Locker Pin-Ups 1 - Vince, Vince, Vince

This pin-up of Vinnie is from the Girls, Girls Girls era of 1987. My memory is that this was hanging in the locker of a girl I had a "crush" on back in Junior High School in the late 1980s. I don't remember how I got it from her but every time I see it I think of her. She died in a car accident in the mid-1990s.

Circus Collector's Issue, 1994 (1984 Crue Article)

This Circus Magazine Collector's Issue was published in early 1994 and features classic interviews from the 1960s to the 1990s. Motley joins such illustrious company as Led Zeppelin, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix. This would have been published before the band released their self-titled record with new vocalist John Corabi. The table of contents blurb says

"Til death do they party. It's 1984 and the gates of hell have opened siccing Nikki, Vince and their pack of wacks on a shocked music scene."

Richard Hogan's article, "Motley Crue: Glad To Be Bad," begins by telling us that everyone (except the Rock magazines) seem to be putting the Crue down. Hogan says that MTV Host J. J. Jackson recently reported that Vince punched out a female patron at The Rainbow Bar and Grill when she objected to his Marine outfit (Paul Miles' Chronological Crue page has this happening at The Troubadour in January of 1982). Jackson drops the script and surmises to the camera that Vince may not have been so tough if the objector was an actual Marine!

J. J. Jackson

This video of Nikki and Vince on MTV talking to host Martha Quinn comes from January-February 1984, after the Shout at The Devil album and the premier video "Looks That Kill" had been released. At around three minutes and thirty seconds Martha says that just a few weeks back Vince was in the news regarding the assault. Vince says that it was a man he hit, not a woman  ("You know, everyone in Hollywood looks like a woman  . . . I hit somebody but it wasn't a girl"). This is one of the many stories that never made it to "The Dirt" book or movie.

The Circus interview is likely from December, 1983 when the Crue were in Massachusetts rehearsing for their opening slot on the Ozzy Osbourne Bark At The Moon tour in 1984. Nikki and Vince illustrate their violent and wild temperaments with stories of a recent (Nikki) car crash and a (Vince) Halloween incarceration. "We are extremists," explains Nikki. The band members and their current ages are shared as well as the circumstances of the making of their independently-released Too Fast For Love back in 1981. 

Motley were going out of their way to gain notoriety in these years and the Metal magazines ate it up and shared the debauched details. The above video clip also shows that the band was singled out by the PMRC. Nikki's x-rated groupie stories in the pages of the magazines would land the band in hot water soon after this interview and 1984 would end with the death of Razzle Dingley of the group Hanoi Rocks at the hands of drunk driver, Vince Neil.

The Motley Crue drama played out in real time in these years. Fans devoured these popular rags to hear news of their Rock God heroes and to get images for their teenybopper shrines. Circus Magazine almost exclusively featured live shots of the bands on tour. The mixture of video channels, Rock magazines with articles and posters and LPs or cassettes blaring the music was a heady mixture.



Above is the Classified page (for some more flavour of the age) and an ad that reminds us when this Circus was published: 1994. Motley were about to release the self-titled album with new singer John Corabi and Vince was a semi-successful solo artist. This back page ad for Gibson Guitars shows Mr. Neil with two members of his band. He is still playing solo shows today. Vince would get back with Motley by 1996-1997 when the magic of the 1984 years was long gone. That a movie biography of the band would be released in 2019 is a testament to the strength of the music and the allure of the notoriety of the group in the 1980s.

More Rock Magazines to come at The Sleaze Patrol Files!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The Sleaze Patrol Files Blog Origin Story

2019 marks NINE years of The Sleaze Patrol Files Blog!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This collection spans the years 1981 to the early 1990s. I was growing out of Motley in the 1990s and the bulk of this collection is from the Girls, Girls, Girls era of 1987 to the Decade of Decadence era of 1991-1992. Stray pieces made their way into the collection in the ensuing years, but not much at all.

