Mick Mars has expressed dissatisfaction with his level of involvement in Mötley Crüe’s 1997 album “Generation Swine,” stating that he played hardly “one note.” He has once again accused his bandmates of attempting to diminish his musical “legacy.”
Despite the ongoing legal process resulting from Mars’s lawsuit in April, the conflict between the two sides persists. Notably, Mötley Crüe is preparing to release new music featuring John 5, who took over Mars’s role as a touring guitarist last year.
After making significant allegations in the initial lawsuit, Mars has now publicly claimed that his fellow Mötley Crüe members have been trying to replace him since the late ’80s. These new statements align with earlier remarks made by his friends and colleagues.
During a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Mars echoed John Corabi’s doubts about his contribution to the band’s ’97 album and the subsequent 2000 release, “New Tattoo.” Regarding “Generation Swine,” Mars expressed his frustration:
“I don’t think there’s one note that I played. They didn’t want my guitar to sound like a guitar, basically. They wanted it to sound like a synthesizer. I felt so useless. I’d do a part, they’d erase it, and somebody else would come in and play.”
According to Mars, a similar situation occurred with the follow-up album. He stated:
“I didn’t write any of those songs, since I wasn’t invited. I think I got one lick on that album.”
In response to Mars’s claims, Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx provided a contrasting perspective to Rolling Stone:
“Mick played lead guitar, rhythm guitar, and any other guitar that’s on that record. And Mick is a guy who wrote some pretty cool riffs, but he’s not a songwriter. And everyone forgets Mick’s health during this time. This is during the period that he had disintegrated into opiate addiction.”
Regarding Mötley Crüe’s last album to date, “Saints of Los Angeles” in 2008, both sides agree that a significant portion of the guitar work was performed by D.J. Ashba, although he was not credited for it. Nikki Sixx added:
“Mick was struggling to play his parts. So there’s [a] mixture of D.J. and Mick, and we would always make Mick the center focus unless, of course, he couldn’t play his parts or remember his parts.”