The Illustrated Motley Crue Gigs: 1981-2

Click on the red highlighted dates to watch & hear footage related to the Motley gig. Gig list
comes from Paul Miles’ Chronological Crue Gigography.

1981-04-24......Starwood, Los Angeles, CA (2 shows)
1981-04-25......Starwood, Los Angeles, CA (2 shows)
1981-05-12......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1981-05-15......Pookie's, Pasadena, CA
1981-05-25......Starwood, Los Angeles, CA
1981-05-29......Pookie's, Pasadena, CA
1981-05-30......Gahr Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA
1981-06-06......Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA,
"Anywhere, USA" Northern California Tour:
1981-06-16......Lyman Gilmore School Auditorium,
Nevada City, CA
1981-06-18......Nevada Theatre, Nevada City, CA
1981-06-19......The Tommyknacker, Grass Valley, CA
1981-06-20......The Tommyknacker, Grass Valley, CA 

1981-06-25......Cabo's, Chico, CA
1981-07-09......Starwood, Los Angeles, CA
1981-07-24......Pookie's, Pasadena, CA
1981-08-01......Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA
1981-08-06......The Barn, Alpine Village, Los Angeles, CA
1981-08-15......Excelsior Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA
1981-08-23......Excelsior Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA
1981-08-28......American Bandstand, Los Angeles, CA
1981-08-29......Centerxx, Los Angeles, CA
1981-09-03......Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA
1981-09-04......Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA
1981-09-09......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1981-09-11......Pookie's, Pasadena, CA
1981-09-12......Pookie's, Pasadena, CA
1981-10-02......Country Club, Los Angeles, CA
1981-10-03......Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA
1981-10-13......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1981-10-30......Solari Ballroom, Los Angeles, CA
1981-11-12......Roxy Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
1981-11-19......?, San Francisco, CA
1981-11-20......?, Sacramento, CA
1981-12-11......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1981-12-12......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1981-12-18......Radio City, Anaheim, CA
1981-12-25......Country Club, Los Angeles, CA
1981-12-26......Oxnard Auditorium, Oxnard, CA
1981-12-31......Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA

1982-01-15......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1982-01-16......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1982-01-19......Perkin's Palace, Pasadena, CA
1982-02-12......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1982-02-13......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1982-02-14......Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, CA
1982-03-13......Country Club, Los Angeles, CA
1982-04-01......The Rock, San Francisco, CA
1982-04-08......Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA
1982-04-19......Old Waldorf, San Francisco, CA
1982-05-07......Civic Auditorium, Glendale, CA
 

Crüesing Through Canada Tour:
1982-06-04......The Wayside, Lloydminster, AB, Canada
1982-06-05......Centennial Auditorium, Saskatoon, SK, Canada
1982-06-07......Scandals, Edmonton, AB, Canada
1982-06-08......Scandals, Edmonton, AB, Canada
1982-06-09......Scandals, Edmonton, AB, Canada
1982-06-10......Riviera Rock Room, Edmonton, AB, Canada
1982-06-11......Riviera Rock Room, Edmonton, AB, Canada

1982-07-22......Country Club, Los Angeles, CA
1982-07-23......Country Club, Los Angeles, CA
1982-08-??......Magic Mountain, Valencia, CA
1982-08-13......Showcase Theatre, Corona, CA

1982-08-30......Country Club, Los Angeles, CA
1982-09-09......The Keystone, Palo Alto, CA
1982-09-10......The Keystone, Berkeley, CA
1982-09-11......The Stone, San Francisco, CA
1982-09-24......Roxy Theatre, Los Angeles, CA
1982-09-25......Roxy Theatre, Los Angeles, CA

1982-10-29......Santa Rosa Veterans Building, Santa Rosa, CA
1982-10-30......Perkin's Palace, Pasadena, CA
1982-10-31......Concord Pavilion, San Francisco, CA
1982-11-17......Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA
1982-11-19......Perkin's Palace, Pasadena, CA (8pm)
1982-11-19......Perkin's Palace, Pasadena, CA (11pm)
1982-12-31......Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica, CA

Tommy Lee Part 5: The Dr. Feelgood Drum Solo

As far as awesome concert spectacles go Tommy Lee was not likely to top the spinning drum set stunt from the Crue’s 1987 tour. He sure came close though with the Dr. Feelgood drum solo of 1989-1990: on a track, suspended over the heads of the audience, Tommy & attached drum set would make their way around the arena while he played along with snatches of some of his favorite Rock songs.