The Corabi years were partly intriguing. I bought that record. I did not purchase 1997's Generation Swine as I had fully moved on from the band and it was awkward, overwrought music. I kinda like the record, now, but this is in the cool light of hindsight. In 1997, I was more interested in The Velvet Underground.

My Crue collection was retired to a series of tubs in my parents' basement. I graduated High School, attended University and did the grown up boogie.

Around fifteen years later, some time in the late 2000s, I returned from my adventures and rediscovered these tubs nestled among my mother's Holiday decorations and bags of old clothes and keepsakes. There were my beloved childhood folders of Motley Metal Edge pin-ups; my Circus articles and T-Shirts and VHS and Buttons and Cassettes and LPs and Door Posters and mirrors and magazines and scrapbooks and flags and original Crue art from school chums . . . a mid-sized, intense little collection of the Crue by an uber-fan in the years when the Crue walked tallest and most brazenly on Mother Earth.

As I compared what I had with the then burgeoning online fan culture I could see a difference: where most were collectors who purchased identifiable "collectibles" and expensive rarities from the Motley memorabilia universe, mine was a period teeny-bopper type gathering of all things available in the popular culture of the time. So pin-ups and posters and memorabilia purchased at convenience stores or at carnivals or from other kids at school; or scrapbooks and drawings; T-shirts purchased at now-defunct Malls and retailers like Zellers and many long-gone record shops. When I opened these tubs in the late 2000s it felt like I was stepping back into my youth of the 1980s and early 1990s.

And my home video VHS collection survived in boxes under the stairwell. I taped a lot of Crue content in the early 1990s and it appears I got some rare content from Canadian music video channels because a decade after sharing it online I've never seen any other copies?!

And so I've continued to keep it mostly all intact (even after a couple close calls where I almost sold off the whole collection due to disinterest) to share with the Crue Heads from around the world.

There is more to share. I still have articles and magazines and scrapbooks and video and etc that I haven't posted so The Sleaze Patrol Files should be sharing new content for at least a few more years. I have another Crue blog that I don't post at much but it highlights rare Motley film and video:

https://cruetube.blogspot.com/

For old fans who get a buzz from this stuff in recognizing images and feelings from their childhood or young adult days, to the new fans who maybe have just jumped on board since the release of the 2019 Motley biopic "The Dirt" . . . The Sleaze Patrol Files is here for you to time-travel and enjoy the band in their most successful and meaningful years: 1981-1991.

Motley Drawings, Part II: Not-So-Good Kid Art

In my first post sharing my childhood Motley Crue art from school friends there were some really cool images. In today's post? Not so much. Some friends were better artists than others. Some of these were drawn by really young kids and look like it but I was always happy to receive some Crue art from a friend. Enjoy these pieces from the 1980s to the early 1990s.

 

 

Bullwinkle

Here is a video featuring a woman who may or may not be Bullwinkle.

Tommy and the Crue, Summer 1987

This article written by Arlett Vereecke for BLAST! Magazine details an interview with Tommy in the summer of 1987. It is a candid piece; the Motleys stumble into their Burbank rehearsal space to play tunes and do press. Mick and Nikki and Tommy are hungover following a night of merriment after an evening photo session. Vince is sober and ready to play! Their back and forth is transcribed for a few columns ["Mars Aide", Puma-donated sweat pants, Tommy and Nikki's proposed production company "Unlimited Funz"]. This is a slice of a busy afternoon of the band about to depart on a reckless and dangerous tour that would be cancelled before the year was out.


Arlett corners Tommy and they chat. Tommy talks about how he started playing drums and his important role in the Crue. Arlett criticizes the sound of the live "Jailhouse Rock" on the new Girls, Girls, Girls album and Tommy shares the details of its recording. He then expresses excitement to soon go back on tour and regret in having to leave his bride, Heather Locklear, at home. Ha ha. Tommy would often talk about touring and being married in these years. 

