Tapes that kill

[Nitro Express]

I liked 'em when they first broke big in 1984.

Then again, I was 13/14 years old. Back then, as you say, a lot of us thought they were ripping KISS off a bit.

They got lame quick, though. Going 'glam' with that Theater Of Pain record and that lame Home Sweet Home tune...I mean, their image prior was a bit of a joke but at least the music was a bit tougher on the first two records. Ironically, while they got bigger post-Shout, overall I liked their music less and less the longer they stuck around.

I did think the SOLA track was a good return to form, or at least the Motley sound I had liked circa 1984.

They were ok. I remember them doing Take Me to the Top. Other than that I don’t remember much.

[Nitro Express]

That was part of the CVH legend, though: a record setting one-off appearance in terms of the concert fee garnered, yet Van Halen shows up a bit more than half in the bag anyway.

For years, all I'd seen of that performance was the edited version that aired on Showtime (or Cinemax, or whichever channel aired it). Probably wasn't until the mid-1990s when I stumbled across a VHS bootleg of the entire show for sale in a Mom n' Pop record store that I saw and heard the entire set unedited. A bit rough with some mistakes to be sure (not just Dave, either; Ed and Al played some bum notes here and there), but I'd wager had I been there drunk and stoned none of that would have bothered me in the least.

I was at that US Festival show. Dave was pretty fucked up at the start but he started to recover a few songs into it.

[Nitro Express]

Not rock is it?

The minute you go to click tracks the energy has to go. Interesting he doesn't even bother with the feed from Tommy Lee.

I would say his playing is ok and obviously none of his bandmates are in a position to criticize...

I have to admit I can see the attraction of that little fellah telling you 'last time' and so on. I was waiting for it to say 'Now collect your check and remember to wipe your ass after shitting in the backstage area.'

Also surely it's a bit of a giveaway that the dancers backing vocals have male voices. :D

Surely the sensible move would be to replace Sixx and Lee with another couple of dancers?

Well with this trans thing being the latest fad, females with manly voices is currently in style.

[Nitro Express]

The thing that's been bugging me about this is the more I think about it I don't really understand Nikki Sixx miming. Why would you do that, would it not just make it less fun for him? Usually the miming thing is because you can't do something live you could do in the studio but surely that's not an issue with Motley Crue bass lines?

The only thing I can think of is that he is having trouble remembering the songs.

The guy was doing his own radio show not too long ago. He seemed mentally with it. I mean Motley Crue bass lines aren’t like Rush or even the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Play the shit. Miming Motley bass? Is anything more lame than that?

[Seshmeister]

Not rock is it?

The minute you go to click tracks the energy has to go. Interesting he doesn't even bother with the feed from Tommy Lee.

I would say his playing is ok and obviously none of his bandmates are in a position to criticize...

I have to admit I can see the attraction of that little fellah telling you 'last time' and so on. I was waiting for it to say 'Now collect your check and remember to wipe your ass after shitting in the backstage area.'

Also surely it's a bit of a giveaway that the dancers backing vocals have male voices. :D

Surely the sensible move would be to replace Sixx and Lee with another couple of dancers?

[twonabomber]

[Nickdfresh]

https://variety.com/2023/music/news/mick-mars-interview-motley-crue-explains-arbitration-legal-1235576385/

[Seshmeister]

The thing that's been bugging me about this is the more I think about it I don't really understand Nikki Sixx miming. Why would you do that, would it not just make it less fun for him? Usually the miming thing is because you can't do something live you could do in the studio but surely that's not an issue with Motley Crue bass lines?

The only thing I can think of is that he is having trouble remembering the songs.

[Terry]

You were at the US Festival??

I know people love to talk about sloppy VH were at the US Festival...but I have a pretty decent Blu-Ray of it that I put together. It's not polished...but it's still a fun VH gig...even if Dave (and I suspect one or two of the other guys) is totally drunk.

That was part of the CVH legend, though: a record setting one-off appearance in terms of the concert fee garnered, yet Van Halen shows up a bit more than half in the bag anyway.

For years, all I'd seen of that performance was the edited version that aired on Showtime (or Cinemax, or whichever channel aired it). Probably wasn't until the mid-1990s when I stumbled across a VHS bootleg of the entire show for sale in a Mom n' Pop record store that I saw and heard the entire set unedited. A bit rough with some mistakes to be sure (not just Dave, either; Ed and Al played some bum notes here and there), but I'd wager had I been there drunk and stoned none of that would have bothered me in the least.

[Terry]

Nikki Sixx bought a house not too far away from me. This place appeals to outdoors people. I found it odd he would move here because he doesn’t strike me as a skiing, mountain climbing, back packing, fly fishing type guy.

The Crue had good songs. I never bought one album. It was good background music. I saw them at the US Festival. I thought they were a bit of a KISS rip off. They had a bit of makeup on and Sixx was in platform shoes.

I liked 'em when they first broke big in 1984.

Then again, I was 13/14 years old. Back then, as you say, a lot of us thought they were ripping KISS off a bit.

They got lame quick, though. Going 'glam' with that Theater Of Pain record and that lame Home Sweet Home tune...I mean, their image prior was a bit of a joke but at least the music was a bit tougher on the first two records. Ironically, while they got bigger post-Shout, overall I liked their music less and less the longer they stuck around.

