I think Motley Crue were hardwired to eat their young. Nikki in particular. The second the follow up to Dr Feelgood (with Vince still in the band) sold less copies Nikki would have been looking for scapegoats. Management would be blamed, the Rock 101 excuse of 'blame the label' would have come up, and eventually Nikki would have realized that Vince Neil is/was a polar opposite of Cobain, Vedder and whoever else was selling albums in the new decade. Nikki would have gone chasing what was popular no matter what and it would have killed them with or without Vince. And Nikki would have been aided by having on his side Tommy, the ultimate follower, and Mick, the guy who would never say 'no' and stand up for himself. In fairness, Nikki did earn a lot of that leadership because he was unquestionably the 'visionary' of the group. Now, I would argue that Nikki's 'vision' didn't actually last that long and they were only leaders for a brief time, but that should take nothing away from Nikki being the catalyst that got them off the ground. And that absolutely counts for something. That vision and leadership is why it pisses me off so much that Nikki is constantly trying to reshape their legacy. Dude, you were one of the biggest bands in music history. You sold records, you sold out tours, you lasted 35 years and you quit on your own schedule. Why are you trying to re-write things? It reminds of one of the final quotes from Vince in The Dirt. He's talking about Nikki getting angry at MTV for saying they were about fire and hairspray. Vince says "you're damn right that's what we were about, and that's a lot better than being about boredom"! Sometimes having the least amount of vision is its own reward. Vince would have just been Vince forever, and that actually would have served them better in the long run than chasing after every trend (musical or fashion or both) like Nikki and Tommy are more guilty of. They were dead in the water the minute Vince was gone. I like the Corabi 94 record and would LOVE to hear the follow up. And John Corabi seems like one of the best dudes in the business. But he's got none of the 'it' factor to be a major league frontman. How a band beats the odds like Motley Crue did, like Van Halen did, and let an original lineup fall apart is beyond me. The ego involved to believe you can replace Vince Neil or David Lee Roth, or Rob Halford, or Bruce Dickinson? Staggering!
The ONE thing I thought about fleshing out in my post..... As you can't replace a top shelf frontman, Dave should have known he never could have found another song writing and onstage foil like Eddie. Bruce should have known that there's only one Steve Harris. Rob should have known there wasn't another Tipton/Downing waiting out there to be found.
I think your post is fine the way it's written. Szeppelin75 is partially right. But, what you're saying is "how do band's let it happen" It's debatable no matter what each side says.....of whether one quit or got fired. Van Halen is a different deal all together. Maiden, Priest & Crue had NO chance without their voice. VH did what only Sabbath & maybe one or two others could do. First...Diamond's departure was pretty much mutual. Fired, quit...it was a dissolution of a marriage. Also...whether anyone likes it or not - Van Halen grew in popularity & record sales. Massively. It wasn't just rocker chicks diggin em - the masses bought "When It's Love" while those, like me, who loved Eddie & Co. - were happy to embrace the "Best Of Both Worlds," etc.... Opinions aside - & yes, I dig DLR era best, Hagar Van Halen was freakish, lightning twice kind of successful.
About 2 hours ago Mick tweeted... "Thank you all for remembering Mötley's 36th. Still working on my project.It's coming together slower than I want.better heavy than cheezy" I don't even know what to say about this. Without trying to sound morbid I can't help but wonder who will be in charge of Mick's work when he passes away. Because that may be the only way this ever gets heard. Nobody on earth can expect this music to be pretentious, it's going to be somewhere between rock and blues rock. It shouldn't take 100 years to write, record and release ten rock songs. And again, unless he gets Lady GaGa and Taylor Swift to do guest spots this album isn't going to sell very well anyway. You can rationalize all you want about artists (and art) needing time but you need a deadline. Mick needs a deadline. Before he's dead!
Yesterday was MC's 36th Anniversary. I hope, at some point, they write and record a few new songs together. Think I'll listen to some Crue today. \m/
My prediction is no, but you never know. The next likely chance for that to happen is 4 years from now on the 40th anniversary.