Tommy shares what the new tour stage show will look like including his drum solo and new back-up singers. The interview ends with Tommy and band heading into the rehearsal room to work up the 1987 set-list. New tunes like "Wild Side", "Girls, Girls, Girls", "Dancin' On Glass" and "All In the Name of Rock N Roll" would join already-classics like "Live Wire", "Shout At The Devil" and "Home Sweet Home".

Rock Power Magazine, Summer 1991

 

Mr. Sixx graces the cover of the British publication Rock Power Magazine in mid 1991.

Here is all the Crue content present in this issue including a gossip item about Vince going into rehab to deal with a drinking problem said to have been partly due the failure of his marriage with Sharise Ruddell. Motley's personal woes were always news in the Rock media of the day.

Tommy took part in the charity baseball game for the T. J. Martell Foundation in 1991. Lee and other Rock celebrities raised money for Lukemia research.

Nikki talks about the soon-to-be-released Decade of Decadence and the upcoming UK Monsters of Rock Festival performances. The next Motley record is discussed and is promised to be a more experimental Crue.

Crue Pin-Ups and Posters Home Video, 1991

Waaaayyy back in February of 1991 I made a three minute video showing many of my Motley pin-ups and posters from Rock magazines. I was fifteen years old. Back in those days, if I met a fellow Crue fan who said they didn't like the tune "Save Our Souls" from 1985's THEATRE OF PAIN, I thought they were jokers.
Enjoy!

School Notebook Crue Art and 2019's "The Dirt"

Going through some boxes at my folks' place recently I stumbled upon these old English and Math class notebook duo-tangs from the early 1990s. Tagging your school books with your favourite bands was a busy pastime for us old-school Metal Heads. I'm glad I went to public school where no one told me I couldn't graffiti my books! Looks like I was listening to Faith No More and Nazareth at the time, too. 

While we're here we thought we'd share the trailer for the Crue bio coming to Netflix on March 22nd, 2019. "The Dirt" is based on the 2001 Motley autobiography of the same same. Looks a little on the cheap side but hope it's entertaining.

They wrote three new tunes and covered Madonna's "Like A Virgin" for the soundtrack. They've released the tune "The Dirt." It's actually not as bad as I expected and grows on you.

Motley Used Images From the Sleaze Patrol Files . . .

 . . . on their trailer for the 30th anniversary release of GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS. I noticed when it came out and even contacted someone involved with the band, asking for a free CD but no luck. You can see the quick montage as it goes along with Tommy's fill at the 26 second mark. All the same tears and blemishes as my original copies. Kinda cool.

February, 1992 - The End of Motley Crue PART I

To get a sense of where Motley were at this time, let's go back just a few months to October, 1991 in Canada where Mick and Nikki were doing a publicity junket for the new Crue retrospective Decade Of Decadence. I recorded a bunch of stuff from their day at Much Music and Musique Plus (Canadian English and French video music channels in the 1980s-1990s). The video below has Nikki talking about the future sounds of Motley. What folks don't always remember is that Motley were about to enter a slightly more progressive, heavy and experimental phase of music with or without Vince. Even before Dr. Feelgood came out in late 1989, Nikki was talking about experimenting with the Motley sound. They flirted with Rap music on a few demos that never passed the demo stage. The albums Motley Crue (1994, without Vince) and Generation Swine (1997, with Vince) show us, in compromised settings, what some of the new Motley music sounded like just before Vince quit/was fired from the band. The keyboard, experimental music Nikki, Mick and Tommy were writing that Vince didn't like became the foundation of the sound fans would hear on  Motley Crue with John Corabi on vocals. Motley started jamming with John only a week after Vince was fired.

The following two interviews with Nikki and Vince for Hit Parader Magazine have the soon-to-be-parted band mates talking about the bond between the members and how it was never going to end . . . almost like they're over-compensating for conflicted feelings. 

