During a time when reboots, remakes and bands take one more stab at it, 1990’s rock sensation Pantera, turns out, rejected a Motley Crue band member before one of their tours. It is understandable given the fact Motley was around way before Pantera. Yet still, Motley is undeniably the bigger band. So, who was this band member that was rejected? I know who I think it is. Let’s see if I am right.
As per Ultimate Guitar, recently, former Mötley Crüe, John Corabi, singer, sat down with Andrew Daly for an interview with Ultimate Guitar.
Below, you can find the third and final section of this chat.
What are your memories of that phone call [being called to join Mötley Crüe]?
“Honestly, it all started with me calling Nikki [Sixx] six to say thank you. He had done an interview where he was talking about everything Mötley was doing, and he basically went off on a fucking tangent about how great The Scream was. And I got wind of it, and I was like, ‘Oh, shit. Wow.’ So, I was home to do a show in L.A., and we had a day off, and on the day of our show, I picked the phone up, and I called his management company and said, ‘Hey, this is John Corabi from The Scream. Can I leave a message for Nikki Sixx? Here’s my phone number. Please tell him, ‘Thank you for plugging our band.’
“So, I left the message and never thought I’d heard back, and I was getting ready to head out. But as I was leaving, maybe five minutes later, the phone rang. So, I picked up, and Tommy [Lee] and Nikki said, ‘Hey, man. So, Vince [Neil] is out of the band. Do you want to come down and audition for Mötley Crüe?’ And I thought to myself, ‘Okay, this is weird. What the fuck do I do? This is not what I thought was going to happen.’ So, I came out of it and said, ‘Yeah, sure. I can come down. Just tell me when and where.’
How did you end up joining Mötley Crüe?
“Well, the audition was a few days later, and that was a weird period where I was thinking about everything and what might happen, you know? Okay, so I went down a few days later, I auditioned with them, and it must have gone well because they asked me to come back the next day. So, I went in the next day, I did the same thing for their lawyer, their managers, and a few other people, and that must have gone well because, after that, we sat down and started working on what became ‘Hooligan’s Holiday.’ I think we wrote almost that whole song, and then they all suddenly left the room, and I was like, ‘What the fuck now?’ [Laughs].
“But then they came back and said, ‘Yeah, dude, you’re the singer.’ And I’m like, ‘What? Are you fucking kidding me?’ I gotta be honest with you, dude; I was blown away because my intention was to call Nikki and say, ‘Thank you.’ I had no idea that would lead to me joining Mötley Crüe. And to be honest, again, I was not like a diehard, massive Mötley Crüe fan. And when they called me, I really did think that I would go down, maybe meet the guys and that we would get on well. I thought that maybe The Scream could either do a tour with them or maybe write a song for The Scream’s next record or the next Mötley next record. Me joining Mötley Crüe was the farthest thing from my mind and really did blindside the fuck out of me.”
So, you feel that your record company failed to support Union?
Well, in many ways, yes. Because if somebody goes into the office that day, say, the art department or the PR guy, and they didn’t get a blowjob from their wife the night before, they’re not gonna be totally into it. If people aren’t on their game in this business, the reality is that shit is gonna slip through the cracks. And then there was a political game with Bruce and me where we didn’t fit into any set category. Like, I remember talking with Dime [Bag Darrell] and Vinnie [Paul] from Panthera, and they’re like, ‘Oh, man. You guys fucking rock. We love Union, dude. Come and tour with us.’
The guys in Pantera wanted us to go out with them on tour, but their manager looked at Bruce and me as a couple of ’80s guys and didn’t want their band associated with that. And it was the same thing with other tours we should have been on, but we could never get on. So, we tried to get on with ’80s bands like Poison or Cinderella. And those guys came down to see us, and they loved it to the point where they suggested we go out with them on a summer tour. But when all the promoters got wind of it, they were like, ‘Oh, they don’t fit the bill. Union is a new band.’ So, we didn’t fit in.
