Mötley Crüe

Be warned! Just when you thought it was safe to come out of the house, the world’s most notorious hard rock band is back, and the story isn’t a pretty one, but this time it has a happy ending. No band has consumed as many drugs and downed as much booze without dying as L.A.’s Mötley Crüe. The Crüe return with Saints of Los Angeles, their first CD with the original line-up -- Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars, Tommy Lee and Vince Neil -- in over a decade and the ninth studio album in their career. Based on the autobiographical events with very personal lyrics, the revealing CD offers tremendous insight into the lives of the rebellious leaders of the “L.A. sleaze rock” movement. The band that defines the L.A. rock scene delivers the soundtrack to that experience inspired by their New York Times best-seller, the must-read book The Dirt.

The new Mötley Records/Eleven Seven Music album is described by chief songwriter Sixx as, “A tale of dirty needles, damaged minds, music industry battles and a whole lotta sex based on our stories from The Dirt.” The band’s 2001 autobiography is currently being developed as a major motion picture.

Saints of Los Angeles is a major event for the band that has sold more than 80 million albums, 25 million in the U.S.A., to date including 1983’s four-million-selling Shout at the Devil, followed by five consecutive Top 10 singles in 1985’s Theatre of Pain (#6), 1987’s platinum-selling Girls, Girls, Girls (#2), 1989’s six-million-selling and chart-topper Dr. Feelgood, 1994’s Mötley Crüe (#7) and 1997’s Gold selling Generation Swine (#4).

“The Crüe is back…and they’re grimier than ever.” (Rolling Stone, May ‘08)

Having survived three decades of decadence and nearly every possible obstacle, including several brought on by themselves, Mötley Crüe now find themselves in a once inconceivable position—that of rock royalty.

After regrouping and headlining their 2005 Carnival of Sins world tour, named by Pollstar as the number seven grossing tour of the year, the platinum two-CD greatest hits package Red, White & Crüe and 2006’s Route of All Evil Tour with Aerosmith, “We needed to make new music,” says Sixx of Saints of Los Angeles. “We’re not a nostalgia act. It seemed to make sense to me to get the bullshit out of the way and just make music. We’ve created our own sound and it was time to do it again.”

Inspired by his experiences writing his own current N.Y. Times best-seller, the critically-acclaimed The Heroin Diaries: A Year in the Life of a Shattered Rock Star, and recording the accompanying soundtrack with his band SIXX:A.M. Nikki turned to his collaborators on that project, James Michael and DJ Ashba, work with, Mick, Tommy and Vince on the new album. The trio co-wrote and co-produced the title track and first single, “Saints of Los Angeles,” inspired, according to Sixx, by the 103 streets named after saints in Los Angeles. The single debuted on AOL Music’s Spinner.com and was the first song ever released simultaneously as a downloadable track for the revolutionary music video game Rock Band and on iTunes on April 15th.

Coinciding with the release of Saints of Los Angeles, Mötley Crüe announced their first-annual Crüe Fest, headlining their own version of the Next Great American Rock Festival. Dubbed “The Loudest Show on Earth” the inaugural tour features several acts poised to ascend to rock’s royal throne: Buckcherry, Papa Roach, Trapt and Nikki’s SIXX:A.M.. The 40-city tour kicks off July 1st in Florida.

The Crüe invited of all the participating Crüe Fest bands to join them on background vocals in the “Saints of Los Angeles” video and on the single.

“Josh Todd from Buckcherry came up to me in the middle of shooting the video, with all these half-naked women and crazy-looking extras running around and said, ‘This is going to be the summer of excess’,” says Tommy Lee. “It’s like we’ll be leaving a trail of panties from coast to coast.”
Regarding the new album’s title, Nikki laughs, “It’s supposed to be sarcastic, because obviously we’re not saints, but we are from the streets of Los Angeles. As a lyricist, I’ve become a story-teller of reality.” Adds Vince Neil, “Much of life is looking back and remembering what happened to you. Let’s share those memories, re-enact them, turn them into songs, plays, movies, books and a soundtrack to life.”

That is just what Saints of Los Angeles does on songs like “Down at the Whisky.”