I heard the news at school the day it was announced. A kid came up to me in the hallway and laughed, 'Hey man, Vince got kicked out of Motley!' I remember walking home and tuning into Much Music waiting to hear the confirmation ... and it came. February 14th the band issued a press release about the parting. Here's footage of the Vince MTV interview mentioned in the Metal Edge notice, above. We're going back to the week of February the 18th in our Crue history books. 

Lonn M. Friend is the talking head in this second video. He was the editor of Rip Magazine and it sounds like he was talking to Nikki and is sharing some of what was said about the parting. MTV talked to Vince on the phone in the ensuing days and a camera crue [cough -ed.] caught up with him in Long Beach on April 12th where he was racing (and crashed twice).

Nikki, Mick and Tommy held a band meeting on February 11th and voted Vince out. The Crue told the world about it that Friday, on Valentines Day, and then remained quiet while Vince did a huge publicity response, appearing and being reported on a wide variety of television entertainment shows. We'll share more TV clips of Vinnie trying to process the firing and more magazine articles from the vaults.

Stinky, Old Crue Shirts - Part I

I got Crue shirts from record stores, carnivals, traveling vendors, department stores, mail order and other kids. I have no memory where the above THEATRE OF PAIN era shirt came from but I know I got it from another fan, some time in the 1980s.

As the years passed I kept most of my childhood Motley collection but I did lose a few vintage Crue tees like the DR. FEELGOOD one above captured in an old family movie.

These hearty rags survived. I got the GIRLS, GIRLS, GIRLS shirt in 1987 and it's in pretty good shape.

More old, moldy and stinky Crue shirts to come at The Sleaze Patrol Files!!

Vintage Motley Posters #2

Local record stores and even Canadian department stores like Towers and Zellers would sometime sell Crue posters in the 1980s. The 1991 Decade of Decadence era poster above show the Crue following the current trend of alternative, faux-punk, pre-grunge style. This was possibly their last big photo session before they would disband the original lineup in February, 1992.

The Theatre Of Pain era is a controversial and bitter-sweet one for old-school Crue fans. It was the end of their intense, two record debut explosion as a blood-thirsty metal-pop band. Theatre happened after that all crashed and burned with Vince's vehicular manslaughter charge. This was when the Crue got complicated and the music suffered. The band actually changed from here on in. They became more of a Hard Rock act in a classic 70s mold with a 1980s update.

The Theatre Of Pain style is so particular to 1985-1986. Glam Metal was born with Theatre no matter if others did it first: it was Motley's about-face in style that spoke to other Rock bands and you soon saw the emergence of a whole genre of music called Glam Metal and, later, Hair Metal. I got two copies of the poster above and below. This 1930s gangster session and theme was one of the more colourful and effective themed shoots. Every album or "look" has a series of photo sessions that Crueheads identify with the era. I remember when some of these images were first released to the public and I still closely identify these albums and years with the pin-ups and posters of the same eras.

This second copy of the poster has some Hostess Chips Motley stickers from 1987 decorating the bottom left-hand side.

Even more vintage Crue posters to come at the Sleaze Patrol Files!!

I've been inactive for years now but I still have more vintage Crue articles and images and collectibles to share and perhaps the Netflix movie of "The Dirt" will create more interest in the Crue in the oncoming years. I hope to post more in 2019.


Vintage Motley Posters #1 can be seen HERE

Motley Crue 2018

In the year 2018 the members of Motley Crue are still alive.

At the time of this writing (July, 2018), Mick Mars is 67 years old, Nikki Sixx is 59, Vince Neil is 57 and Tommy is the baby at 55.

They have remained retired since their last gig at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on December 31st, 2015.

Mick has not yet released his solo record which he first mentioned way back in 1986. He and Vince both live in Nashville these days but do not speak.

Nikki retired from his radio show, Sixx Sense, and has been doing photography, writing tunes, practicing bass and guitar, updating his Instagram, living his life. He had some anniversary release(s) with some of his solo projects and generally stays busy. He was a judge on one of those music contest reality shows as well.

