Originally published in 1997. I wrote this story for Cityview in Des Moines, I think. After I interviewed Mick Mars, I spoke with the Crue’s publicist. He asked me if I wanted tickets to the show and I said, “Sure.” I had never really been a fan, but I thought it might be a fun show. Then he asked if I wanted a photo pass as well. I had no reason to take photos since the story would appear in the paper before the show and I wasn’t actually a photographer, but I accepted that offer as well. I don’t remember where the show was – but it must have been Vet’s in Des Moines. Jennifer (definitely not a Crue fan) went with me and we were in the eighth row in the center. Cheap Trick opened, which was definitely a bonus for me, but the pro-Crue crowd was a little lackluster during the performance. Late in the set, Rick Nielsen zinged a cardboard poster out to the crowd and Jennifer nabbed it. It had a handful of his picks taped to it. We still have the poster – and a couple of the picks are still lying around. I went up to the front of the stage to shoot the first couple of songs of the Crue set. About 10 seconds into the first song, I was struck in the head with a lady’s undergarment thrown from the crowd. To this day, I contend that I was the intended target, but Jennifer has always doubted that claim.
After over a decade and a half of rock-n-roll decadence and debauchery, does the end of the century bring a kinder, gentler Motley Crue? Not hardly. Is this a more mature, focused band than the one that hammered their way through the ’80s bent on destroying themselves living out the drugs-sex-rock-n-roll dream? Definitely.
“I’ve reached an age now, though I definitely don’t feel old, that alcohol and drugs are just not important,” says guitarist Mick Mars. “The music, this band, the live show and touring is the number one priority. It’s a growing kind of thing. We felt we needed to experiment with alcohol, drugs and sex. But we lasted through that and realized it wasn’t important.”
After the ugly, much-publicized firing of singer Vince Neil five years ago, the Crue is back in its original form like they had never gone away. Their latest disc, “Generation Swine,” has been a major chart success and the supporting tour is doing so well that 150 shows were added. Although the Crue was one of the ’80s biggest acts, no-one in the band was banking on automatic success this time around. But an inspired live appearance on this year’s American Music Awards helped ease their minds.
“There’s always an element of doubt when you’re doing something like this,” says Mars. “When we did the AMAs we were pretty nervous. But when the Nielsen ratings came in they were really high. Dick Clark called our management company and was really thankful we were on the show. It was cool. It showed us that there were a lot of fans out there that still wanted to hear Motley Crue.”
For better or worse, the amazing success of Motley Crue’s 1983 album “Shout at the Devil” helped spawn a slew of high-heeled, made-up imitators. The anger and hedonism that Crue espoused quickly deteriorated into slick, androgynous glam/pop in the hands of the well-coifed followers.
“I didn’t think about it much when it started. We just did what we did,” says Mars. “But then I saw it happening and I thought ‘Man, these guys are wrecking it.’ It’s similar to what happened with the Seattle thing, but it happened even faster for them.”
Unlike their contemporaries, the band refused to regurgitate the same record over and over. Though never critically acclaimed and hardly groundbreaking, their records did evolve enough to keep the Crue separated from the watered-down throng. The make-up and frills disappeared but the fist-pumping anthems continued throughout the decade.
“We always tried to think about the next step,” says Mars. “There’s no sense in doing something two times. That’s boring for us and the fans.”
“Generation Swine” is pure Crue. The first line of the opening cut (“I’m a sick mother******!”) leaves little doubt where they are coming from. It’s the band’s high-tech sound on a few cuts that is surprising, though it surely won’t deter old Crue fans.
“We don’t ever want to repeat ourselves. There’s so much technology out there, and we used it to our advantage. We experimented a lot like we always do. We took each song and thought ‘How can we make this different?’ But that can go on forever, so sometimes you just have to cut it off. We just want to take our music to the next level.”
Rocktales 