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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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.

 

 

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.

Vince Part 7: Dr. Neil, 1988-1989

Vince was sober, recording Dr. Feelgood in Vancouver, Canada on the weekends, & apparently not getting along with his then wife, Sharise Ruddell. Sometime in perhaps mid 1988, Sharise talked to the folks at Blast! Magazine about her relationship with Vince, the making of Motley's new record & what she was getting herself up to as Mrs. Neil.

In May 1989, in the locker room after a charity baseball game, Coach Vince Neil talks to Gerri Miller of Metal Edge Magazine about the loss to Sam Kinison's team & updates her on the final stages of the recording of Dr. Feelgood.

Gerri Miller of Metal Edge once again gets the scoop on the new Motley record & Vince talks about everything including the new video, tour, acting & much more in this circa August 1989 article, 'Vince Neil On The Line':

Vince talks to Anne M. Raso at Powerline Magazine circa October-November 1989. He speaks at length about Motley's longevity, the scuffle-up at Moscow in August that saw them separating ways with manager Doc McGhee, the then European tour, the security necessary for big rock bands & an anecdote about an imposter who convinced a Las Vegas casino that he was the real Vince Neil & left a bill for 10 grand! The Crue would be jetting to gigs on their new private plane for the first time.

Vince's turn as an actor in some bigger budget movies is mentioned in all these interviews. He gets killed in Andrew 'Dice' Clay's The Adventures Of Ford Fairlane from 1990. He also voices regret that his scene in Police Academy Part 6 got cut from the final feature. Here's the trailer for the 'Dice' movie. Most of Vince's appearance is featured in the first 13 seconds!

Motley contributed 'Rock N' Roll Junkie' to the soundtrack. I actually bought this thing, I was such a Cruehead. I didn't know they were going to release it on Decade Of Decadence in 1991 but I couldn't have waited that long anyway. A fun & funky Motley B-Side!

We actually have about 6 minutes of Vince on the set of Police Academy 6 in late 1988. We see him in 'Hair & Make-up', going over his lines at his trailer & then being interviewed about Motley. Vince says they're taking holidays 1988 off & then pre-production with Bob Rock in January 1989 with recording starting February 1st. We even see the cut scene as the crew films it!

More Vinnie to come at The Sleaze Patrol Files!!

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

A WTF Motley Artifact: Crue & Arsenio Hall

Don't go looking for it on YouTube, it didn't happen. I think. Crueheads who may know better are going to have to let me know if this happened but I've never seen or heard anything about it except this notice from the TV Guide of my sleepy little town. 

Arsenio Hall was a very famous Night Talk Show host in the late 1980s to early 1990s & anybody who was anybody appeared on his show [Then President-hopeful Bill Clinton performed saxophone with the show's band (The Posse) & instantly appeared 90% cooler to the public]. I remember there being a mention of Motley & the rap band 2 Live Crew performing on the show together [more on that unlikely collaboration HERE] but the above advertised appearance is odd. We do know that the Motleys & Mr. Hall ran into each other in the years 1989-1990. Here's what Paul Miles' authoritative Chronological Crue has for the year 1989:

11/7/89
Nominees for the MTV Video Awards are announced by Vince and Arsenio Hall during a press conference at the Saxonlee Art Gallery in Los Angeles.

We have a pic of the great meeting, above.

In September 1990 Motley performed Don't Go Away Mad at the MTV Video Music Awards, hosted by Mr. Hall. Here he is introducing the boys:

Motley became more famous in the Dr. Feelgood years; Hard Rock had hit the mainstream & with Tommy married to the famous Heather Locklear, the Crue had a certain presence & legitimacy they hadn't had prior. Vince was the most public Motley face & there are many pics of Vinnie hanging with some big stars like Sylvester Stallone.
If any of you Crueheads know anything about this Arsenio Hall appearance, please let me know in the comments section, thanks!

The Motliest Of All The Crues!!