“When you hear that song, you’re standing on the Sunset Strip somewhere between 1979 and 1981,” says Mick Mars. “You can see it going down. You can smell it. We were there, so it’s nice to be able to share that with people who weren’t. What is was like back then.”

Other new songs include “White Trash Circus,” according to Nikki, “a Mick Mars-inspired sleazy strip club anthem that just drips with grime… I’m excited about that one.”

Sixx describes “Face Down in the Dirt” as “straight-up sarcasm, mixed with anger… there’s a lot of humor on the album because, let’s face it, we’re ridiculously funny.”

That comes through loud and clear on “Chicks = Trouble.” “That’s like Groundhog’s Day in Mötley Crüe land, where we just keep stepping in the same fucking piles of shit. There are piles and we pick ‘em.”

That goes double for “This Ain’t a Love Song (This is a Fuck Song),” which Mick classifies as “a glorious return to the heyday of Shout at the Devil, Girls, Girls, Girls and Dr. Feelgood.“

“It’s snotty and we’re not going to apologize for it,” insists Nikki about the new album. “So let the critics line up with their poison pens and say what they will say, but in the end, they’ll be backstage just like everybody else, wishing to get a glimpse of the decadence.”

Recently named President of Eleven Seven Music, Sixx is raring to go with his new job, sharing his own experiences by guiding other musicians to achieve their goals, creatively and commercially.

Of course, the Crüe have been doing that for 27 years now, and the amazing thing is not that they lived to tell the tale (although that is, in a way, a kind of unholy miracle), it’s that all of their wildly uncontrollable habits are clearly audible in their music, then and now. Just listen to these albums and, if you concentrate hard enough, you can hear the sound of the coke coming off the tables, the squeak of the bed springs, and the sheer sleazy grind of California heavy metal over the last two decades.

Mötley Crüe is also one of the only bands in history to successfully acquire ownership of all their master recordings. In 2003, their wholly owned label, Mötley Records, licensed their catalog to Universal Music and saw reissues of all of their albums as well as the first installment in their box set, Music To Crash Your Car To – Vol. 1, a four-CD set that is the first of three volumes chronicling the band’s storied career, with Volume 2 released 2004. The first-ever greatest hits DVD on the band was also released in 2003, entitled Mötley Crüe: Greatest Video Hits.

In conjunction with the band’s 2005 reunion, their first concerts in six years, VH1 produced a “behind the scenes” documentary showing how the band’s management company, Tenth Street Entertainment, managed to put the feuding group back together. The four original members recorded three new songs for the two-CD anthology album, Red White & Crüe, a platinum record. One of the three songs, “Home Sweet Home,” was accompanied by a video culled from footage of the Hurricane Katrina disaster in New Orleans, helping raise funds for recovery, and became an internet hit. A first-ever Mötley Crüe concert DVD with all four original members documenting the tour, Carnival of Sins, was also released, featuring Tommy Lee’s notorious “tittycam” and the claymation footage from the animated film Disaster which opened the show. In 2006, they were honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and co-headlined with Aerosmith on the Route of All Evil tour.

Mötley Crüe made rock and roll what it is today. Without the Crüe, stadium rock in the 1990s might have been all about Journey, Foreigner, Kansas and REO Speedwagon. And they’re not about to let it happen in 2008, either.

“This is what we need,” says guitarist Mick Mars about the band’s new album Saints of Los Angeles and upcoming Crüe Fest. “Artists dictating what will happen musically. This is not a safe bet, a show for the weak of heart. This is fuckin’ rock and roll. This is what we need.”

And Mötley Crüe is just the band to give it to us.

Mötley Crüe were one of the most influential hair metal bands of the '80s, boasting a striking visual presence and hedonistic reputation rivaled only by Guns N' Roses. By combining Alice Cooper's shock rock with the bluesy, metallic stomp of the New York Dolls and Aerosmith, they helped establish hair metal as a commercial genre, sending their first five albums to platinum status in the process. Such success was at least partially due to Mötley Crüe's reputation as a riotous pack of rabble-rousers, replete with drug addictions, near-death experiences, groupie encounters, and celebrity girlfriends. Of course, that same self-indulgence nearly derailed the band, forcing the musicians to embrace sobriety during the creation of their most successful album to date, 1989's Dr. Feelgood. Like most hair metal bands, Mötley Crüe's album sales waned during the 1990s, as the popularity of grunge overshadowed most of the music that immediately prefaced it. Nevertheless, the band soldiered through the decade with modest success, releasing two gold-selling albums along the way. The new millennium brought similar luck, as Mötley Crüe established themselves as a fashionable touring act (with Crüe Fest becoming the summer's highest-grossing festival in 2008) while continuing to release new material.

