Motley Crue ‘Betrayed’ Rock Legend With Insult

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Carmine Appice says that it pissed him off when Nikki Sixx called him “a washed-up drummer” in response to comments he made about Mick Mars’s exit from Motley Crue.

The split seemed amicable enough until last month when Mars sued the band for his share of the profits, accusing bassist Nikki Sixx of “gaslighting” him into thinking that his mental faculties were declining and that memory loss was preventing him from playing the songs properly. Mars also added that the hair metal legends extensively used backing tracks, claiming that Nikki didn’t play live at well, something that the guitarist was opposed to.

Crue also addressed the issue with a counterstatement reiterating that the guitarist was unfit to perform and stating that there were no backing tracks involved in their performances, which led to many fans and musicians becoming divided between both parties.

Motley Crue’s decision to hire John 5 to replace Mick Mars, the group’s founding guitarist. Mars recently announced his retirement from touring with Motley Crue last October as a result of worsening health issues.

When Mars announced his retirement from touring with Motley Crue, he maintained that he would remain a member of the band, with John 5 taking his place on the road. However, earlier this month the 71-year-old musician filed a lawsuit against Crue in Los Angeles County’s Superior Court claiming that, after his announcement, the rest of Crue tried to remove him as a significant stakeholder in the group’s corporation and business holdings via a shareholders’ meeting.

Now, during a May 15 appearance on SiriusXM’s “Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk”, Carmine was asked if he had anything to add to everything that had been said between all the parties. He responded:

“Everything that I said, Mick pretty much backed it up with his lawsuit. I was just doing an interview, like we’re talking. And when I do interviews, I’m pretty candid. Mick told me that stuff, and I didn’t mean it to go out of proportion like that.”

“The thing for me is I knew Nikki since they opened up for Ozzy [Osbourne],” he continued. “And when they opened up for Ozzy, I’m like the kind of guy, when I’m on a headlining tour, I befriend the opening act. Like Led Zeppelin with Vanilla Fudge, I befriended John Bonham and all the guys. Same thing here. I was friends with these guys. Nikki used to live around the corner from me in L.A. We used to go out for breakfast at this ’50s café, and we were friends. Even their title ‘Raise Your Hands To Rock’ on that [third] album [‘Theatre Of Pain’], that was my title. I told him we were working on a song, ‘Raise Your Hands To Rock’, with King Kobra And he said, ‘Oh, man. I love that title. Do you mind if I steal it?’ I go, ‘Oh, come on, dude.’ So he gave me credit: ‘Thank you’ for the initials, ‘Raise Your Hands To Rock’. And we were friends. So to hear him talk about me like that, it kind of pissed me off. But it is what it is. And I read all these things about other musicians talking about him. I said, ‘Wow, I didn’t realize everyone had hatred for this guy.’ I haven’t seen him or talked to him in years. Same with Tommy [Lee, Motley Crue]. Tommy and I used to hang out when he was married to Heather [Locklear] and Pam [Anderson]… And I haven’t seen him for ages.”