The solo culminated with Tommy taking a long bungee jump off his drum set, dangling just above the audience. One night, a miscommunication with his roadie almost resulted in Mr. Lee cracking his noggin’ open like a cocoanut.

(from Chronological Crue)

‘7/4/90
At the end of his flying drum solo in New Haven, Connecticut, Tommy descends as usual on his bungee rope but has a feeling his roadie will not pull the brake on it in time. He panics and lets go of the rope to reach his foot strap, turning him upside down. When the rope’s brake is pulled on his twenty-foot plummet, Tommy’s head cracks into the head of a person in the audience, before he hits the ground head-first and blacks out. He gets taken to hospital for observation of his concussion, which not only signals the end of this show, but forces the cancellation of another show.’

Just as the 1987 drum solo was featured in the video for ‘Wild Side,’ Motley made sure those of us who didn’t see them on their massive Dr. Feelgood tour at least got a peek of Tommy’s latest trick.

MTV News Report, Motley Crue At The Roxy, November 1981

 

Back in February 2011 there surfaced an extremely rare video, a minute and a half MTV News clip of Motley Crue performing ‘Too Fast For Love’ & an interview with mostly Nikki Sixx at the Roxy Theatre on November 12, 1981. This high quality pro-shot footage was part of a lot of other rare Crue collectibles that were being auctioned off on Ebay:

(from ‘Blabbermouth.net’)

‘MÖTLEY CRÜE: 1981 'Too Fast For Love' Pro-Shot Tour Footage Surfaces - Feb. 14, 2011

30-year-old footage of MÖTLEY CRÜE performing live at the Roxy Theatre in West Hollywood, California has surfaced to promote a series of hard rock/heavy metal-themed auctions from eBay seller EliteWorks.

The MÖTLEY CRÜE segment, which also includes a brief interview with a 22-year-old Nikki Sixx, was shot on November 12, 1981, just prior to the independent release of MÖTLEY's debut album, "Too Fast For Love".
Several one-of-a-kind MÖTLEY CRÜE collectables are featured in the auctions, including a June 1981 promotional Umatic master videotape of the band's first two music videos ("Take Me To The Top" and "Public Enemy#1"), a test pressing 12-inch single from "Theatre Of Pain", a 24-year old stage used items from the "Girls, Girls, Girls" tour as well as guitar picks, early press kits, import singles, t-shirts and much more.’

As soon as I saw this baby I immediately downloaded it & it has since been removed from YouTube.

This video is a treat to see because there is so little live & candid footage of the band in these years & the high quality of the video is a bonus.

(Readers of Motley’s biography THE DIRT will likely remember the book’s infamous introduction with a Tommy Lee reminiscence of a former girlfriend nicknamed ‘Bullwinkle’. Online rumor has it the lady above in the vintage Crue shirt is ‘Bullwinkle’ herself.)

So here it is with a little bit edited out (complete video will be posted down the road). This shit is the coolest. And because we aim to please at the Sleaze Patrol Files, below is the complete text from the Roxy Theatre clip.

‘Look out Van Halen, here comes Motley Crue!
The band recently showcased their act at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles & the crowd loved them.
MTV Music TV was at the scene to talk to the Glitter group.

Nikki Sixx: We're not teeny-bopper by no means, on stage. I mean, just, the pretty look or whatever you want to call it, it just happened, it wasn't really planned. Sometimes it may be a little bit against us, but, the music kinda speaks for itself.

Motley Crue predicts that they're Rock n Roll's new fashion trend-setters.

Tommy & Vince: It's already happening/starting . . .
Nikki: In LA it's happening.
Tommy: There's people walking around everywhere with the same haircuts, the same look.
Nikki: You'll see that at our show tonight, take a look.
Tommy: They all show up at the shows with the hair & the . . .
Nikki: Anything different is gonna catch on, right? A few people cut off their hair like the Sex Pistols & rebelled against that & look it, it caught on.

From LA with Motley Crue, this is Tony Kilbert for MTV Music Television’

Tommy Lee Part 4-The Girls, Girls, Girls Drum Solo Mystery

I wrote about Tommy’s famous Girls, Girls, Girls drum solo HERE and soon after found out a couple things that cast a lot of doubt on Tommy’s claim that he got the idea from a dream. First, check out this video of the solo from Des Moines, Iowa in 1987. Tommy goes through his regular spiel. 