Formed in January 1981, Mötley Crüe were originally the pet project of bassist Nikki Sixx (born Frank Ferrana), vocalist/guitarist Greg Leon, and drummer Tommy Lee (born Thomas Lee Bass). Leon was a veteran of the Hollywood scene, having replaced Randy Rhoads in Quiet Riot two years prior. He butted heads with the strong-willed Sixx, however, resulting in his departure from the lineup several months later. Local guitarist Bob "Mick Mars" Deal joined in his place, bringing the moniker "Mottley Krue" with him. After altering the name and adding a pair of umlauts (allegedly in tribute to German beer), the trio began efforts to recruit Vincent Neil Wharton, vocalist for the L.A.-based band Rock Candy. Neil initially refused the advances, only joining the band after his Rock Candy cohorts announced their decision to transform their group into a new wave act. With Vince Neil now on board, Mötley Crüe became a cult favorite on the L.A. circuit, infamously known for such theatrics as setting Sixx's pants on fire midsong.

The band soon secured management with Allan Coffman, who financed recording sessions for a debut album. Initially released in November 1981 by Lethur Records -- a small, independent label launched by Coffman and the band -- Too Fast for Love sold a surprising 20,000 copies. It also prompted a Canadian tour, where the musicians made headlines by wearing their spike-laden stage attire onto the plane, carrying suitcases of pornographic material through airport security, and fielding death threats from incensed fans in Edmonton. Such exposure only served to fuel Mötley Crüe's sensationalist appeal, generating the sort of shocked press coverage that the band desired.

Back at home, Elektra Records had become impressed by the band's popularity in local venues, prompting the label to sign Mötley Crüe before releasing a new, remastered version of Too Fast for Love. Following the band's return to California, Elektra also released the sophomore effort Shout at the Devil in 1983. The video for "Looks That Kill" became an MTV hit, broadcasting the group's glammed-up theatrics to an audience unfamiliar with Mötley Crüe's popularity on the club circuit, and the record went platinum as a result. Shout at the Devil sold an additional million copies in 1984, but the party was brought to a temporary standstill when Vince Neil crashed his car on December 8, killing passenger Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley of Hanoi Rocks. The other victims emerged with broken bones and brain damage, while a relatively unscathed Neil was found guilty of vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence. He was ultimately incarcerated for 15 days in 1986, in addition to performing community service and paying a large cash settlement. By the time Neil was sentenced, however, the band's newest record, Theatre of Pain, had already enjoyed a lengthy stay on the charts, cementing the band's mainstream status and producing Mötley Crüe's first Top 40 hit with a cover of Brownsville Station's "Smokin' in the Boys' Room." Neil's stint in jail was brief, and the band was free to continue its decadent reign.

Under the management of Doug Thaler and Doc McGhee, the latter of whom also managed Bon Jovi, Mötley Crüe's popularity expanded throughout the latter half of the '80s. "Home Sweet Home," a power ballad from Theatre of Pain, yielded another popular music video, while a 44-minute home video cassette entitled Uncensored was issued in 1986 to multi-platinum sales. Meanwhile, Lee married actress Heather Locklear, and the band returned to the studio to record a fourth album, Girls, Girls, Girls. Released during the band's substance-addled heyday in 1987, the album debuted at number two, with the raunchy title track becoming Mötley Crüe's second Top 40 hit. The group quickly embarked on a headlining tour, but the European dates were canceled when Sixx suffered a near-fatal heroin overdose. He was pronounced legally dead en route to the hospital, only to be revived by two shots of adrenaline to the heart. Upon returning home, Sixx immediately shot up once again. Shocked, Thaler and McGhee urged their clients to enter a drug rehabilitation program, and Mötley Crüe remained out of the spotlight while the bandmates cleaned up their act.

