Vince Neil's drinking according to some reports was affecting his ability to perform. At the time, the band blamed Neil's race car driving in the Indy Lights circuit as the reason, later releasing a statement that stated that they felt his racing had become his priority and that he didn’t share the band’s same desire and passion for the music any longer.
Even to this day there is no clear statement that would confirm or deny whether Neil was fired or quit the band. Bass player and band leader Nikki Sixx has long maintained that Neil quit, while Neil insists that he was fired. "Any band has its little spats," Neil observed in 2000, "and this one basically just stemmed from a bunch of 'fuck you’s' in a rehearsal studio. It went from 'I quit' to 'You're fired' ... It was handled idiotically. The management just let one of the biggest bands in the world break up”. Prior to his leaving of the group, Sixx says the band was open with Neil that they were considering a new lead vocalist, with Sixx telling him "We are down here working, and we want to be here. This isn't going to happen if you don't want to be here, and we have to force you out of bed every afternoon because you've been out all night drinking." Drummer Tommy Lee accused him of failing to contribute to the creative process and Neil stormed out, and his firing was announced to the public four days later.
At the same time, John Corabi was in his own band The Scream, and having heard Nikki Sixx had had good things to say about their album, wanted to get in contact with him, in order possibly have him collaborate on material for that band’s next album. When Sixx got back to him, he informed him that Neil had left Motley Crue, and asked Corabi if he would audition for the gig. A short time later and Corabi was inducted into the Motley Crue group, and a new chapter was about to be written, with an open ending that no one was sure which way it would go.
There was an obviously great deal of anticipation on the follow-up album to “Dr Feelgood” and how it would go in comparison. There was a lot to live up to, not just from that album but from the change in lead vocalist. It is fair to say that by the time “Mötley Crüe” the album finally hit the record shelves that it was not like anything that anyone expected it to be.
Apart from Vince Neil’s demise, five years had passed between albums, and the music world had completely changed from the one that Motley Crue had dominated. Glam metal was not extinct, but it had gone the way of the dinosaurs nonetheless, found only in the smallest of clubs with a shrinking audience. In its place had come grunge and the bands and sound that followed it, and it was nothing like the kind of music that Motley Crue had created over the previous decade and more. These occurrences were all things that they had to overcome when it came to how to approach this album.
What John Corabi brought to the band though was significant. He is a terrific lead singer in his own right, though different in style and substance from Vince Neil. He was also a guitarist, which brought with him the ability for two guitars on the album and allowing Mick Mars to be the lead guitarist in his own right while Corabi played rhythm, which did open up new possibilities with the songs. And finally, Corabi was a songwriter and a lyricist, which gave Nikki Sixx a real collaborator in this respect that he generally did not have, which gave the band the chance to write songs that they had never attempted before. All of this should have led to a more rounded writing and recording effort than the band had ever had before.
The sound on Mötley Crüe is tied very much to the times. Grunge had come and had eradicated the hair metal movement, or at least the sound that it had proliferated to the point between 1981 and 1991. Those hair metal bands that had not disappeared had for the most part tried to adapt to the new landscape. This is Motley Crue’s answer to that, a stripped back sound with a grungier outlook and a different vocal direction, though that is an obvious one given that it was a different vocalist on board.
Play this back-to-back with any of the previous Motley Crue albums and you would swear they are by different bands. It’s not just the vocals. The whole sound is completely different to what has come before. And that takes some getting used to. The best way to approach this album is to listen to it without knowing who the band is, so that you can give it the time it needs without the judgement of the band's past. Easier said than done when you buy the album for the name of the band emblazoned on the front of it. As a result, there is not so much joy and intensity and fun in the music here that had been such a part of their earlier albums.
