Motley Crue: News, History & Updates

Motley Crue Biography by Greg Prato

Excerpts from Greg’s books for Alternative Nation

MARTIN POPOFF [author, journalist]: Mötley Crüe are important because they are the second coming of Kiss. They’re like the new generation of Kiss, in look and everything—a little bit of makeup and some leather.

RUDY SARZO [Quiet Riot/Ozzy Osbourne/Whitesnake/Dio bassist]: Van Halen was more tongue in cheek, whereas Mötley Crüe were sometimes trying hard to be bad boys. That was the image that they wanted to put across. They were really working hard at it. [Laughs] And of course, they succeeded – on stage, off stage, and in front of the camera. Whereas Van Halen was like, “Hey, this is what we do 24/7 – come to our party.” It’s like the whole world was a big backstage party to them.

WARREN DeMARTINI [Ratt guitarist]: When I moved to LA to join Ratt, Mötley Crüe had just released ‘Too Fast for Love,’ and they were well-known and established in the LA area. That was a very exciting time, because you could still see them in a small place, like the Troubadour or the Whisky. Back then, they would do two shows a night, and people would line up around the block, and stand out there for hours. Robbin [Crosby] was friends with Nikki [Sixx], and we were starting to get known as a group – so we could get in through the backdoor. When we used to see them at the Whisky, there was maybe a couple thousand people who knew who Mötley Crüe were. And we were one of them. So skip ahead to seeing them on TV, that was great.

CHARLIE BENANTE [Anthrax drummer]: It became a revolving door for these hair metal bands to put a ballad on their records, and then do a video for it, because it was a sure thing that it would get played on MTV. It was cheesy. It was just writing the same songs…to me, it all stems from, I want to go back to two bands that did it probably first. The first one would be Journey with the song “Faithfully,” which was one of those types of ballads, and then the next one being Mötley Crüe that did it [“Home Sweet Home”]. And that was it. For me, I just want to close the door.

LONN FRIEND [Rip Magazine Editor, Host of MTV’s Friend at Large news segment]: You’re talking to the guy who broke the news on MTV that Vince had left Mötley Crüe. I had a conversation with Nikki – during the “Primal Scream” record [1991’s ‘Decade of Decadence 81-91’], there was a lot of dissension between the band members. I think there was patience being lost with Vince, and his direction he was going in. They had made a decision that Vince wasn’t going to continue in Mötley Crüe. It was a mutual decision that felt – from where I was, because I had a conversation with Nikki – that they were kind of kicking him out of the band. So I said, “Well, can I go on MTV and do my ‘Headbangers Ball’ spot with that?” I told MTV, and he said, “Yeah. Sure dude.” So I went on MTV and said, “This is a ‘Friend at Large’ exclusive.” The way I worded it was like, “They’re just fed up with Vince and he’s out of the band.” And then I got a phone call later that day, and Sixx says, “Dude, what did you say?!” I said, “I said what you told me to say, that you kicked Vince out.” He said, “No dude! You don’t put it that way! My lawyer’s going crazy!” [Laughs]

But whatever it was, the personalities in the band and the creative direction were splintering at that time, so a change was made. I think creatively, it permitted Mötley Crüe a new direction – especially blending such a strong vocalist and frontman like John Corabi. But it hurt the band as the “archetype ’80s metal group,” because any time you lose a member…very few bands can get back on the horse with a new frontman. AC/DC is rare exception. But I think Vince was so much attached to the image and the aura of Mötley Crüe that they commercially didn’t succeed as well with Corabi – although they made a very strong record [1994’s ‘Mötley Crüe’].

GILBY CLARKE [ex-Guns N’ Roses guitarist]: I was in the same studio when Mötley Crüe was changing – when they got John Corabi and they were doing that record. Number one, I was never a Vince fan, so I still to this day probably think that is my favorite Mötley Crüe record – the one they did with Corabi. I’m OK with bands changing and experimenting. If you don’t have integrity, you don’t last three or four albums. It’s just the way it is. If you’re one of those bands where you’re a joke and you have no integrity, you don’t get to make those many records. So, if you make it past three or four records, you’ve earned the right to try some things and try to do a couple of different things – whether they work or not. And hopefully, you have a long career and you look back and go, “Yeah, maybe we shouldn’t have made ‘The Elder’…but we did it.” [Laughs] At least you tried. It takes balls to try.

EDDIE TRUNK [Radio host, That Metal Show co-host]: A lot of people love the record that Mötley Crüe made with John Corabi. I still have people ask me about it to this day. We just had Mick Mars on ‘That Metal Show,’ and that record just came up in conversation, and Mick said he loved it, and loved having John in the band. I’ve heard Nikki say – and he’s probably pretty “on” about this – that they probably should have changed the name of the band, because Vince’s voice and look was so synonymous with Mötley Crüe. But I’ve got to tell you, I think that no matter what Mötley Crüe would have done at that point, it still would not have been commercially successful.

It’s easy to look at what Mötley Crüe is now, and how big they are, and how they weathered all that storm and came out the other side. But people forget that the backlash to the ’80s [during the ’90s] didn’t discriminate. It didn’t leave out Mötley Crüe, it didn’t leave out to some degree even mega-bands. Everyone got destroyed. And Mötley Crüe was no exception. Mötley Crüe was going out and doing shows where they were lucky if they were pulling 1,500 people back then, 1,000 people. I remember a tour, I don’t remember what year this was, but it was Mötley Crüe and Anthrax was on it – I remember being friends with the guys in Anthrax and they were playing to 800/1,000 people in an arena. So it was a bad time for everybody, and whether Vince stayed or left, it wouldn’t have mattered. Everybody was taking it on the chin, and Mötley Crüe was no exception.

FRANK STALLONE [singer, actor, brother of Sylvester Stallone]: I wasn’t into the hair bands – Ratt and all that stuff. I couldn’t stand that shit. Quiet Riot, I mean, Kevin DuBrow, I said, “Kevin…what are you, on smack? What are you doing?” I hated it. I used to hang out at the same place – the Rainbow. They were a little younger than me. I would say probably the best of them all was Mötley Crüe, as far as a band – if you really listen to them. It was just weird – guys with teased hair and black fingernails, and could be in better shape to wear the clothes they were wearing. When I see guys walk in wearing skin-tight spandex and they’re really in bad shape – like they’ve got cellulite…it doesn’t work, man. You’ve got to come in strong. Yeah, carrying some cottage cheese on a guy isn’t good.

QUOTE SOURCES (CLICK LINKS FOR ORDER INFO):

Martin Popoff: Take It Off: Kiss Truly Unmasked
Rudy Sarzo: MTV Ruled the World: Early Years of Music Video
Warren DeMartini: MTV Ruled the World: Early Years of Music Video
Charlie Benante: Survival of the Fittest: Heavy Metal in the 1990’s
Lonn Friend: Survival of the Fittest: Heavy Metal in the 1990’s
Gilby Clarke: Survival of the Fittest: Heavy Metal in the 1990’s
Eddie Trunk: Survival of the Fittest: Heavy Metal in the 1990’s
Frank Stallone: MTV Ruled the World: Early Years of Music Video