If there is a chance to make a buck I am sure that they would consider it. Maybe as an add-on to a box set or anthology.
I would love to have a promo of TFFL and SATD. I have mint red labels of those two albums and 2 extra copies of SATD, one of which is an unplayed record club pressing which has a flawless jacket. It is hard to find an uncreased jacket for SATD. This thing is pristine and black as can be. It is beautiful. I freaking love that LP. There is no digital version that sounds right to me and the LP packaging is the ultimate in bad-assery!
Man...a promo of TFFL would be WOW. I have that 2nd press beauty. I think 1500 made? Maybe more. I think 1st was like 500? The GGG I have is just an orig 1st. And...I'm listening to White Label TOP NOW!!!! Not sure why I have the "damned" box set? Lol....they sound great though. I should check em again one of these days. It "does" have SOLA & a sweet litho.
I would like a "Legacy" style 2-disc release of TFFL and SATD. For TFFL, they need to find a good tape source for the Leathur mix or do a better needledrop than what they did for the MTCYCT box set. I would also like to get the demos of "Public Enemy #1" and "Take Me To The Top" as well as "Nobody Knows What It's Like To Be Lonely". For SATD, I would like to get the rest of those demos released which includes "Running Wild In The Night" and "Run For Your Life". I would also like to have the "God Bless The Children Of The Beast" demo paired with "Black Widow" as it crescendos into the song.
Here's the difference on why Van Halen stayed popular even when DLR left. They were at the absolute peak of their popularity with 1984. No matter what, all eyes were on them. When those other singers left, they were already past their peak popularity so losing the classic singer was much harder to take. In the case of the Crue, by the time the Corabi album was released it had already been 5 years since Feelgood which is a long time in the music business.
Had Vince stayed with MC, their story would have been probably similar than that of Def Leppard. The latter kept the same line up, attempted to reinvent themelves with a different sound (Slang). Things didn't go according to plan so they played it safe releasing an album closer to the sound that made then succesfull during the 80's (Euphoria). I also agree that personal issues among band members at the MC camp would have derailed the band for some years anyway, something that didn't affect Def Leppard to my knowledge.
And - Sammy Hagar was a big name. Seriously- cannot take that away from him. The peak of his solo career. The five yrs leading up to VH he released "Standing Hampton," "Three Lock Box " and "VOA" ....He was front & center with the music from the future cult classic "Heavy Metal," music on "Fast Times At Ridgemont High," etc, etc.... Probably not many bigger, better names. The "red rocker" slinging his Gibson Explorer was very popular. Blaze Bailey & John Corabi.....not so much.
Van Halen also had Eddie Van Halen. So even if you hated the idea of no DLR, you still had a once in a generation guitar talent and star in Ed.
Not wrong Sizzle. Not at all. Connects to. " VH were huge" as posted by Warrior above. But....I think my point has "at least" equal value. Adrian, Harris, Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee were popular. Their bands were popular. We weren't far removed from Feelgood & Fear Of The Dark (& all the live stuff.) Hagar was a huge name. They sold out arenas & grew the audience (lost some kept most gained some) with him. All 4 Hagar fronted records hit #1 - I think the worst selling Hagar record was OU812 - but crazy, even with history...it still has outsold Fair Warning. 1984 was a monster. Like 15+ million records, maybe more? Van Halen dominance + Sammy Hagar awesomeness (perceived or real don't matter) = did not miss a beat. It would be one thing if 5150 sold the 10 or 11 million & that was it. Look, I'm a DLR guy. Motley is my #3 band. VH is #2. But Sammy, imo, gets about as much credit for VH smoking the charts & selling out arenas & stadiums for the next 10 yrs as Eddie & Co. Eddie is God. Just don't think "any" replacement singer for DLR would've done it. That's lightning twice. I remember the rumor announcement on KLOS radio, the articles in Circus & Creem. Hagar was already prominent in those rags & selling arenas by himself. We'll never know, but I seriously doubt a fairly unknown singer would've cooked that up. This was like the 49'ers going from Joe Montana to Steve Young. Just true.
