I have heard this said about Nikki Sixx: ‘Geez, for a heroin addict he looked pretty good.’ And it’s true, many of the Girls-era photos have him appearing moderately healthy. But this photo session from 1987 has the Crue & especially the Sixxster looking pretty haggard. Nikki is trying to hide some fucked–up eyes above & in the other photos below. Click on the pin-ups to get a close-up look.
It looks like Nikki & Mick made wardrobe changes or it is another session. This is essentially what they wore on tour & I really prefer this to the ‘costumes’ from some of the other Girls photo sessions. I’m gonna do a post on Crue photo sessions I’ve always hated, many of which come from the Girls era. But these are very rock n’ roll, bad-ass & decadent.
I can only assume that all the photos in this post are from the same session but I could be wrong . . . anyway, they’re all from the same period when the boys were at the peak of their decadent & destructive behaviour on the Girls tour. Metal Edge caught up with them to give them Readers Poll Awards for 1987 in which Motley beat all challengers, winning in nine categories including best metal band (as opposed To Bon Jovi’s win for best band of the year), best vocalist, drummer & bassist (no Mick but he won the year before), best song of the year, best dressed & etc. Bon Jovi was a close second winning a lot of the other categories. Another example of the Motley Crue vs. Bon Jovi rivalry. (More Motley Magazine Polls in a future post).
The boys almost look goaded into the whole thing . . . & how do you walk into a room & give all the other guys awards & not one for Mick?!
There’s a clue right there. Steven Adler & the rest of Guns N’ Roses didn’t join Motley on the road until November, months after the tour started & during the deepest of Nikki’s & the band’s various addictions. The disastrous tour in Japan loomed only a month away.
Here’s video of Nikki’s & Tommy’s Jack Daniel’s routine from the Girls, Girls, Girls Tour. Also, we’ll leave you with a video of the boys performing a great Crue B-Side, ‘Bad Boy Boogie’ from a rare outdoor set in Columbus, Ohio. They sound great here. These videos contain coarse language. Bad is bad.
Nikki Sixx Solo Girls Girls Girls 1987-Jack Daniels
Bad Boy Boogie-Motley Crue-1987
Yeah! Nikki does look out of it ... all one has to do is look ahead to the Feelgood era to see how wasted he was ...
ReplyDeleteTHIS BLOG IS AWESOME ... the totally right tone to take about the awesome history of Motley - celebrating their greatness, and non-greatness in a realistic way. Keep up the good work!
You mention bad photo shoots - what the HECK were those odd clothes they wore for the early, first GGG shoot? They were strange, and disappeared fast, without a trace! Motley's never commented publicly about them.
ReplyDeleteHey Ron, if you go to the blog's very first post you will see a bunch of pics from this photo session. I have a lot more to upload as well. They were designed by a guy named Ray Brown & I really think they were almost an instance of the Crue not really paying enough attention to shit & going through with something because the guy was paid & etc. They certainly were a strange mix of styles . . .
ReplyDelete. . . Oh & thanks for the good words dude! It's not many people, including the Crue, who discuss or appraise the band as anything more than a train wreck & it's too bad. They really were great & it really was, in the end, about their great tunes.
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