After the opening tracks of “Power to the Music” and “Uncle Jack”, “Hooligan’s Holiday” starts off okay but drags on far too long without changing tune all the way through. “Misunderstood” too just goes on far too long. I mean, it’s not the kind of song that necessarily endears itself to you, and the fact that it drags that soft acoustic start out so long, and then does exactly the same thing at the end of the track, doesn’t help its cause. The attitude in the middle goes some way to offsetting that, but it still is a bit too close to country rock in places for my liking. And part of the problem with the feel of the album is its tempo, so different from past Motley Crue albums, that it does exacerbate the feeling of the songs going on too long. The comparative shortness of “Loveshine” at least compensates for its lack of excitement. “Poison Apples” is the first song on the album that sounds like it is trying to break the mould they have set for themselves and come closer to a true Motley Crue song, and with it a familiar sounding Mick Mars solo along the way. and “Hammered” at least allows Mick Mars to break out a decent solo to get the tracks moving. “Smoke the Sky” is probably my favourite track along with these two because of the better tempo.
For me, this is the equivalent of what Metallica did in the same era with the “Load” and “Reload” albums, a really definitive decision to slow the music down and incorporate the changing times of the popular alternative movement that had occurred. With the none-too-subtle change in the musical direction of both bands at this time, who should be in charge of twiddling the knobs of those two Metallica albums? Bob Rock. And who was also in charge on “Mötley Crüe”? Bob Rock. Coincidence? It doesn’t feel like it. The slower, crunch guitar rather than the fast paced, squealing guitar and solos is a feature of both of these bands' previous releases. While Metallica’s foursome had been retained though, at least Motley’s recruitment of Corabi gave some semblance of originality to the changes that came forth. Five years between albums, and the amount of change that had happened in the music scene during that time, certainly added some reasonability to it.
If you judge this album as an alternative or grunge album you will certainly find some positives within the songs. Perhaps it is heavier than an average alternative album but it is rooted in that genre. Which means that it is difficult to please either or any fans. The inclusion of acoustic guitars, sitar and mandolin, along with synth and even the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra in places on the album tops off all of the differences you could have when creating this album.
Did it work? Was there just too much baggage from fans who couldn’t handle the band without Vince Neil on vocals? It wouldn’t be the first nor last time that happened in the history of music. Think Iron Maiden and Blaze Bayley, think Van Halen and Gary Cherone. Both of those happened in this era also. This does not sound like a Motley Crue album, that is the simple truth. Three of the four members might be involved, but it doesn’t sound like the Crue. And that’s OK, unless you’ve come for a Motley Crue album. If you were to put this album on, without knowing who it is, you would never pick the band. But you know what? You might actually enjoy the album for what it is rather than trying to compare it to what has come before it. Motley Crue is not a mid tempo, slow drummed band, and that’s what this album is.
When I first listened to this album, I too dismissed it offhandedly. It didn’t sound like I wanted, so move on to the next band and album. There’s no doubt to me that that was a mistake, and mainly for the reason I mentioned before. Listen to the album but not who the band is. And this is a much better album than it is given credit for. I had made my peace with it a few years ago, so went into this episode with expectation rather than trepidation, and over the past month I have again discovered how much I enjoy this album in the modern day. It isn’t flawless by any means, but taking the album on face value and ignoring who it is credited to, I really enjoy this album.
Corabi has been touring in recent years playing this album in full, in order to give it a fresh audience or chance to see the light. He in fact came to Australia a couple of years ago to do just this. It went over really well. And as most people will know, this was the only album he made with the band. Following the tour to promote it, Corabi was out and Neil was back in. The band lost the extra guitarist and a damn fine singer and composer and got Vince instead. Keeping both surely could have been an option, one discussed further on the episode in Season 2 of this podcast that talks about the follow up album “Generation Swine”.
As a Motley Crue album such as the ones released in the past, it doesn’t rate well. As a stand-alone album of the era, there is a lot to like here. Personal taste will play its part as it always does, but don’t dismiss this just because it isn’t a Motley Crue album. Give it a chance because it isn’t.
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