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.

 

 

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".

Motley Magazine Miscellany #3

 In this installment of Motley Magazine Miscellany we have more random Crue appearances in print media of the 1980s-90s. Our first images come from a kid's book of celebrities entitled 'Good Guys & Bad Guys'. This was one of those cheapo, thrown-together publications that were sold in those Scholastic book order catalogues we'd get in Canadian grade school (I don't know if this is common to all Western school systems). The Motley member featured is Tommy Lee (whose famous wife was the main reason a mainstream audience even knew who he was) although you might not know that from the pic they used of Tommy for the cover: a pic of Nikki! And from an, even then, old Too Fast For Love era photo:

a different shot but same session

I don't have the rest of the book (I just tore out the Tommy pages!) but it's obvious from the opening paragraph of the Tommy bio that the intent of the book is a moral one, to show famous people who are either good guys or have become one, as is the case with Tommy. Privy to the sleazy rep Motley had even in the early 1990s, the writer says that because of Tommy's 'def' drumming (there's a word you don't hear too much anymore!) he has kept a host of fans who would have otherwise left the decadent rocker. Motley's bad guy reputation is lamented but with the sober lifestyle the band adopted in 1989, fame & artistic success were theirs. You gotta give this little write up a look-see:

 This next little artifact I got out of a sister's Cosmo er something equivalent. This would be from the early to mid 1990s, we see the actors from the TV Show 90210 in the other panels. In this relationship/Music quiz, Motley fares out poorly. The question is, 'Your boyfriend listen to Motley Crue so You listen too?' Ha ha, 95% of the women polled said NO WAY!

The tragic history of one Mr. Vincent Neil Wharton has been the source of much spilt ink & it's one of the details of Motley's history that reached the attention of the popular public. A big pic of Vinnie making a gun shot gesture & details of the accident where he is painted as a stone cold killer come from an article called 'Stars Who Get Away With MURDER' from some sleazy pulp rag (likely The National-Enquirer). I remember ripping this out of a magazine at the dentist's office!

Another Motley tabloid article but this time about the romantic troubles of Tommy Lee. This story is from a 1988 edition of The National-Enquirer (or just 'the Enquirer'). There may be some truth to this tale of adultery, the authors even sign their name to the piece. Enlarge the image to read the lurid details of Motley's basher's Celebrity Marriage Foibles!

Here's an ad for a contest to see Motley, Phil Collins & Madonna at Toronto's then new Skydome (now the Rogers Center & home to the MLB's TO Blue Jays).

More Motley Magazine Miscellany to come at The Sleaze Patrol Files & here are links to PART I & PART II

The Motliest Of All The Crues!!

Motley Who?

 

So exactly WHO are Motley Crue? In 2015 they are bona fide Rock Legends with an impressive staying power and biz savvy. They are also an example of the tired nostalgia culture that has been a leading force in the music industry since the 1990s (& before). The band has never again achieved the artistic success that reached its peak in the early 1990s with 'Primal Scream' & the 1994 John Corabi album, nor did it ever duplicate the sheer power & honesty of their first two records. 

 

Motley have had several lives. Even within the first decade there are so many details; tragedies and songs about them, changes in appearance & style of music. A LOT happened from 1981-1991 in Crue land. Then there's the short-lived Corabi period. After that the middling years: Motley, completely irrelevant artistically, releasing clumsy new music & keeping their heads down, doing their work while the world moved on. 

The reason they are here today, to my mind, is because of the success of the 2001 Neil Strauss-penned bio, 'The Dirt'. It hit at just the right time, finding an audience rabid for 1980s raunch & hedonism sprinkled with enough pathos to turn the head of a Greek dramatist [cough, we'll work on that one later! .ed]. Known to us old-school Crueheads since the mid '80s, Motley's story is one of epic proportions that may or may not contain moments of exaggeration & hyperbole. Nonetheless, the book proved that, alongside a songbook that has aged better than many of their contemporaries', the Motley myth was more rich, more honest & more compelling than your average Classic Rock band.

 Although the music they made after 1994 is not essential listening it can sometimes be interesting & entertaining. Had the Brunette Three (Mick, Nik & Tom) picked a more 1990s-sounding singer to replace Vince (John Corabi was a Steven Tyler-styled vocalist) OR called the Corabi band anything other than Motley Crue I think we could have had a second band that would have continued until now, even alongside the Motley machine. I for one am a fan of the Motley Crue album from 1994 but I do think a slightly different handling of that whole situation (like not firing Vince at all but taking a break & doing a record with a different singer) could have made a much richer Motley legacy. Alas, it wasn't to be.

Classic Rock Magazine Polls #3: 1989-1990

Motley's two & a half year hiatus from releasing new music meant that a whole lotta upstarts jumped into the limelight. By 1989, bands like Warrant & Skid Row & Poison came to define what has become popularly known as 'Hair Metal'. Motley were always a Glam band in the mold of 1970s pioneers like Alice Cooper, New York Dolls & Kiss, but with the emergence of 1980s Hard Rock, Glam got a new look and a new cast of characters. In those two & a half years, a highly successful breed of bands would emerge & threaten to topple the Crue from atop the Hard Rock heap.

 In 1989 Hard Rock was still big business & Motley released Dr. Feelgood unto a world which had already heard Guns N' Roses, Cinderella, Poison, Skid Row, Warrant &, in a different vein, Metallica (as can be seen by their placing in many of the poll categories). And although songs like 'Dr. Feelgood' & 'Kickstart My Heart' are powerful examples of 1980s Hard Rock at its finest, the Crue were not offering anything overly revolutionary or new. In a way, it was the first time in their career they could be said to have been overt followers of trends in Hard Rock. 

Despite this tough competition, Motley fares out well in this Circus Magazine poll for the year 1989 (published in the February 1990 edition), winning the coveted top spots: 'Band Of The Year' & 'Album Of The Year' for Dr. Feelgood. Vince hadn't won the 'Lead Vocalist Of The Year' for two polls running but was happy to comment on Motley's other wins in the article above. He talks about the band's success despite not much radio or video play & remarks how the band's audience has expanded to include younger & more general Rock fans (a trend that two years later would make Metallica the world's biggest Rock band). Vince congratulates Skid Row on their success & once again remarks on the different nature of Motley & Bon Jovi.

Sharon Liveten catches up with Nikki while the Crue are rollin' on the Feelgood tour in 1989-90. The Sixxster is in high spirits & discusses the bass guitar (he won 'Best Bassist') & laughs that the band also won 'Comeback Of The Year', insisting the Crue were assured of their success with Dr. Feelgood all along. Tommy also won 'Best Drummer' (again) but we do not get a feature on the Motley basher.

Circus printed a chart of all the Reader's Poll winners from 1984 to 1989 & Motley's dominance & popularity in those years is surprising. They certainly were not as successful or as popular as bands like Bon Jovi, Def Leppard or AC/DC, so why were they the darlings of so many of these teeny-bopper Metal & Hard Rock magazines? Was there something more personal & intense about the Motleys?

 

Tommy & Nikki sound politely impressed when Metal Edge Magazine Editor Gerri Miller presents them with plaques for their wins in the 1990 Reader's Choice Awards. The duo often won in their respective categories, a testament to their talent (Tommy) & their popularity. MORE Magazine Poll Awards to come at the Sleaze Patrol Files!!