John Corabi, the former frontman for MÖTLEY CRÜE, opened up about the turmoil he experienced while with the band during an interview with Rock Daydream Nation. Corabi, who replaced Vince Neil in 1992, shared unfiltered insights into the drama that unfolded behind the scenes, culminating in Neil’s return.
“There was so much drama in that band and turmoil,” Corabi admitted. “When they told me that they were bringing Vince back, there was a huge part of me that was bummed and kind of upset, but there was another part of me that felt like a 300-pound man was standing on my shoulders. So I was actually relieved at the same time, if that makes any sense at all.”
Corabi acknowledged that dealing with the group wasn’t easy. “Yeah, there was sh*t like that going on all the time,” he said, adding humorously, “Now this interview is gonna come out, and it’s gonna go global, and everybody’s [gonna say], ‘Goddamn it. He’s talking about MÖTLEY again. Doesn’t that guy have anything better to talk about?’ [Laughs]”
When asked whether anyone in the band fought for him as record label pressures mounted, Corabi revealed, “I found out later that they had been secretly meeting with Vince… The record label had said to them—this guy Doug Morris basically said, ‘You need to bring back Vince. Get rid of that guy.’ He didn’t even know my name. He was, like, ‘Get rid of the new guy and bring Vince back.’ They never really said that to me; they didn’t tell me that till the very end. But… I was kind of under the impression… ‘We’re never bringing that guy back. No way, dude.’ And in the meantime, they were meeting with him. I think they were keeping me in their back pocket in case it didn’t work out with Vince. Which is… a smart thing to do.”
Corabi described a web of conflict within the band, stating, “I would work out in the morning with Nikki [Sixx], and he would talk about Tommy [Lee] and Mick [Mars]. Then I’d go hang out with Tommy to write music, and he would talk about Nikki and Mick. And I was living in Mick’s guest house, so at night, I’d have a drink with Mick, and he would talk about Tommy and Nikki. And I was like, ‘Oh my God. It’s impossible to keep up with all this bullsh*t.'”
Performing live with MÖTLEY CRÜE brought its own challenges, as Corabi recounted. “If you watch the [biopic] ‘The Dirt,’ they make it look like the band was playing in high school gymnasiums to, like, 20 people, and it wasn’t that way at all. We were playing 10,000-plus-seat arenas but selling maybe four to five thousand tickets. Even so, the response was great… Singing ‘Shout At The Devil’ or ‘Wild Side,’ the audience was into it, and it was fun.”
A disagreement about song selection with bassist Nikki Sixx further exemplified Corabi’s struggles with the band. “That was my first argument with Nikki,” he explained. “I said, ‘I am not singing ‘Girls, Girls, Girls.’ I won’t do it.’ And he was, like, ‘It’s one of our biggest hits.’ We got into an argument, and then Tommy intervened on my behalf. He said, ‘Dude, if he ain’t comfortable with it… He’s the one that’s gotta sing it, so we’ll just pick something else.’ So we did ‘Wild Side,’ ‘Shout At The Devil,’ ‘Home Sweet Home,’ ‘Primal Scream,’ and a little bit of the new record, plus a couple of covers.”
Corabi’s tenure with MÖTLEY CRÜE remains a fascinating yet turbulent chapter, highlighting not only the high expectations but also the chaos within one of rock’s most iconic bands.
