Nikki Sixx Says Bands Should Always Play Their Hits
Nikki Sixx has made it clear that he dislikes when major artists refuse to play their most famous songs live. Speaking to 103.5 The Arrow in an interview, Sixx said Mötley Crüe believes fans deserve to hear the songs they came for.
Sixx explained that while being in a hugely successful band has many advantages, one downside is having to perform the same hit songs year after year. Some artists grow tired of that. He pointed to a 2022 interview where former Metallica bassist Jason Newsted admitted that playing “Enter Sandman” repeatedly could wear on a performer.
“I liked playing the songs and I could raise myself up for the people to play the songs for them. But ‘Enter Sandman’ for the 1,000th time… it kinda wears on you.”
Mötley Crüe’s 2026 Tour Plans
For Sixx, however, playing the hits is part of the job. Mötley Crüe is set to launch “The Return of the Carnival of Sins” tour on July 17, 2026, in Burgettstown, Pennsylvania. Sixx said the band fully understands that fans want to hear songs like “Kickstart My Heart.”
At the same time, he shared that the band is excited to mix in deeper cuts—some that haven’t been played in years or were never performed live. According to Sixx, that balance keeps the show creative and exciting while still respecting the audience.
“We get in, and we know the fans want to hear the hits. I hate it when a band goes out and doesn’t play their hits, right? I just remember [David] Bowie doing that, and I was like, ‘He’s one of my favorite artists. I don’t want to go hear a bunch of C and D tracks off of records that I love. I want to hear those songs like ‘Rebel Rebel.’ At that point, he was like, ‘I’m so tired of playing the same songs.
“We’re not tired of playing those hits, but we are excited about getting into a set list and diving into some songs that we maybe never played, or haven’t played in a long time, and shaking it up, those type of things. If you’re playing a song from the first album, that’s going to dictate a lot of what production looks like, you know? So, for us, it’s like this moving, creative, ball of energy. It’s super exciting.”
Other Artists Agree With Playing the Hits
Sixx is not alone in this view. In 2023, Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age said bands have an “agreement with the audience” to play their biggest songs, such as “No One Knows,” every night.
Together, these comments highlight an ongoing debate in rock music, but for Nikki Sixx, the answer is simple: fans come first.
“I think especially when something blows up, I can understand perhaps that feeling of it’s overshadowing the rest of what you do and all. But perhaps these are uptown problems, you know? And while I understand bits of that sentiment, I don’t think the end result can be that you deny the sort of world that that song would give you… In the years of doing this, I’ve seen a lot of artists do that — at times they sort of get angry at their own music for doing well, for creating this world.”
