Nikki Sixx Part 4-The Blast! Interviews, 1989

Blast! magazine had a series of interviews with all the Motley members as well as articles that were published from before the release of Dr. Feelgood (in September 1989) through into late 1989. There was a while there that Blast! was a Motley goldmine with each issue containing pages of interviews and lots of nice color pin-ups and centerfolds.
 

We’re going to start with a Nikki Sixx interview from early 1989, apparently just before he headed to Canada to record with Bob Rock. I may be missing a couple articles but the essence of the conversation is there. These are pretty relaxed and candid interviews and especially in this first one (actually a Part II of a longer article) we hear Nikki speak of the early stages of the Dr. Feelgood record, the artwork that didn’t come to fruition and why the Crue stopped working with producer Tom Werman.

Nikki seemed to have every intention to release his book of poetry, An Education In Rebellion, if the sheer amount of times he mentioned it in the press is any indication. Sylvie Simmons asks/states: ‘Nikki Turns Poet?' Besides discussing publication issues about the poetry book (that is to this day still unreleased), he mentions that he has kept a journal and tells a funny therapy anecdote.

More Nikki in BLAST! to come

Decade of Decadence Part 2, 1991

 

Motley were as surprised as anyone that they lasted 10 years as a band (now over 30 years!) so the release of Decade of Decadence (album & home video) was a kind of ending & beginning point for the group: goodbye 1980s & hello 1990s with a sense of more mature & poignant music to be made in that more serious decade. 

Scheduled for a June 1991 release (it didn’t come out until September), Nikki & Tommy discuss their  lives, wives, newborns, new homes & the new album in this early 1991 interview:

(click image to enalrge & READ)

Before the release of  the compilation the band hit the UK & Europe for  the Monsters of Rock fest. Much of this short August-September tour was bootlegged & stuff has been popping up on YouTube. Check out this rare footage from Budapest. Here they are playing 'Red Hot':

Below is an interview with Nikki several weeks after returning from the European tour. The videos for ‘Primal Scream’ & ‘Anarchy In the UK’ are discussed as is the new musical direction for the projected new album.

 

 

Hit Parader marked the Crue’s 10 year anniversary with this little stroll through the previous decade. Author Anne Leighton’s piece, ‘Ten Years After’ is so laden with mistakes & utter confusion & absolute fabrications that it begs a reading. HOW did this get by the Hit Parader editor?! She asserts that Nikki got his name from ‘Jailhouse Rock,’ moved to LA at 17 & joined a street gang, assigns lyrics to a Crue song that I think are from a Bon Jovi song & liner notes that do not exist! . . . & more. Check this pile of shit out: 

We leave with some Decade of Decadence era video, clips from the early 1990s including a Vince interview in Europe at the Monsters of Rock festival.

Tommy Lee Part 3, 1987

Tommy talks to Metal Edge Magazine’s Gerri Miller in early 1987:
 

 Tommy was afraid his then wife Heather Locklear would get hurt by Motley’s rabid fans & told reporters ‘it can get crazy on the road at times’ & hoped she would stay home & skip the tour. He apparently said this with a straight face.
 

Mr. Lee and his Dr. Feelgood drum solo coming up on the SPFiles!!!

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‘Cowboy-Biker-Punk-Street Sleaze’ . . . Gutter Glam, 1987

 

Designer Ray Brown was the man behind much of the Crue’s costumes & clothes from 1985 into the Dr. Feelgood years. Brown tackled the band’s new vision of  a kind of rock n’ roll, biker, cowboy image for publicity shots on the eve of the release of Girls, Girls, Girls in May of 1987.

You can see above that the Crue were only willing to stray so far from the glam of their previous incarnation. Brown is the man behind this second phase of the band, towards a more stylish, glammy & rock n’ roll Crue, away from their punk & metal days.

I think these costumes present the guys in a too-stylized light & give off an image of wealth & luxury rather than sleaze & grittiness which was what the new record was suppose to be a celebration of. There are several photo shoots from this era into the Feelgood days that I think spotlight an unfortunate trend in hard rock towards a more posh image. These decadent pirates of fashion would soon be drowned in a sea of flannel, & viewing these almost strange & wild mutations (Vince called this look, ‘Cowboy-Biker-Punk-Street Sleaze’) you get the sense how creative & visual popular music became in the 1980s . . . & how necessary the change in 1990s Rock was.

Although this photo session has never been one of this fan’s favorites I like it much more than some other Motley shoots & so I have not included it in a forthcoming post, ‘Motley Crue Photo Sessions I Hate’ . . . . .

We’ll leave with footage from October of 1987 with the band filming a performance video for ‘Wild Side’ at a Winnipeg, Canada strip club . . . for Japanese TV! Before the action begins Vince & the band are interviewed & then they run in & perform. You’ll notice the time in the top right-hand corner . . . The Motleys are up at 7am to film this for a Japanese TV show! Japan were an important market for the Crue & as we’ve already discussed, Japan is where their demons finally caught up with them. This rare video just popped up on YouTube, enjoy!

Motley ‘Ultimate Backstage Pass’ Stickers, Hostess Chips, 1987

 

Motley, Bon Jovi & a host of other artists were featured in a set of potato chip bag stickers touted as ‘The Ultimate Backstage Pass.’ I’ve somehow held onto 6 of them & here they are in all their 1 1/2" x 1 3/4" glory.

A Google search found a few of these floating around on EBay & even full sets for sale. Apparently there were 10 Crue stickers, probably 2 of each member (studio & live shots) & 2 band photos. I also remember a same sized patch of the band’s name in the Theatre Of Pain font but that may have been around earlier than 1987. The live shots show the band on their Girls, Girls, Girls tour which didn’t start until June of 1987 so these may have been in circulation as early as that summer.

Motley have always been infamous & their reputation has carried a lot of clout. Bon Jovi became a household name by selling tens of millions of records & writing catchy, safe pop hard rock whereas the Crue became a household name on a lot less record sales & an almost scary public reputation & more aggressive sound. That a Canadian potato chip company would market them equally is a testament to the band’s popularity in the late 1980s.