In a recent Interview with Kerrang, Motley Crue bassist Nikki Sixx talked about grunge music killing the ’80s glam scene.
The explosion of Nirvana in 1991 did great damage to Motley Crue. Was it fair that you were lumped in with bands such as Poison and Warrant?
“I have to say that I don’t think that Nirvana and Pearl Jam killed the bands you mention, I think that they killed themselves. They were making copycat music.
“We, on the other hand, simply imploded. Forget about the lifestyle for a minute – the thing that ultimately allowed us to pull ourselves through was the music that we made, and how good we can be when we really put it together.
“Every great band has hills and valleys; they start at the bottom and if they’re lucky they make it to the top of the mountain. But eventually, you have to go down. Very few bands are lucky enough to become popular and stay popular forever.
“That’s just the way music is – it changes, technology changes, fashion changes, and social outlooks change. But again, today a lot of bands are just so f*c*ing safe.”
What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments below
Legendary rockers Mötley Crüe have entertained us with some of the classic glam rock songs in the last few decades. Having sold 100 million albums worldwide has made them one of the best-selling bands of all time. Fans love the Crue boys and without any doubt, 1989’s Dr. Feelgood is Mötley Crüe’s most popular album which reached number one. Motley Crue boys have also achieved seven platinum or multi-platinum certifications, six Top 20 pop singles, twenty-two Top 40 mainstream rock hits, and nine Top 10 albums on the Billboard 200 chart. Vince Neil is one of the most loved frontmen in the history of rock music.
54 comments
GIRLS GIRLS GIRLS was the worst album of all time,thats why GRUNGE took over duh
lol Yeah, that’s why Wild Side, and Girls Girls Girls is still played on every rock station and in every strip club because that album sucked soooo bad! ? Grunge “took over” because it was something new. A lot of people get interested in new stuff when it first comes along. But you see that Grunge only lasted for a few years or so, and rock and metal took back over….
???
You mean the same radio that plays complete garbage? The radio that selectively chooses the worst songs from every artist and drills them into you? Thanks but that’s a pretty low standard for my tastes.
Vince Neil has become the worst singer ever I just saw the stadium tour and left after 3 motley crue songs. They had there place but just need to hang it up. They use to be good but not anymore. The thing that kept them going was there antics but honestly def lepard and poison stole the stadium tour. Motley has a place in time just not anymore Vince please retire you just aren’t doing it anymore.
Totally agree
Yeah? Where’s your precious crue now?
They had their biggest, most successful album AFTER Girls, Girls, Girls, so that makes zero sense. There were quite a few years between GGG and grunge. This is simply a nonsensical statement.
Girls Girls Girls is an amazing album, i love it.
When did grunge take over. Grunge sucks balls
Dog eat Dog was a great album. It did not sound like grunge at all. Nikki obviously did not listen to it. Poison never had stirong material.
I don’t think he meant that they were copying grunge.
Right, but, if so, (and he was not very clear) saying they were copying before it is even more wrong, at least in the case of Warrant. Warrant was evolving well and Dog Eat Dog was like the height of their climb… such great songs with interesting parts… definitely not copycat to other things.
Poison was a rip off of kix who had been around since the 70’s
How tf does poison even sound remotely like Kix?
I don’t know about that, Native Tongue from Poison & Dog Eat Dog from Warrant, to me, were their best albums because they both lost the “Pop” vibe in their music & got heavier.
I found Native Tongue bluesy not heavy… hated it. But, maybe I have to give it another spin looking backward. In its time, I utterly hated it.
If I’m not mistaken, I just saw Poison on tour in 2018 in front of 20,000+ fans in an outdoor arena. Pretty sure if the band killed themselves, they wouldn’t be able to do a tour headlining in front of that many people. As far as grunge music, people just became depressed with the “why me, all bad happens to me” bullshit and name one band besides maybe Pearl Jam that can sell concert tickets in stadiums? I’ll wait for an answer.
Soundgarden.
You really want to blame someone, go after the record companies and popular radio. They do the same thing with every genre that comes along. They exploit what hits a nerve with fans, to the point it becomes a watered down caricature of itself. Once that happens, only the strongest artists with tight fan rapport have any hope of squeezing by. Radio stations play their top ten until you want to scratch your own eyeballs out. If you’re nowhere near that top ten, you’re f***ed.If you’re on it, you’ll explode, people will love you, and then prepare for the inevitable backlash from overexposure.
I agree with you 1,000% I couldn’t have made a better statement about the radio stations and the top 10!! Nicely said!!
Well, considering all the front men for the biggest grunge bands besides Eddie Vedder are dead, it’s not really a fair question, is it? That said, Nirvana. Alice In Chains and Soundgarden could all sell out stadiums if they were still around. Pearl Jam currently does.
Well seeing The singer of Soundgarden, Alice In Chains ,Nirvana and STP have died and they were possibly the next 4 biggest bands ….
native tongue was awesome best poison album ever and warrant belly to belly was there best album ever
I always thought those 2 albums were done by the same band ~Nikki Sixx
Just another case where Nikki would be wrong… it is funny that Nikki would be critical when Crue put out the abysmal Generation Swine in the 90s… and while many love the ST release, many (myself included) did not.
dog eat dog n look wat the cat dragged in wer ther best
Jo FLo Nikki sixx and i always thought those to albums were done by the same band.
Dog Eat Dog… Was definitely harder than any of Warrant’s previous albums!!! Not even close to a “copy cat” album. Besides a ballad or two & even they were a lil’ rougher around the edges, than the ballads on their previous albums.
