Motley Crue

History

Motley Crue did not ease their way into the world. On January 17, 1981, bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee convened for a rehearsal in Hollywood, California, alongside vocalist and guitarist Greg Leon, who had previously played with Lee in Suite 19.

The three-way partnership collapsed almost immediately. The band’s own account holds that Sixx felt Leon didn’t fit the image he envisioned; Leon has told it differently, saying he walked out on his own terms after deciding Sixx’s bass playing fell too far short of his standards. Either way, Leon was gone before the band played a single show.

Guitarist Mick Mars filled the vacancy, having placed a classified ad in the Recycler describing himself as a “loud, rude and aggressive guitar player available,” and vocalist Vince Neil was recruited after Lee caught him fronting a band called Rock Candy at the Starwood club. The band’s name came from a phrase a former bandmate of Mars had used, “motley looking crew,” during his time in a group called White Horse. The umlauts, suggested by Neil and inspired by the label of Lowenbrau, the German beer the band was drinking at the time, were added for visual impact, and on April 24, 1981, Motley Crue played their first show at the Starwood Club in Hollywood.

The four men arrived from starkly different corners of American life. Sixx, born Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna Jr. on December 11, 1958, in San Jose, California, had already cycled through Sister and London before founding the Crue. Lee, born Thomas Lee Bass on October 3, 1962, in Athens, Greece, had been grinding the Sunset Strip with Suite 19 after growing up in West Covina, California.

Mars was born Robert Alan Deal on May 4, 1951, in Terre Haute, Indiana, and raised in Garden Grove, California; he spent the 1970s working small clubs across the state. Neil, born Vincent Neil Wharton on February 8, 1961, in Hollywood, grew up moving through Inglewood, Watts, and Glendora, fronting cover bands by high school — while the Strip scene was building into something that would eventually consume all four of them.

Too Fast for Love

With no label willing to sign them, the band pressed their debut themselves. Too Fast for Love was recorded at Hit City West studio in Hollywood in October 1981 and released on November 10, 1981, on Leathur Records — a label co-founded with manager Allan Coffman — in a first pressing of approximately 900 copies, with Michael Wagener mixing the independent release.

The band spent the rest of that year and early 1982 building a following through relentless club work at the Starwood, the Whisky a Go Go, and the Troubadour. Elektra Records signed them in early 1982, remixed and partially re-recorded the album under producer Roy Thomas Baker, and reissued it on August 20, 1982. The album peaked at #77 on the Billboard 200 and was certified Platinum by the RIAA on July 22, 1987.

Shout at the Devil

Sessions for the second album began at Cherokee Studios in Hollywood in April 1983, with producer Tom Werman. Shout at the Devil, released September 23, 1983, on Elektra Records, hit #17 on the Billboard 200 and moved approximately 200,000 copies in its first two weeks.

The Shout at the Devil Tour carried the band through 1983 into 1984, when they opened for Ozzy Osbourne on his Bark at the Moon Tour — their first real exposure to arena-scale audiences. “Looks That Kill” reached #54 on the US Hot 100 and #12 on the Mainstream Rock chart; “Too Young to Fall in Love” followed at #90. The album was eventually certified 4x Platinum by the RIAA on May 15, 1997.

Theatre of Pain

On December 8, 1984, Vince Neil drove from his Redondo Beach home in a 1972 De Tomaso Pantera and caused a head-on collision on The Esplanade in Redondo Beach. His passenger, Nicholas “Razzle” Dingley, age 24 and drummer for Finnish rock band Hanoi Rocks, died at the hospital from severe brain trauma. Two occupants of the other vehicle sustained serious injuries: Daniel Smithers, 20, suffered brain damage; Lisa Hogan, 18, remained in a coma for about a month and sustained permanent brain damage.

Neil’s blood-alcohol content was 0.17%, nearly twice the legal limit of 0.10% at the time. He pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter and DUI in July 1985. On September 20, 1985, Judge Edward Hinz Jr. of Torrance Superior Court sentenced him to 30 days in county jail, five years probation, 200 hours of community service, and $2.6 million in total restitution. The jail sentence was stayed until June 1986 to allow the Theatre of Pain tour to run its course. Neil began his sentence on July 14, 1986, at Gardena City Jail and served 15 days before early release. Hanoi Rocks disbanded in 1985 following Razzle’s death. Motley Crue dedicated Theatre of Pain to him.

The band recorded Theatre of Pain across multiple Los Angeles studios (Record Plant West, Pasha, and Cherokee) in the months after the crash, from approximately January to May 1985, again with Tom Werman producing. Theatre of Pain was released on June 21, 1985, on Elektra Records. It peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200 and was certified 4x Platinum by the RIAA on June 5, 1995.

