Tattoo” and “Saints of Los Angeles” (2008). However, this also meant the announcement of their retirement and final tour.
If you’ve read Keith Richards’ autobiography, Life - and I’d thoroughly recommend it if you haven’t - you’ll know all about his attitude to his legendary drug-taking; fairly blase, for the most part, although he also largely insists that he only did them for utilitarian purposes - for the sake of staying up long enough to get songs finished, or to knock him out when there were too many ideas bouncing around his brain. I don’t know if any of the members of Motley Crue have read his book, either, but they’ll likely have treated Richards’ admission that hedonism wasn’t his sole motivating factor as a show of weakness; indeed, hedonism is the very foundation on which the L.A. band were built. There are far more classic tales of rock and roll excess than I can list here - bass player Nikki Sixx once had to be effectively resurrected after a heroin overdose with two shots of adrenaline straight to the heart - and all indications are that the lifestyles that made the Crue one of the most notorious bands in rock and roll history back in the eighties have begun to catch up with them, decades later. They’re currently undertaking what will be their final ever tour, running through to 2015, before retirement; as un-Crue a concept as that seems, though, they’ll be bringing their larger than life personas to the stage with them for one last run through the hits; expect a serious shot of glamorous debauchery from a band that nobody expected to be old before they died.
Joeg_67
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