Machine Gun, was nothing like any other Warrant song I’d ever heard, lyrically or musically… “Get this mic outta my effing face!!!”
Nor was any other Warrant album, with the original band line up, that came after.
I’ve got nothing, but love for Nikki, but I don’t think he listened to Dog Eat Dog or Belly To Belly – For example, AYM – Angry Young Man…
If Sixx had heard, even a couple of these tracks, he would have never said that.
As for Poison… Native Tongue, was just ehh for me.
The only song they put out with that line up & era, that I thought was really good… was, Let Me Be The One.
I always thought C.C. was crazy AF & played the same.
What about? “Cherry Pie”, sucks
Lead singer Jani lane talked openly about how he hated that song and that the record label forced them to do that one. He talked about how it was cheesy and he regretted it in an interview because the band was known as the cherry pie band after. No one even mentioned cherry pie except you and that wasn’t even off that album.
I thought cherry pie and nothing but a good time were by the same band ~ Nikki Sixx
CC deville did play the guitar solo on both, but definitely not the same band. Sounds much different in all other instruments. I love all these bands. Guess they could get a little competitive.
Yeah, I definitely do not agree with Nikki on what he was saying. Grunge made bands change their style trying to stay relevant, but that was grunge (and the music industry’s reaction to it) making that happen… its not that Warrant was killing themselves leading up to it. Poison on the other hand, as a fan of the genre, kept devolving as they went on… I liked every album they did lesser than the one before until, by Native Tongue I was not liking them at all anymore. So I can see where the concept applied to Poison in some ways… but definitely not Warrant.
“They were making copycat music.” said the dude who just recorded a Madonna song, & whose pinnacle album included a cover of a Beatles song.
You’ve never heard of the concept of a cover? Every rock band I can think of has done this. Motley have always put their own spin on covers. Though, I must admit, I hate the Like a Virgin cover.
Each one of the bands are great. Love the music they all have those songs when they come on you can’t help but sing along. If I had a say in it throw in def Leppard send all of them out on tour together. I believe that is one we’d all possibly love ti see
Motley is gonna tour with Poison and Def Leppard so you can see it… Warrent sucks they were terrible in the 90’s with Jayne Lane they were truly a copycat band..
Just shows how much you know about music. Warrant was great, they hit the scene at the end right before grunge hit and by the way you spelled JANI LANE wrong.
Warrant was no way a copycat band. Jani Lane wrote all the original songs himself. He was amazing as a frontman, singer and songwriter.
The media and record companies killed Poison, Warrant and the other “hair” bands. Dog Eat Dog was a good album, Belly To Belly was good. Jani Lane was an underappreciated, underrated songwriter and singer. Native Tongue was embarrassingly horrible. And Motley Crue were the kings of copycat. All they did was regurgitate Aerosmith and Kiss songs. Nirvana and Pearl Jam had substance. Hair metal was all icing, no cake, with the exception of Warrant. Grunge was mostly cake, hardly and icing. And most bands in each category were carpetbagging coattail riders who faded after 1 album. Very few remain.
CRUE RULE!
I always thought every rose has it”s thorn and heaven were done by the same band~ Nikki Sixx
If anyone made copycat music, it was Motley Crue,after grunge hit.
Sixx was chasing the industrial sound on Generation Swine.
He’s a giant bag.
Smokin in the boys room was copied if anything .. Check Brownsville Station on YouTube for oridinal..
I loved Smoking in the Boys room. When I wanted my dad to leave the house so I could smoke some pot. That was my go to song😆
I find that funny. Motley Crue had only a few good albums themselves. Vince Neil can’t even hold a note or remember the words to some of his songs. Theater of pain was not a good album at all.
I believe he saying all that about Poison because they rocked the stadium tour.
Many people came just to see them but that’s my perspective I personally saw over 10 of the stadium shows just for Poison Joan Jett and Classless Act
During the stadium tour posion stole the show. Many commented that they should have been co headliners with Def Leppard instead of the crue. Mick Mars is the only one that looked and played good. The reason posion isn’t continuing the tour is jealousy on the part of the crue. Imo
Warrant wasn’t copying anything. Best Band from the Strip. Michaels and Vince can’t hold a candle to the Voice and persona of Jani. Warrant was only killed by the death of Jani.
best thing cobain ever did was unalive himself!
NOT POISON THEY STILL SELL OUT ALL THE SEATS IN THE HOUSE WHEN THEY GO ON TOUR
Grunge didn’t kill anything but itself, real rock and roll is still around, where is grunge, they’re all either dead or struggling to get airplay, Pearl jam every now and then releases new music but it isn’t doing anything… all these articles about this are completely wrong and so is nikki, what folks have to keep in mind is Poison had a successful album with a new guitarist called Native Tongue that was getting a ton of airplay on MTV in 1993 and the radio and they were included in MTV’s little advertisement saying “welcome to the new revolution” and they would show Poison in the commercial lumped in with Nirvana and all the grunge, also motley Crue needs to remember they had a New album with a different singer that still went gold in 1994, also Bon Jovi had a million selling album in 1994 called These Days, grunge music didn’t kill NOTHING, Nikki was right about one thing .. a lot of the bands imploded themselves.
Hahahaha. Pearl jam isn’t doing anything?? You mean besides selling out so fast that it doesn’t even make it to public on sales when it goes through the fan club and verified fan. And besides putting out new albums every few years or so. Haha. Please, if you’re a music fan, in all seriousness, make it to a Pearl jam show before it’s too late. You don’t need to be a fan of them.
Jani Lane made some great music and had a great voice ~