Tommy has been in the news fighting with his sons and has married again.

Vince continues to tour solo singing Motley tunes.

The Netflix production of the film version of their autobiography, "The Dirt," will be airing starting March 22, 2019.

I've been keeping up with the band and always on the lookout for "new" vintage footage to show up online, almost always at YouTube. Don't forget to check out CRUETUBE where we share Rare and vintage Crue film.

You'll want to check out Nikki's Instagram page for some really amazing Crue content. He posts old photos all the time and has been going through storage and sharing images and video of extremely rare Motley memorabilia.

The Terror Twins and Wives, July 2018

In September, Tommy and Nikki shared photos of the two playing and recording in the studio with Bob Rock. They are recording four new songs for "The Dirt" soundtrack. Nikki has said Vince and Mick will be joining them to play their parts.

Early photos of the actors portraying The Sleaze Patrol in the Netflix movie are not promising . . . 

2017 . . . Thinking Back and Into the Future

No posts so far this year because life goes on and other blogs and interests get more attention. I have more 1980s collectibles to share and articles to write but until then . . . some gabbing . . .

I've been listening to Motley's first demos and the Leathur Too Fast For Love a lot this year. "Nobody Knows What It's Like To Be Lonely" at the correct speed and the Raspberries cover, "Tonight", along with the "Stick To Your Guns"/"Toast Of The Town" single show Crue coming together quickly and making engaging power Pop Metal. It's classic stuff, with elements of Sweet and T. Rex. They also demoed "Public Enemy #1" and "Take Me To The Top". This was all by about May, 1981. In around September they started working on the Too Fast For Love record which they would release in November under their own "Leathur" label. They'd rerecord some tracks, edit and even remove one altogether when they re-released it through Elektra Records in the summer of 1982. The April 1981 debut at the Starwood bootleg that has circulated since the 1980s has an incomplete version of another early Nikki song with the refrain "Why You Killin' Yourself?". It has the same wistful vibe as much of the other 1981 Motley music. A more complete version of this show is in a collector's possession. Perhaps, someday, we'll hear this tune in full.

I woulda first heard Motley in the summer of 1984. I wanted my own copy of Shout At The Devil more than anything and I asked for it for Christmas and birthdays but I believe my ma fought me off for a while. I might have gotten a copy by 1985 and then Theatre Of Pain soon after. I didn't get Too Fast until about 1987, after Girls, Girls, Girls came out.
I was always a huge fan of Shout and enjoyed the other albums but I probably liked Metallica's first four albums as much or more than Motley's music in those years. I think part of my Motley identity was due to forging a personality in school and in my group. One guy was a Metallica freak, another, KISS. I was the Crue head. When Dr. Feelgood came out in the Fall of 1989, I was 13 years old and I remember being disappointed in the album. I think I was one of those Crue fans that was hoping we'd hear SOMETHING like Shout again, but it never happened. I love all Motley's 1980s albums but I wouldn't say that post-Shout we got another album as powerful. Take the best from Theatre (1985), Girls (1987), Dr. F (1989) and even the singles from Decade Of Decadence (1991) and you could make one monster album or maybe even two stronger ones.

But Motley truly were more than their music. They had legit vibe and character and it invests their whole aura with a kind of depth and meaning that many of their contemporaries just don't have. Behind Motley's songs is a content that isn't reducible to "Shop Talk": we've gotten almost nothing from them as to the making of their classic albums. What we do get is what the songs were written about. What happened in life to create all theses texts and tunes. The albums are collections of experiences in song-form, not necessarily "recording projects".

There are many Motley audio bootlegs from the classic Decade. I am currently making my way through all the known video boots of Crue concerts in the 1980s-1991 (right now on the Theatre tour) and I've come to realize so much more is represented on those audio boots, and often with better sound, that I'm gonna need to start listening to these. Even just the amount of Shout audio boots is impressive and we're lucky to have so much.