Vince Neil was driving drunk when his passenger was killed in a car crash. So how did he walk free after only two weeks in jail? That's just one of many public relations problems that did no favors for Mötley Crüe.
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00:00Vince Neil was driving drunk when his passenger was killed in a car crash, so how did he walk
00:05free after only two weeks in jail?
00:07That's just one of many public relations problems that did no favors for Motley Crue.
00:12In Motley Crue's autobiography, The Dirt, the band revealed that on one occasion, Nikki
00:17Sixx was having sex with a woman when drummer Tommy Lee switched places with him, without
00:21letting the woman know that there had been a change in partners.
00:25Prior to the premiere of the Netflix movie adaptation of The Dirt, Rolling Stone asked
00:29Sixx about the incident.
00:30The bassist backtracked, claiming that there was some sensationalization involved, as he
00:35was off the wagon at the time the book was written, and didn't remember telling the story
00:39to co-writer Neil Strauss.
00:41There was a little bit of embellishment here and there, but many fans didn't buy the excuse,
00:46feeling that Sixx only walked back the story after realizing how bad the optics were.
00:51Finnish glam rock band Hanoi Rocks was one of the hottest bands around in December 1984,
00:56when members of the band, including drummer Nicholas Razzle Dingley, attended one of Motley
01:00Crue's raging parties.
01:02As dramatized in the Netflix adaptation of The Dirt, Vince, Neil, and Razzle drove off
01:06to the liquor store to restock.
01:08Neil, whose blood alcohol of 0.17 was well above the legal limit, lost control of the
01:13car, which spun into oncoming traffic.
01:16Razzle was killed almost instantly, and two other individuals suffered serious injuries.
01:21Neil was convicted of vehicular manslaughter, but only spent 15 days in jail.
01:26He didn't learn his lesson, either.
01:27The singer was later arrested on suspicion of DUI in 2007, and again in 2010.
01:33Hanoi Rocks guitarist Andy McCoy told Classic Rock that Neil never apologized for causing
01:38Razzle's death, not even decades after the fatal car crash.
01:42He's scared of me.
01:43Every time he sees me, he runs away.
01:45But to me, it is so important.
01:47It is the moral value of the thing.
01:50The other Motley Crue guys apologized, but the other guys didn't do anything wrong.
01:55In late 1997, during a concert in Greensboro, North Carolina, Nikki Sixx spotted a security
02:00guard abusing his authority with the fans on two separate occasions, first shining a
02:04light in a woman's eyes, and then getting overly physical with another fan.
02:09Sixx grabbed the microphone to rebuke the guard, who happened to be black, for bullying
02:13the fans.
02:14But then Sixx went too far, repeatedly using the N-word while urging fans to attack the
02:19guard.
02:20Sixx and Lee then poured beer on the guard.
02:22The pair were arrested for inciting a riot.
02:25Both pleaded no contest and received suspended sentences.
02:28Sixx also settled a civil suit out of court with the guard.
02:32On February 24, 1998, Lee was arrested for spousal and child abuse after the drummer
02:37physically attacked his wife, Baywatch star Pamela Anderson, while she was holding their
02:41youngest son Dylan.
02:43Just days after Lee's arrest, Anderson filed for divorce.
02:46In 2018, she told Piers Morgan,
02:49He had no concept of who he was or what was going on, and I had two babies there, and
02:53I really thought he was going to, I don't know, he could have killed me."
02:57That May, Lee was sentenced to six months in the Los Angeles County Jail, and was also
03:01required to attend anger management counseling and perform community service.
03:05The Malibu judge told Lee during his sentencing,
03:07"'What I see here is a very clear, very disturbing, in my judgment, pattern of conduct in which
03:13otherwise resolvable matters are handled by violence.
03:16We do it whether it's a family member or a third party.
03:19That's intolerable in any kind of civilized society."
03:23In 2014, a Manhattan-based musical duo called the Raskins joined Motley Crue on tour as
03:28the opening act.
