Former Hanoi Rocks vocalist, Michael Monroe, opened up about the time he met Motley Crue members for the first time in many years last June at Finland’s Rockfest.
During an interview with radio station Rockklassiker, Monroe said:
“It was amazing. As a matter of fact, I had been thinking for many years that there’s no reason to really have any, there was some kind of animosity at one point when, because of the album title they had for [the box set] ‘Music To Crash Your Car To’, (a media outlet) called me, got in touch with me and asked for my opinion on that, and I think I said something like, ‘This gave bad taste a bad name.’ And then Nikki (Sixx) got pissed off and made some negative comments after that, but I didn’t get any further into that.
”But I thought there was no reason to really be… I mean, we were friends originally, and we will always be connected by that unfortunate accident. Unfortunately, it can’t be helped. But I would so much rather have that connection be on a more positive note. […]
“So what I did was I knew that Motley Crue were playing this festival in Finland last summer, so I wrote to Joe Elliott, who’s a sweetheart. He’s an angel. I love that guy so much, and he knows everything about every band since, like, ’60s and ’70s, he’s got all the records of every band ever. So I wrote him, I asked him, ‘Could you pass this letter on to Nikki? I’d like to approach him.’ And I wrote this note saying some words, basically just saying that I would just like to reach out and see if we can just let bygones be bygones.
”And even though we’re connected by that whole thing, the tragedy, that I’d rather have that be on a more positive note and stuff. So, in any case, I wished him all the best. And he replied, e-mailed me right away. He said, ‘Thank you, Michael. Thank you.’ I took it all to heart. It was a very heartfelt letter, and you could see he was sincere. And he was, like, ‘Yeah, we’re coming down tomorrow. Joe Elliott said that you’re coming down. Let’s meet up tomorrow and see each other again.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, sometime I’d like to meet Vince.’ I never met Vince Neil before. So I said, ‘I would like to meet him too, if possible, at some point.’ And I was hoping to be able to meet him.’
“If I’d gotten there a bit earlier, I would have ended up probably playing the (harmonica) on ‘Smokin’ In The Boys Room’. I had my (harmonica) with me, but I had my own gig that same day, earlier in the afternoon, in Turku, in the city of Turku, so we drove there, but I got there, like, five minutes before they went on stage, so I was on the side of the stage. I watched the show. I never saw them live before.
”They were opening for, Alice Cooper was actually opening for them once in Finland, but I didn’t stay for their show, but this time I watched the whole show. And I thought it was — you know, it was good. Vince Neil was singing for real, I could tell, and it was really good; it was really sounding great out there.
”And after the show, they came offstage, and Nikki came to hug me, and then Vince came and we met and I just told him that Razzle always wanted us to meet because us singers, we’re alike.
”And he smiled, and then we looked each other in the eyes for about like a half a minute or something. I could just see how much pain he’s been living with.”
“I realized (Vince is) the one who’s… Out of all of us affected by Razzle’s death, he’s the one who suffered the most, obviously, and it’s never been the same. So, then, he took off, he goes his own way, and the rest of the band kind of go their own way.
”So, Nikki said, ‘I’ll see you in a minute backstage.’ And then, I went to see Nikki backstage, and we had a great talk, and caught up on everything. And Tommy (Lee).”
