Motley Crue – yes, them – roars back to life
By Chris Nixon
For The San Diego Union-Tribune
March 17, 2005
Flashback to the mid-'80s: Heavy metal ruled the world. Glam hard-rock bands roamed the planet, partying and causing havoc with each stop of their never-ending arena tours. And millions of teenagers spent hours in front of bathroom mirrors, perfecting Billy Idol's lip-curl sneer, imitating David Lee Roth's swagger or trying to twirl drumsticks like Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee.
With crunching guitar riffs and bombastic drums, Motley Crue offered kids rebellion in the form of leather and hairspray. With charismatic frontman Vince Neil, spikey-haired bassist Nikki Sixx, brooding guitarist Mick Mars and lanky party boy Lee, the Crue forged a reputation onstage and off as beer-swilling, womanizing rock stars.
As the 1980s drew to a close and the '90s dawned, the public eye shifted to the darker grunge sound as metal grew soft. More hair bands tried to crack the Top 40 market with accessible ballads and crooning vocals. As musical genres sometimes do, metal became a parody of itself.
But Motley Crue – after surviving the '80s – continues to rock. The band recently regrouped and is in the middle of a world tour, including a stop Tuesday night at Coors Amphitheatre in Chula Vista.
Almost a quarter of a century after its inception, the Crue still earns props from metal veterans and young punks alike. So does it bother the outspoken Lee when people talk wistfully about the 1980s and Motley Crue?
"I'm cool with it: I just look at it like a big complement," says Lee from the Crue's tour bus, on the road to promote a new double-disc greatest hits album, "Red, White and Crue." "I remembered someone telling me that they saw Travis from blink-182 spinning around up-side-down on his drums, and I had done that back in '85. I just got a smile on my face. Somebody else might be upset about it, but I just feel like it's rad. It means I made – if not a permanent mark – a cool little scar on someone's musical life."
The past 25 years read like a hazy, demented soap opera for the guys in Motley Crue: Neil was charged with vehicular manslaughter in 1984 when his friend Razzle was killed in an alcohol-related crash; Sixx was pronounced dead after a Sunset Strip heroin binge in 1987; Lee's on-again, off-again romance with Pamela Anderson (throw in charges of spousal abuse). Crue's story produced the best "VH-1 Behind the Music" episode to date, required viewing for would-be rock stars oblivious to the dangers of excess.
But the music overrides all the tabloid hype, or at least enhances the legend. The band's first two albums – 1981's "Too Fast for Love" and 1983's "Shout at the Devil" – remain loud reminders of Motley Crue's mammoth rock sound. But during the 1990s, metal bands fell on hard times. Grunge and introspective rock captured the public's attention.
Feeling hemmed in by the musical constraints of the band, Lee left the group in 1999 to try his hand at new styles and different roles. He explored rap-rock territory with his band Methods of Mayhem (helped out by Lil' Kim, Fred Durst, Kid Rock and Mix Master Mike) on the self-titled release in 1999. In 2002, he released the song-oriented rock album "Never a Dull Moment" under his own name.
Life on the road has changed for the guys and the drummer looks at life as a member of Motley Crue differently than when he was in 20s.
"A lot of time has passed, a lot of times you take things for granted," states Lee. "I think everybody (in the band) realizes now that what the four of us do is real special."
Chris Nixon is a San Diego music writer.