“Smokin’ in the Boys Room,” a cover of the Brownsville Station track, reached #16 on the US Hot 100, the band’s first Top 20 hit. “Home Sweet Home” became the most-requested video on MTV for more than 90 consecutive days, prompting the network to impose a 30-day eligibility limit on its request line — a restriction that became known informally as the “Crue Rule.” The Theatre of Pain Tour ran from July 7, 1985, to March 3, 1986, across the US, Canada, Japan, and Europe.

Girls, Girls, Girls

Girls, Girls, Girls, recorded at One on One Recording, Conway Recording, and Rumbo Recorders, and produced by Tom Werman, was released May 15, 1987, on Elektra Records. It debuted at #5 on the Billboard 200 and climbed to #2 two weeks later, the band’s highest Billboard 200 position through 1987, and was certified 4x Platinum by the RIAA on June 5, 1995.

The title track reached #12 on the US Hot 100 and #26 in the UK. The Girls, Girls, Girls Tour opened in Tucson, Arizona, with Whitesnake as the primary support act; during the fall 1987 US leg, Guns N’ Roses, riding the early momentum of Appetite for Destruction, joined as the opening act.

Dr. Feelgood

On December 23, 1987, at a party in Los Angeles attended by members of Guns N’ Roses and Ratt, Nikki Sixx took a heroin speedball and, by his own account, was declared clinically dead for approximately two minutes and revived by paramedics with two adrenaline injections directly to the heart. Manager Doc McGhee cancelled the band’s 1988 European tour dates in response, and shortly after, all four members entered rehabilitation.

Through 1988 and into 1989 the band got clean, regrouped, and rebuilt. The experience drove the song “Kickstart My Heart.” With all four members out of active addiction, the band entered Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, in mid-1989 to record with producer Bob Rock. Rock pushed them toward tighter arrangements, heavier production, and a precision their earlier records had never demanded.

Dr. Feelgood, released September 1, 1989, on Elektra Records, debuted at #24 on the Billboard 200 and reached #1 by mid-October, the only chart-topper in the band’s catalog, and was certified 6x Platinum by the RIAA on May 15, 1997. It also peaked at #4 in the UK and earned 3x Platinum certification in Canada. The album produced four charting US Hot 100 singles: “Dr. Feelgood” (#6, the band’s highest-charting Hot 100 single), “Without You” (#8), “Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)” (#19), and “Kickstart My Heart” (#27).

The band received Grammy nominations for Best Hard Rock Performance at both the 32nd Grammy Awards in 1990 for “Dr. Feelgood” and the 33rd Grammy Awards in 1991 for “Kickstart My Heart.” At the 1991 American Music Awards, they won Favorite Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Album. The Dr. Feelgood Tour ran from October 14, 1989, to August 5, 1990, and stood as one of Motley Crue’s biggest headlining runs to that point.

Fracture

On February 10, 1992, during pre-production for a follow-up to Dr. Feelgood, Sixx, Lee, and Mars voted to remove Vince Neil from the band. The official press statement, released February 14, 1992, gave car racing as the reason for Neil’s departure. The band had already signed a reported four-album, $25 million contract with Elektra Records; it then hired John Corabi, a Philadelphia-born vocalist and guitarist who had been playing with the Scream, to fill the vacancy.

The resulting self-titled album, recorded with Bob Rock and released March 15, 1994, peaked at #7 on the Billboard 200 and was certified Gold by the RIAA on May 3, 1994, the first Motley Crue album not to reach Platinum in the US and the only one recorded with Corabi. The lead single “Hooligan’s Holiday” reached #10 on the US Mainstream Rock chart. The band dismissed Corabi circa 1996 and invited Neil back.

The time away from Motley Crue, from 1992 to 1996, took its own toll on Neil. His daughter Skylar Lynnae Neil, born March 26, 1991, was diagnosed in April 1995 with a Wilms tumor, a rare kidney cancer, that had ruptured and spread throughout her abdomen. After six surgeries, chemotherapy, and radiation, she died on August 15, 1995, at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. She was four years old. Neil’s 1995 solo album Carved in Stone, produced by the Dust Brothers, included “Skylar’s Song”; the Skylar Neil Memorial Foundation subsequently donated millions of dollars to charitable organizations, including the T.J. Martell Foundation.

Reunion and Turbulence

Vince Neil returned to Motley Crue in late 1996, re-recording lead vocals over tracks Corabi had already cut for what became Generation Swine. Produced by Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, and Scott Humphrey, it was released June 24, 1997, on Elektra Records, peaking at #4 on the Billboard 200 and earning Gold certification from the RIAA on August 26, 1997.

