Mick Mars has always been the shadowy figure of Motley, the most unlikely and the blackest of the Crue sheep. The "Mars Face" was the horror element in those old posters and would stare down from the wall as both a threat and an invitation to the dark side of the Crue.
Mick is a complicated person. He is partly a revision of himself; his success and vindication as a musician with Motley Crue seems to have almost erased his original personality as Robert Deal from Indiana. His alcohol addiction in the 1980s and then his present-day troubles with the rare bone disease Ankylosing spondylitis and his perseverance as Motley’s strange and ragged guitarist has made him a bit of an underground hero. His figure on stage is both Quasimodo and elder Rock God, his restricted movements making him look like Lon Chaney jr. in the Mummy’s garb.
This is s a video of a Mick solo in Quebec, Canada from the Theatre of Pain Tour in October, 1985. He gets pissed at an audience member who’s throwing shit at him and then proceeds to shred.
Mick treated the concert guitar solo like a spectacle so you basically just get a lot of wanking but the man is to be remembered and celebrated for his ensemble playing with the Motleys and the amazing riffs and memorable solos he played on the Crue tunes.
Although the guitar sound on Theatre of Pain is dated there is still some great work on that album. Crue were moving into cock-rock territory here but there are still elements of metal and Mick plays some melodic and titanic solos. "Use It Or Lose It" is a tour-de-force all around with Tommy’s double-bass attack and the main guitar riff a rhythmic monster (great lyrics too). Mick’s solo is explosive and has some of that metal sound that Crue were just about to shrug off by Girls, Girls, Girls.
Here’s a very old Mick article from, I think, a Hit Parader in 1985-86. The oldest member of Motley reflects on Vince’s car accident from 1984 and how well the band is getting along despite all the turmoil. Do things ever change for these guys?! Here they are 26 years later, doing it again for their 2011 tour. Mick talks about how they came to cover "Smokin’ In the Boys Room" and it has been announced this song will be resurrected (with a new arrangement) for this year’s tour.
We’ll leave with this rare video of Mick sitting in with a hip-hop band (featuring Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello on bass) doing ‘Dr. Feelgood.’ Very cool.
Happy Birthday Mick Mars!
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