Mötley Crüe History
Mötley Crüe was formed in January, 1981 (see 1981
in music), in Los Angeles, after bassist Nikki Sixx left the
band London, (a band he and Lizzie Grey started in 1979 when
he was fired from Blackie Lawless' band Sister). The band London
would also be the first band for the later Guns N' Roses guitarists
Izzy Stradlin and Slash and for Cinderella drummer Fred Coury.
Sixx inquired with his London bandmate Greg Leon if he knew
of any musicians who could join the new band he was intent on
forming. Leon recommended the drummer of one of his previous
bands, Suite 19; its drummer, Tommy Lee.
According to Mick Mars, it was he who thought up 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." Mars 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 Sixx and Tommy Lee.
They had met guitarist Mick Mars through the classified-ads
section of an L.A. music newspaper. His ad said: "Loud,
rude, aggressive guitarist available." Nikki's first reaction
was, "I can't believe it! Here's another one like us!"
Mars's equipment was quickly set up and, shortly after he was
played 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, Mars fired the band's former guitarist, a musician known
only as Robin.
Tommy Lee and Vince Neil originally knew each other through
highschool. They had performed in different bands in the garage-band
circuit. Before hiring Neil, the band had a singer by the name
of O'Dean, who did not stay long in the band. After complaining
how O'Dean was not right for the band, Mars suggested that they
hire Vince Neil; he had previously seen Neil perform in the
band Rock Candi.
Neil at first rebuffed the band when they asked him to audition.
Then, as fate would have it, Rock Candi dissolved; Neil broke
down and agreed to audition for Motley Crue after Tommy called
him once more.
Now the four original members were together. They played in
Los Angeles and Hollywood for a while, catching fire wherever
they went. They soon met their first manager, Allan Coffman,
who was a former Vietnam veteran. 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.
In November, 1981, their debut album Too Fast for Love was self-produced
and released on Leathür Records, selling 20,000 copies.
Their success in the Los Angeles club scene earned them in early
1982 a recording contract with Elektra Records. The debut album
was then remastered by producer Roy Thomas Baker and re-released
on August 20, 1982.
Motley Crue Changes Management
In 1982, 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.
After playing the US Festival, the band took the United States
by storm, known as much for their hedonistic lifestyle 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 (1983),
Theatre of Pain (1985), and Girls, Girls, Girls (1987).
The band has also had their share of scrapes with the law and
life, first with Vince Neil's auto accident in 1984 (which had
a fatality: Razzle Dingley, drummer of Hanoi Rocks); then in
1987, when Nikki Sixx clinically died and came back to life
after a heroin overdose. The band's decadent lifestyle almost
shattered the band, until Doug Thaler and Doc McGhee pulled
an intervention. Shortly after, all the band members underwent
rehabilitation, except for Mars, who cleaned up on his own.
After finding sobriety, Mötley Crüe in 1989 reached
its peak popularity, with the release of their fifth album,
Dr. Feelgood, on September 23, 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.
Changing trends in music and the temporary departure of Neil
from the band in February 1992 caused a decline in Mötley
Crüe's commercial success, although a self-titled 1994
release with new frontman John Corabi (formerly of 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 Neil's manager, Bert Stein, set up a meeting
between Neil, Lee, and Sixx. Agreeing to "leave their egos
at the door," the band recorded [[Generation Swine]]. Although
it debuted at #4, and despite the band's 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.
Motley Crue in the 1990's
In the 1990s, Mötley Crüe was perhaps better known
for the women married by three of its members. Both Lee and
Sixx married former Playboy Playmates and stars on the TV show
Baywatch, Lee to Pamela Anderson and Sixx to Donna D'Errico.
Not to be outdone, Neil married former Playboy centerfold Heidi
Mark. However, only Sixx's marriage has endured the test of
time.
More tragedy would hit the band in the 1990s. In 1994, Neil
suffered his perhaps most crushing blow: losing his daughter
Skylar Neil to cancer. Neil (along with former wife, stripper
and mud wrestler Sharise Ruddell) would later sue the company
Rocketdyne for dumping cancer-causing chemicals near his former
Simi Valley home. Lee, on the other hand, would soon after go
to prison for six months, after being accused of abusing his
then-wife Pamela Anderson.
A Crue Renunion
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,
Sixx announced that he and Neil 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 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." Red, White & Crüe
charted at #6, and has since gone platinum. The tour would become
one of the biggest in 2005, taking many people in the media
by surprise. 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 DVD of tour highlights
is due to be released later in 2005, along with Sixx's long-awaited
book The Heroin Diaries.
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