In February 1998, just over a year after Neil’s return, Tommy Lee was arrested for felony spousal abuse. He pleaded no contest in April 1998, and on May 21, 1998, Malibu Municipal Court Judge Lawrence J. Mira sentenced him to six months in Los Angeles County Jail, three years probation, a $5,000 donation to a battered women’s shelter, and 200 hours of community service. Lee served approximately four months before early release, then formed Methods of Mayhem — whose self-titled 1999 debut earned RIAA Gold certification — and announced his departure from Motley Crue.

For New Tattoo, the band hired producer Mike Clink and recruited former Ozzy Osbourne drummer Randy Castillo, who had played with Ozzy from 1985 to 1993. Released July 11, 2000, on Motley Records, the album peaked at #41 on the Billboard 200. Shortly before the tour began, Castillo suffered a ruptured duodenal ulcer and doctors subsequently diagnosed him with squamous cell carcinoma. Hole drummer Samantha Maloney filled in for the touring cycle while Castillo underwent treatment at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Randy Castillo died on March 26, 2002, age 51, from cancer-related complications.

The Original Lineup Reunites

Castillo’s death left the band without a drummer. Tommy Lee had been gone since 1999, and the band had spent the years from 1999 to 2002 dealing with Castillo’s illness and diminishing commercial returns.

Lee rejoined Motley Crue in 2004, and the original four-piece was intact again for the first time since Tommy Lee’s 1999 departure. The band released Red, White & Crue, a greatest hits compilation certified Platinum by the RIAA on June 22, 2005, and the accompanying Red, White & Crue / Better Live Than Dead Tour ran well over 100 concerts across 2005 and 2006. On January 25, 2006, Motley Crue received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 6752 Hollywood Boulevard.

Saints of Los Angeles

With the original lineup stabilized and the Walk of Fame star secured, the band turned back to recording. Saints of Los Angeles, produced by James Michael with Nikki Sixx and DJ Ashba as co-producers — Michael and Ashba both members of Nikki Sixx’s side project Sixx:A.M. — was released June 24, 2008, on Motley Records and Eleven Seven Music. It peaked at #4 on the Billboard 200, while the title track earned a Grammy nomination for Best Hard Rock Performance at the 51st Grammy Awards in 2009. The Crue Fest summer amphitheater tour, running July 1 through August 31, 2008, with Buckcherry, Papa Roach, Sixx:A.M., and Trapt as support, grossed $16.6 million and drew more than 613,000 concertgoers.

The Final Tour

In January 2014, Motley Crue held a press conference in Los Angeles and signed a formal Cessation of Touring Agreement — a legally binding document committing the band to never tour again.

The Final Tour ran from mid-2014 through the end of 2015, covering the US, Europe, Japan, and Australia, with Alice Cooper as support on most North American dates. The last show took place on December 31, 2015, at Staples Center in Los Angeles, with The Struts opening.

The Stadium Tour

In 2018, the band reunited to participate in the production of The Dirt, a Netflix biographical film based on their autobiography, and began writing new material in the process. In November 2019, the band destroyed the Cessation of Touring Agreement on video and announced its return. On December 4, 2019, Motley Crue and Def Leppard formally unveiled The Stadium Tour, a co-headlining run with Poison and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts as support and Classless Act as the opening act. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed the tour back twice before it launched June 16, 2022. It ran through September 9, 2022, covering 36 North American shows and grossing $175,509,586 from 1,341,035 tickets sold, according to Touring Data. The two-night stand at Boston’s Fenway Park grossed $9.3 million alone; Motley Crue had previously averaged 10,000 to 11,000 tickets per show on solo runs.

Mick Mars’s Retirement

In October 2022, Mick Mars announced his retirement from touring, citing a struggle with ankylosing spondylitis that had begun in his early teens — a chronic, inflammatory disease of the spine not formally diagnosed until he was 27. On October 27, 2022, the band announced former Rob Zombie guitarist John 5 as his touring replacement. In 2023, Mars filed a lawsuit against Motley Crue, alleging the band had offered him a separation agreement that would reduce his touring profit share from 25% to 5%.

In January 2026, an arbitrator ruled decisively in Motley Crue’s favor, rejecting Mars’s claims and finding him responsible for $750,030 in unrecouped tour advances; after offsetting the $505,737 owed to Mars for his ownership stake, the net award to the band came to $244,293. According to the band’s legal team, Mars was confronted under oath with live concert recordings and his own expert witness’s testimony and conceded that his claims about the band’s live authenticity had been false. The band that had signed a legal agreement to stop touring and then blown it up in public had lost one member of its original four-man lineup from the stage.