I did think the SOLA track was a good return to form, or at least the Motley sound I had liked circa 1984.

[Rikk]

Nikki Sixx bought a house not too far away from me. This place appeals to outdoors people. I found it odd he would move here because he doesn’t strike me as a skiing, mountain climbing, back packing, fly fishing type guy.

The Crue had good songs. I never bought one album. It was good background music. I saw them at the US Festival. I thought they were a bit of a KISS rip off. They had a bit of makeup on and Sixx was in platform shoes.

You were at the US Festival??

I know people love to talk about sloppy VH were at the US Festival...but I have a pretty decent Blu-Ray of it that I put together. It's not polished...but it's still a fun VH gig...even if Dave (and I suspect one or two of the other guys) is totally drunk.

[Nitro Express]

Sort of the definition of a band comprised of meatheads who made it big...bigger than I thought they should have...but I too still enjoy the first two albums...

It's as you say in that they were this dumb, loud L.A. club band that played dumb, loud, fun rock that one could never take seriously. As twonabomber said, basically disposable fluff a la summer popcorn movie.

Nikki Sixx bought a house not too far away from me. This place appeals to outdoors people. I found it odd he would move here because he doesn’t strike me as a skiing, mountain climbing, back packing, fly fishing type guy.

The Crue had good songs. I never bought one album. It was good background music. I saw them at the US Festival. I thought they were a bit of a KISS rip off. They had a bit of makeup on and Sixx was in platform shoes.

[Terry]

Jesus Christ...yeah, they're sure going out "on top"...LMFAO.

They WERE once a great band...TOO FAST FOR LOVE, SHOUT AT THE DEVIL...most people hated it but I really liked a lot of the material on their reunion LP, GENERATION SWINE. At least they were trying something new.

But they REALLY should have bowed out with their farewell tour. They are literally pissing on their legacy. I'll bet they're just going to keep running this thing into the ground, eventually losing another original member with more lawsuits...maybe it'll just be Nikki in the end, playing an all-mimed backing track tour, doing the same hits that sound like shit, uglier than ever...

I had an ex that broke up with me after we lived together for a while. I moved on, eventually met my wife and was happy...but my ex suddenly couldn't accept that I had moved on. She literally for a few years was sending me crazy emails, questioning how I could move on, questioning how I would want to "let us go." She just couldn't see that it was no good...just couldn't see that it was so over and kept trying and trying to just keep it going for so much longer than any sane person would want to try beating a dead horse. She stalked me even after I was engaged to my future wife. SHE JUST COULDN'T SEE THAT SOME THINGS JUST NEED TO END, FOR FUCK'S SAKES!!!

And that's just what this band is now. I used to really like them. And I still put on TOO FAST FOR LOVE and jump around the room, listening to LIVE WIRE or PUBLIC ENEMY #1. But every year they continue to be bigger and bigger fucking jokes, I just completely lose respect for them and the legacy they're destroying.

They NEVER were the unique and almost divine experience that original Van Halen or Rush or Deep Purple were. They were kind of a sleazy, loud and fun band that one could not take truly seriously. And they had plenty of lousy moments in their career/catalog. But I never thought they could sink this low.

Who the fuck are these people still buying tickets?...

Sort of the definition of a band comprised of meatheads who made it big...bigger than I thought they should have...but I too still enjoy the first two albums...

It's as you say in that they were this dumb, loud L.A. club band that played dumb, loud, fun rock that one could never take seriously. As twonabomber said, basically disposable fluff a la summer popcorn movie.

[Terry]

It's really sad. From what I understand, Crue's last REAL tour (the farewell thingy) went very well. The shows were apparently good. Then they come back and do pathetic double and triple-billings, eventually losing the only guitarist they ever had and literally playing to tapes. I thought the whole point of their farewell tour was that they wanted to go out while they "could still kick ass"? Now, they're an industry embarrassment.

The show I saw from that tour was okay, performance-wise. Vince Neil was clearly having trouble in that he looked and sounded winded and sang very few choruses, opting to stick the mic out to the crowd in a gesture to have the audience sing them (a bit like 'hey, asshole, I didn't pay to hear these tone-deaf idiots around me singing your tunes' but whatever) along with the two female backup singer/dancers. It was also audibly obvious at that show that while Mick Mars appeared to be playing live there were backing guitar rhythm tracks being either piped in or someone offstage was playing rhythm guitar.

Then again, I never considered Motley Crue to be particularly good musicians anyway - even back in the 1980s - so the augmentations weren't surprising.
Motley Crue were never a band I thought of as great musicians, even back in the 1980s.

[twonabomber]

They NEVER were the unique and almost divine experience that original Van Halen or Rush or Deep Purple were. They were kind of a sleazy, loud and fun band that one could not take truly seriously. And they had plenty of lousy moments in their career/catalog. But I never thought they could sink this low.

Musical equivalent of a summer popcorn movie.

They were okay on the SOLA tour, which is the last I saw, and as much as I like John 5, I won't go now. Nothing like Feelgood tour or even Gen Swine, there was an energy that tour of "hey, we're back!" even though the album was iffy and they played smaller rooms.

Probably should have quit in '05. Mars looked awkward onstage that tour, like he had metal rods in his boots holding him up.