Motley Pin-Ups #2

Here are some more random Motley pin-ups and images from my childhood collection. Check out the wear and tear on a few of these, ha ha. In the 1980s, Motley Crue pictures from magazines would sometimes pass into several hands before they found a home in fans like me or, more often, thrown in the garbage!
Here's Pin-Ups Part 1

 

Nikki Sixx and Mick Mars in Guitar Magazine, January 1990

"The bass player claims he's really just a songwriter. The guitarist can only solo on one chord. Both say they ought to practice more often, but then admit too much practice could lead the band to ruination. They wouldn't be motley anymore. But, wait a minute: the guitarist spends his off hours composing classical themes for cello and violin. The bass player is about to release a book of poetry. What is going on here?" 

John Stix's Guitar Magazine interview with Nikki and Mick is one of the most detailed accounts from the 1980s of the Motley string men as working, creative musicians. Both frankly admit their limitations while showing a deep awareness of their talents and how they approached their roles in one of the world's then biggest Rock bands.  

Mick speaks of creating out-of-character Rock instrumental music with a combination of his Blues Rock sensibilities and Classical music touches. He also talks in depth about key and position preference and reveals he is not overly comfortable in E or A which is surprising as they are often the most native, popular keys and positions for Blues Rock players.

Nikki discusses a book of poetry and lyrics he was planning on publishing but never saw the light of day. The book was to be a mix of Motley lyrics with as many new songs and poems and was later titled "An Education In Rebellion."  

Among the more fascinating details in this interview is Nikki's walk-through of Motley's songwriting process. From writing on acoustic guitars to Mick's electric guitar additions to having Vince mumble melody ideas, Nikki lays out the process which yielded such classics as "Don't Go Away Mad" and "Dr. Feelgood". This is the type of information that was not often asked of or offered from the Crue and it is a welcomed change.

Mick says he will soon be working on a solo record . . . which, in 2020, is still unreleased but has been teased and may be released in the next few years. He ends the interview by admitting that though perhaps more accomplished players may criticize his technique, they know his sound which is original and recognizable. Amen, Mr. Mars.

Guitar Magazine offered guitar and bass transcriptions for "Dr. Feelgood" and the back cover of the edition has a Kramer Guitars ad that features Nikki and Mick among Rock cohorts who had taken part in the Moscow Music Peace Festival months prior in August, 1989, around when this interview would have taken place. 

The Sleaze Patrol Teen Bedroom, 1991

The walls of the Sleaze Patrol Files Blog have been decorated with vintage Motley pin-ups, posters, shirts, mirrors and assorted memorabilia since the mid 1980s. Here we are in the year 2020 with the original members all still alive and with a recently postponed tour (until summer 2021). It seems unreal. No one thought the Crue would be alive let alone performing and recording music this late in the game. 2021 is their 40th anniversary! Here is a video of the Sleaze Patrol Files headquarters back in the year 1991 when the Motleys were still in their original Decade Of Decadence heyday and before Vince would leave in 1992.

"THE DIRT" Movie/Motley's Music and Fame - World Of Motley Crue

This post was originally published in March of 2019 when the movie had just come out. Although I still pretty much believe today what I wrote at that time I would say that if I enjoy the movie at all it's as a cheesy, guilty-pleasure romp. I was hoping for something more along the lines of "Boogie Nights" but the director and the scriptwriters for THE DIRT were not at that level of awareness or talent.
For comparison, I only recently watched the Queen bio movie, Bohemian Rhapsody, and I can see why "The Dirt" did so well: the Queen movie is only marginally better. What a cheesy, dishonest, vapid film. The Live Aid ending was strong and Queen's music is great but it was only a step above the Crue movie. I'm very surprised it's been so successful.

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THE DIRT (2019) - Netflix

This is what happens when you spend the last 20 years of your career celebrating your bad behaviour and not your music.
They did an autobiography with a director and a cast and, probably, a whole production team who aren't even fans of the band's music.

Out of their nine studio albums they've released you could make the argument that only four of them are strong. They would be 1981's TOO FAST FOR LOVE, 1983's SHOUT AT THE DEVIL, 1989's DR. FEELGOOD and 1994's MOTLEY CRUE. I've been reading and discussing Motley online for almost 20 years, have watched thousands of hours of concerts and interviews and media and in my "research" (cough) these four albums are passionately and consistently celebrated at chat boards and in the comments at YouTube and other video streaming services. The 1994 album has John Corabi on vocals and many 1980s Crue Heads don't like it but its cult popularity continues to grow over the years.

"The Dirt" is a bad movie. The positive reviews from music fans (most critics are panning the film) shows perhaps a low expectation from a band they see as a joke anyway. But the movie is a cheap and artless reproduction of cardboard cut-out readings of lurid events from the book. The songs are performed periodically and pop up on the soundtrack but they are barely broached. No band is this famous simply for their reputation. Before documentaries and books they had to write five to seven albums' worth of material and some of it even had to be good. It had to sell millions and kick the asses of millions of mostly immature kids and continue to bring them joy into their middle ages to become a movie on a popular platform that many will watch 30 plus years after the fact.

Or at least you need the perfect songs to carry the narrative and sell the story. "The Dirt," with the same stories and fates as presented in that book, but, with, say, Poison songs as the soundtrack? Or even WASP or Dokken or Quiet Riot or Twisted Sister or Ratt? That book doesn't sell as much and Netflix doesn't commit it to celluloid. Motley are a truly 3D band.

Ever since the success, first, of the bands' VH1 "Behind The Music" special in 1998, then the autobiography in 2001, Motley have been playing out the third and fourth acts of their career. They have not had a creative relationship, the four of them, since 1997's GENERATION SWINE and that was mostly between the "Terror Twins," Nikki and Tommy. Vince and Mick were alienated and almost ousted in those years. 2000's almost parody of Hard Rock and other assorted songs, NEW TATTOO, showed the band forging ahead without Tommy. 2008's SAINTS OF LOS ANGELES and all the singles since are Nikki songs written and partly informed by his SIXX AM crew or friends who do approximations of a Modern Hard Rock sound. Factory assembled-sounding Rock even if some of the tunes are pretty catchy.

But there's four strong albums, by vote. I personally like songs from other albums more than songs off these strong four, but in the end, the point is that Motley Crue have a respectable amount of good music. This is why we are fans. Google "Motley Crue tribute bands." Many more than any other band from their scene. See the many fan-curated pages there are dedicated to, say, Poison or Warrant as compared to Crue. Even bands who sold twice as much as Motley like Bon Jovi or Def Leppard do not have the following that Crue have. Back in the 1980s, Crue would routinely win the popularity contests in Hard Rock magazines. They have always been something of a "people's band" and have received an almost rabid fan base. I recently listened to a 2014 interview Mick Mars did with Eddie Trunk on Trunk's radio show. Fans called in to talk to him and the reverence the fans had for the Man from Mars was touching and impressive. "You are the reason I play guitar." "I think you are the most underrated Rock guitarist EVER" I'm not sure a C. C. Deville or even a Ritchie Sambora or the Def Leppard guys would necessarily draw such a response from the public.

Anyway, we'll always have 1981-1991.