During a recent interview on “This is Metal,” Alan Niven (best known as the former manager of Guns N’ Roses) spoke about working with Mötley Crüe during the time when they released their 1981 album “Too Fast for Love.”
Recalling why he got involved with the Vince Neil fronted band, Niven said:
“The first band I signed was called Mötley Crüe. Are they my favorite band in the world? No. Am I thrilled with the way that they went through life, which, from my opinionated point of view, is as brutish entertainers? I feel ambivalent about that, for who they are, and the way that they treat people, women in particular.
“On the other hand, when a tape was put into my hand and somebody said, ‘Would you please evaluate it and see if we should get involved?’, I went home and listened to it. I went, ‘This record is something of a sonic trainwreck. It’s not that well recorded and produced, and it’s not that well arranged. But it’s got an attitude, and on top of that, it has a great little rock ‘n’ roll song on it, ‘Piece of Your Action.’
“And for me, at that moment, that was like manna from heaven where I was working. That, to me, was like, ‘Yes, this is a possibility of being involved in something that will reach a wider audience.’ Because survival, as a record distributor or whatever you’re doing in the music business, [is in] how many people you reach, how many people vote with their wallets, and actually buy your record or go to your performance.
“That’s your level of survival. So, I wouldn’t necessarily have picked Mötley Crüe as my optimum signing, but they were there, and no one else wanted them, so I went, ‘Guess what? I’m going to take them on. I’m going to sign them, and I think we can get somewhere.'”
