In a recent interview with Rock Daydream Nation, former Mötley Crüe vocalist John Corabi opened up about a notable moment of tension during his time with the band. Corabi revealed that he once flat-out refused to sing one of the band’s most iconic tracks, “Girls Girls Girls,” leading to a heated argument with bassist Nikki Sixx.

“I got into that argument with Nikki. I said, ‘I am not singing ‘Girls Girls Girls.’ I won’t do it,’” Corabi recalled. “He was like, ‘But it’s one of our biggest hits.’ We had a real disagreement about it.” Fortunately for Corabi, drummer Tommy Lee stepped in to back him up. “Tommy intervened and said, ‘Dude, if he’s not comfortable with it, he’s the one who has to sing it. So just pick something else. We don’t need to play that song every f*cking tour.’”

Sixx eventually relented, and the band swapped out “Girls Girls Girls” for other tracks in their setlist. “So we ended up doing ‘Wildside,’ ‘Shout at the Devil,’ ‘Home Sweet Home,’ ‘Primal Scream,’ and ‘Live Wire,’” Corabi listed. “I can’t remember everything—it’s been so long—but we mixed in a little bit of the new album and a few covers as well.”

Corabi also reflected on how the band approached their setlists during his tenure. “They kind of let me choose the old songs that I felt comfortable singing. So, all the songs I did were the ones I liked,” he explained.

Despite this freedom, Corabi was firm in his refusal to perform “Girls Girls Girls.” “I’ve never really dug the concept,” he admitted. “I know it was a big hit for them, but the whole thing with ‘Hey, Tommy! Look at her!’—that’s just not me. I wasn’t comfortable with it.”

Corabi’s candidness about his time with Mötley Crüe reveals a tension between artistic comfort and the band’s commercial success, showing how personal preferences sometimes clashed with the expectations of their most famous hits.