They returned in 1989 -- clean and sober this time -- with the release of Dr. Feelgood, a muscled album that became Mötley Crüe's first release to top the Billboard charts. Meanwhile, the title track became the band's first Top Ten hit, and a string of additional singles -- "Kickstart My Heart" (inspired by Sixx's brush with death), "Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)," and "Without You" -- made Dr. Feelgood the most successful Crüe album to date. After another worldwide tour, the compilation album Decade of Decadence arrived in 1991, propelled to multi-platinum status by a new version of "Home Sweet Home" that became the band's final Top 40 hit.

After creating their own record label, Mötley Records, the bandmates signed a renewed contract with Elektra for $25 million. The music industry had begun to devote most of its attention to grunge music, however, and the pressure to keep pace with changing trends took its toll on the band's camaraderie. In 1992, sessions for Mötley Crüe's next album turned ugly, leading to the dismissal (or departure, depending on the source) of Neil, who was replaced by the Scream's John Corabi. The revised band issued Mötley Crüe in 1994, which peaked at number seven in the U.S. and eventually went gold. Such an attempt to embrace a new, grungier sound proved to be a commercial disappointment, however, as did the band's supporting tour. Corabi was fired in 1997 at the label's behest, and Neil returned to the lineup for the release of Generation Swine. The subject of a heavy marketing campaign, Generation Swine debuted at number four, although it failed to generate any significant singles. Meanwhile, Corabi resurfaced alongside former Kiss guitarist Bruce Kulick in the group Union.

Shortly after the release of Greatest Hits in 1998, Tommy Lee was arrested for spousal abuse against Pamela Anderson. He spent most of the year in jail, effectively killing any momentum generated by the gold-selling status of Greatest Hits and Generation Swine. Meanwhile, the group's contract with Elektra fell apart, prompting Mötley Records to switch its affiliation to the Beyond label. The band acquired the rights to its back catalog in the process.

After numerous bitter encounters with Neil, Tommy Lee left the band in 1999 to form Methods of Mayhem, which released a self-titled debut album later that year. He was replaced by former Ozzy Osbourne drummer Randy Castillo, and the revamped lineup celebrated its acquisition of the Crüe catalog by issuing remastered editions of every studio album, as well as the rarities collection Supersonic and Demonic Relics. A collection of new material, New Tattoo, appeared in the summer of 2000 to a lukewarm reception, and Castillo became stricken with an undisclosed illness on the eve of the requisite tour. While he recuperated at home, the band temporarily enlisted Hole's drummer (and lifelong Crüe fan), Samantha Maloney, to handle percussion duties.

In May 2001, the band issued a best-selling, tell-all biography entitled -The Dirt. During the downtime that followed its release, Neil launched a brief solo tour of U.S. clubs and Sixx wrote material for other artists, including Tantric, Meat Loaf, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw, and James Michael. Sadly, Castillo succumbed to cancer during the following spring, prompting the band to continue its hiatus. Although Sixx speculated publicly about the possibility of a reunion tour, Tommy Lee quickly rebutted such rumors, claiming that his relationship with Vince Neil was simply too poor for any sort of reconciliation. Controversy surrounded the band again as former producer Tom Werman sued for unpaid royalties, Neil's former wife Heidi Mark publicly accused him of physical abuse, and Neil was kicked off a nationally syndicated radio show for being too drunk to maintain an interview.

Rumors of a reunion continued to swirl throughout the following two years, even as Mötley Crüe's members remained loyal to their individual projects. Both Tommy Lee and Vince Neil participated in celebrity TV shows -- Lee as the focus of an NBC series that featured the drummer attending college classes, and Neil in the first season of The Surreal Life -- while Sixx toured and released an album with his new band, Brides of Destruction. In late 2004, however, the four original members announced a full-scale reunion tour for the following year, marking their first outing since the late '90s. The tour coincided with the February release of Mötley Crüe's double-disc greatest-hits collection, Red, White & Crüe, which went platinum within six months of its release. The reunion tour was further celebrated by the release of a concert album, Carnival of Sins Live, in 2006, while a record of new material, Saints of Los Angeles, arrived in 2008. In keeping with their recent dedication to the road, the bandmates subsequently unveiled plans for Crüe Fest, a summer package tour that netted over $40 million during its inaugural year. ~ Andrew Leahey, All Music Guide