Here and elsewhere, Tommy insists that he dreamt the idea to rotate in his drum set in front of an audience, and he very well may have had that dream, but it looks like Buddy Rich had the same dream and beat him to the execution!!

What?!! That is some funky classic video. The band looks pretty damned amazed! Or amused!

Tommy has seen the above video and has responded that he did not know of its existence and as far as he knew he was was the first to do this stunt . . . and I would say that this is not an impossible thing for two drummers to think of and execute . . . they’re a nutty breed to be sure. So I would normally leave it at that if this were the end of the mystery. But it ain’t. Watch this:

So yeah, 12 years before the above Tommy Lee video, Mick Mars (at this time he was still Bob Deal-he’s the red-headed guitarist to the right) was in a band in which a drummer went upside down as he played . . . ! Right. Did this never come up during the whole Girls, Girls, Girls tour?! And although that Buddy Rich vid is from the early ‘70s, pre-dating the above Whitehorse video, it is explained at the YouTube page that Mick’s former band mate Jack Valentine apparently did invent the contraption/conception and Buddy did the act on TV for him when he broke his leg and was unable to perform.

 

[EDIT] I have known about the following video for years, a 1984 home video of Mick Mars being interviewed and reminiscing about his days as Robert Deal with old band mate Jack Valentine. In the two following parts Mick talks about Motley’s upcoming tour of Europe and fields a lot of questions from Jack about memories of the old days, very personal and candid stuff. The drum trick is mentioned several times in the second part and there are even pictures. Also, we should remember, Jack and Mick (or, Bob) were in a band that was once called Motley Croo or some such spelling . . . so how much exactly did Motley get from Mick’s old band? You’ll notice that Mick seems to get uncomfortable when Jack reminds him of the old Motley Croo name . . . obviously there was no discussion of usage between them at that time. Mick himself is said to have acquired his name from another L. A. performer known as Mickey Mars. Jack mentions several times how completely different Mick looks as compared to his Bob Deal days and how his trademark faces are the one dead give-away. They call it the "Mars Face."

Probably, Mick brought the drum idea to the band or told Tommy about it several times and then Motley paid his old band mate for the idea and to shut up and let-on that it was Tommy’s invention . . . or . . . Tommy dreamt it, brought it to the band, Mick mentioned he was in a band where a guy did it and etc. However it came to be it was a huge asset to the Motley’s show and Tommy’s rep as a wild man. 

TOMMY LEE DRUM SOLOS FROM OTHER TOURS COMIN’ UP . . . . SOME DAY . . . AT THE SLEAZE PATROL FILES  . . . . 

Decade of Decadence Part 2, 1991

 

Motley were as surprised as anyone that they lasted 10 years as a band (now over 30 years!) so the release of Decade of Decadence (album & home video) was a kind of ending & beginning point for the group: goodbye 1980s & hello 1990s with a sense of more mature & poignant music to be made in that more serious decade. 

Scheduled for a June 1991 release (it didn’t come out until September), Nikki & Tommy discuss their  lives, wives, newborns, new homes & the new album in this early 1991 interview:

(click image to enalrge & READ)

Before the release of  the compilation the band hit the UK & Europe for  the Monsters of Rock fest. Much of this short August-September tour was bootlegged & stuff has been popping up on YouTube. Check out this rare footage from Budapest. Here they are playing 'Red Hot':

Below is an interview with Nikki several weeks after returning from the European tour. The videos for ‘Primal Scream’ & ‘Anarchy In the UK’ are discussed as is the new musical direction for the projected new album.

 

 

Hit Parader marked the Crue’s 10 year anniversary with this little stroll through the previous decade. Author Anne Leighton’s piece, ‘Ten Years After’ is so laden with mistakes & utter confusion & absolute fabrications that it begs a reading. HOW did this get by the Hit Parader editor?! She asserts that Nikki got his name from ‘Jailhouse Rock,’ moved to LA at 17 & joined a street gang, assigns lyrics to a Crue song that I think are from a Bon Jovi song & liner notes that do not exist! . . . & more. Check this pile of shit out: 

We leave with some Decade of Decadence era video, clips from the early 1990s including a Vince interview in Europe at the Monsters of Rock festival.