Autographed in person by: Vince Neil, Mick Mars, Nikki Sixx, and Tommy Lee

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Mötley Crüe is an American rock band formed in Los AngelesCalifornia, in 1981.[1][2][3] The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil. Mötley Crüe has sold 100 million albums worldwide, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time.[4][5][6] They have also achieved seven platinum or multi-platinum certifications, nine Top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 chart (including 1989's Dr. Feelgood, which is Mötley Crüe's only album to reach number one), twenty-two Top 40 mainstream rock hits, and six Top 20 pop singles.[7][8] The band had experienced several short term lineup changes in the 1990s and 2000s that included vocalist John Corabi (who was Neil's replacement from 1992 to 1996) and drummers Randy Castillo and Samantha Maloney, both of whom filled in for Lee during his split from the band from 1999 to 2004.

The members of Mötley Crüe have often been noted for their hedonistic lifestyles and the androgynous persona they maintained. Following its hard rock and heavy metal origins on their first two albums, Too Fast for Love (1981) and Shout at the Devil (1983), the release of their third album Theatre of Pain (1985) saw the band joining the first wave of glam metal.[9][10] The band has also been known for their elaborate live performances, which features flame thrower guitars, roller coaster drums kits, and heavy use of pyrotechnics.[7] Mötley Crüe's most recent studio album, Saints of Los Angeles, was released on June 24, 2008. The band's final show took place on New Year's Eve, December 31, 2015. The concert was filmed for a theatrical and Blu-ray release in 2016.[11][12]

After two-and-a-half years of inactivity, Vince announced in September 2018 that Mötley Crüe had reunited and was working on new material.[13][14] On March 22, 2019, the band released four new songs on the soundtrack for their Netflix biopic The Dirt, based on the band's New York Times best-selling autobiography. The soundtrack went to Number 1 on the iTunes All Genres Album Chart,[15] Number 3 on Billboard Top Album and Digital Album sales chart,[16] Number 10 on Billboard Top 200, and Top 10 worldwide.[17] The autobiography returned to the New York Times Best Seller list at Number 6 on Nonfiction Print and Number 8 on Nonfiction Combined Print & E-Book.[18]

Contents

History

1981–1983: Early history and Too Fast for Love

Mötley Crüe was formed on January 17, 1981, when bassist Nikki Sixx left the band London and began rehearsing with drummer Tommy Lee and vocalist/guitarist Greg Leon.[19] Lee had previously worked with Leon in a band called Suite 19[20] and the trio practiced together for some time; Leon eventually decided not to continue with them. Sixx and Lee then began a search for new members and soon met guitarist Bob Deal, better known as Mick Mars, after answering an advertisement that he placed in The Recycler that read: "Loud, rude and aggressive guitar player available". Mars auditioned for Sixx and Lee, and was subsequently hired. Although a lead vocalist named O'Dean was auditioned,[21][22] Lee had known Vince Neil from their high school days at Charter Oak High School in Covina, California,[23] and the two had performed in different bands on the garage band circuit. Upon seeing him perform with the band Rock Candy at the Starwood in Hollywood, California, Mars suggested they have Neil join the band. At first Neil refused the offer, but as the other members of Rock Candy became involved in outside projects, Neil grew anxious to try something else. Lee asked another time, Neil was hired on April 1, 1981, and the band played their first gig at the Starwood nightclub on April 24.[24]

I wanted a band that would be like David Bowie and the Sex Pistols thrown in a blender with Black Sabbath.

 —Nikki Sixx[25]

The newly formed band did not yet have a name. Sixx has said that he told his bandmates that he was "thinking about calling the band Christmas". The other members were not very receptive to that idea. Then, while trying to find a suitable name, Mars remembered an incident that occurred when he was playing with a band called White Horse, when one of the other band members called the group "a motley looking crew". He had remembered the phrase and later copied it down as 'Mottley Cru'. After modifying the spelling slightly, "Mötley Crüe" was eventually selected as the band's name, with the stylistic decision suggested by Neil to add the two sets of metal umlauts, supposedly inspired by the German beer Löwenbräu, which the members were drinking at the time.[26] Other than the periods of February 1992 to September 1996 and from March 1999 to September 2004, the line up of Neil, Sixx, Lee, and Mars remained the same.[27]

The band soon met its first manager, Allan Coffman, the thirty-eight-year-old brother-in-law of a friend of Mars's driver.[28] The band's first release was the single "Stick to Your Guns/Toast of the Town", which was released on its own record label, Leathür Records, which had a pressing and distribution deal with Greenworld Distribution in Torrance, California. In November 1981, its debut album Too Fast for Love was self-produced and released on Leathür, selling 20,000 copies. Coffman's assistant Eric Greif set up a tour of Canada,[29] while Coffman and Greif used Mötley Crüe's success in the Los Angeles club scene to negotiate with several record labels, eventually signing a recording contract with Elektra Records in early 1982. The debut album was then re-mixed by producer Roy Thomas Baker and re-released on August 20, 1982—two months after its Canadian Warner Music Group release using the original Leathür mixes—to coincide with the tour.[30]

Listening to Queen inspired Mötley Crüe to work with Roy Thomas Baker on Too Fast for Love. He would come in, "Hello Darlings ..." and listen for maybe thirty minutes or so and leave. And we're like, "What?! Where's he going?". But he produced Queen, so, man, we had to have him produce us, too

 —Tommy Lee[31]

During the "Crüesing Through Canada Tour '82", there were several widely publicized incidents. First, the band was arrested and then released at Edmonton International Airport for wearing their spiked stage wardrobe (considered "dangerous weapons") through customs, and for Neil arriving with a small carry-on filled with porn magazines (considered "indecent material"); both were staged PR stunts. Customs eventually had the confiscated items destroyed. Second, while playing Scandals Disco in Edmonton, a spurious "bomb threat" against the band made the front page of the Edmonton Journal[32] on June 9, 1982; Lee and assistant band manager Greif were interviewed by police as a result. This too ended up being a staged PR stunt perpetrated by Greif. Lastly, Lee threw a television set from an upper story window of the Sheraton Caravan Hotel. Canadian rock magazine Music Express noted that the band was "banned for life" from the city. Despite the tour ending prematurely in financial disaster, it was the basis for the band's first international press.[33] In 1983, the band changed management from Coffman to Doug Thaler and Doc McGhee. McGhee is best known for managing Bon Jovi and later Kiss, starting with their reunion tour in 1996. Greif subsequently sued all parties in a Los Angeles Superior Court action that dragged on for several years, and coincidentally later re-surfaced as manager of Sixx's former band, London. Coffman himself was sued by several investors to whom he had sold "stock in the band", including Michigan-based Bill Larson. Coffman eventually declared bankruptcy, as he had mortgaged his home at least three times to cover band expenses.[citation needed]

1983–1991: International fame and addiction struggles

The band became rapidly successful in the United States after playing at the US Festival and also with the aid of the new medium of MTV. Their second album, Shout at the Devil, was released in September 1983.[34] The album represented the band's mainstream breakthrough and would eventually be certified 4x platinum.[35] They then gained the attention of heavy metal legend Ozzy Osbourne and found themselves as the opening act for Osbourne on his 1984 Bark at the Moon tour. The band members were well known for their backstage antics, outrageous clothing, extreme high-heeled boots, heavily applied make-up, and seemingly endless abuse of alcohol and drugs as well.[36]

The band members also had their share of scrapes with the law. On December 8, 1984, Neil was driving home from a liquor run in his De Tomaso Pantera which ended in a head-on collision; his passenger, Hanoi Rocks drummer