03:29Two years later, they filed a lawsuit claiming they were subjected to months of cruel hazing
03:33from the crew and their team, which purportedly saw the Raskins get hit by heavy equipment
03:38and at one show in Connecticut, sprayed by crew members in monkey masks firing urine-filled
03:43water guns.
03:44The duo was also forbidden to sell their own merchandise and left with no choice but to
03:48play abbreviated, poorly attended sets because managers wouldn't open the venues promptly.
03:53Making things worse was the fact that the Raskins had actually paid Motley Crue $1 million
03:58for the opportunity to tour with them.
04:00The Raskins sued Motley Crue for $30 million, though the outcome of the lawsuit is unclear.
04:06Over the last several years, singer Vince Neil has been under fire from fans and critics
04:09for his live performances, as he has struggled to hit notes, stay on key, or even remember
04:14the lyrics.
04:15That may be one reason why the band has apparently begun miming their performances to pre-recorded
04:20tracks.
04:21Bootleg videos of live gigs show Neil with his mouth closed while his vocals continue
04:25to play.
04:26And it's not just Neil — Six has been caught waving his arms over his head while his bass
04:30line rumbled on without him.
04:32And on one occasion, Lee's cymbals began clanging when he wasn't even at his drum kit.
04:37Needless to say, fans aren't happy that the band's live performances don't seem to actually
04:41be live, especially given the high cost of concert tickets these days.
04:46Motley Crue fans were saddened when guitarist Mick Mars announced his retirement from touring
04:50in October 2022.
04:52It wasn't a huge surprise, given that he's in his 70s, and for most of his adult life,
04:57Mars has endured tremendous pain and other physical challenges due to ankylosing spondylitis,
05:02a bone disease with no known cure.
05:04What was a surprise, however, was the legal wrangling that followed.
05:08The other members of Motley Crue filed a demand for arbitration against him in an attempt
05:12to prove he is no longer an equal partner in the band.
05:16Mars then countered with a lawsuit, maintaining that his decision to retire from the road
05:20should not affect those rights.
05:22In an interview with Variety, Mars accused his former bandmates of gaslighting him into
05:26thinking he had memory issues during his last decade with the group.
05:30I don't have a problem remembering the songs, but I do have a problem with them, constantly,
05:34the whole time, telling me that I lost my memory."
05:38Mars said that the actual issue was that he was trying to play live while the rest of
05:41the band was using a recorded track that was sometimes out of sync with his playing.
05:46He added,
05:47"...I'm pretty upset that they're even pulling this crap, when I carried these bastards for
05:51years."
05:52As long as my brain and my hands and legs work, I'm never stopping."
05:59In February 1992, Vince Neil abruptly left the band.
06:03The remaining members of Motley Crue brought in singer John Corabi as their new frontman.
06:08The resulting self-titled 1994 album sounded nothing like their classic 80s albums, and
06:13more like an attempt to tap into the burgeoning grunge movement.
06:16Critics and fans were underwhelmed, but at least it was clear what the band was trying
06:20to do.
06:21That wasn't the case with their next album, though.
06:23Released three years later following Neil's return to the band, Generation Swine jumped
06:27from genre to genre with little reason or rhyme.
06:30Rolling Stone wrote,
06:31"...whiny ballads flounder dazedly alongside hardcore beats and woozy melodies, and mean
06:36dude bravado clashes with goopy, heart-on-sleeve sentiment."
06:40The review singled out Brandon, a song Tommy Lee wrote for his firstborn son with Pamela
06:44Anderson, as a particular lowlight.
06:47Lee's intentions may have been earnest, but lyrics such as,
06:50"...Brandon, I love you, I love her, she is your mom," made the Wildman drummer look like
06:54Captain Obvious, and left fans wondering if the band had lost their hit-making touch
06:59for good.
07:00Who's your daddy?
07:02You'll need to know to address the envelope of his Father's Day card.