Readers vote the Crue #1
By Ben Liemer

Sixx and Neil have begun work on their fourth LP. Vince's one-month jail term will cause little delay.

The holiday season traditionally is a time for people to head for home and enjoy themselves with friends and family. And the masters of rock & roll mayhem known as Motley Crue are no exception. The Crue took advantage of a recent three-day break in their tour schedule to catch some rest and relaxation back in "Home Sweet Home," California. The Motleys had plenty of holiday cheer this year. After a trying interval when their future looked bleak because of singer Vince Neil's accident trial, the foursome emerged, in the words of the Kiss Alive LP, as the "hottest band in the land." In the biggest landslide victory since Ronald Reagan repeated as President, Neil, Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, Mick Mars and producer Tom Werman grabbed an astounding 11 awards in the annual Circus Magazine Readers' Poll. When the overstuffed mailbags were opened and the tired ballot-counters had totalled the scores, the Motleys had been awarded Best Group, Best In-Concert Group, Best Album (Theatre of Pain), and Best Single and Best Video (for "Smokin' in the Boys Room"). In the individual awards categories, the Crue were an unstoppable behemoth, rolling over veteran competition like a highway paving crew. Sixx grabbed Best Bassist and Best Songwriter, Neil repeated as Best Male Vocalist and Lee returned as Best Drummer. But these individual encore performances were, if not entirely predictable, then at least reasonable to expect. Leave it then to Mick Mars to pull the upset of the season by significantly outpolling Yngwie Malmsteen and Edward Van Halen. Tom Werman garnered Best Producer for his sound work on Theatre, possibly collecting a few votes as well from his control room leadership on Twisted Sister's 1984 LP, Stay Hungry. A few surprises were provided by drummer Lee's fifth place finish for Best Keyboards thanks to his ivory tinkling on "Home Sweet Home" and by Neil's strong second-place challenge to Bruce Springsteen's saxophonist Clarence Clemons in the Best Brass! Wind category. Vince qualified in this area on the basis of his harmonica squalls on "Smokin".

And so it was that transcontinental phone calls were arranged to impart the good news. Vince dialed first, from co-manager Doc McGhee's Newport Beach, California home early on a Saturday afternoon. Neil's initial reaction was to grope for the right words. "I figured last year was kind of a fluke. Doin' it for the second year in a row... it's amazing. It makes me feel so good that the kids don't look at me like just another singer. I'm up there having a good time and I want everybody else to have a good time. I think that's why they voted me #1 - because they're having so much fun at our concerts. Ronnie Dio, he's a friend of mine and I've looked up to him for so many years," Vince continued. "I think he's one of the greatest vocalists that I've ever heard. It makes me feel real good that I'm even considered in the same category as him. And Paul Stanley also." To this day, Neil calls the Diopowered Rainbow LP, Long Live Rock 'n'Roll, "one of my favorite albums."

Mick Mars checked in next, telephoning from his apartment in Marina Del Rey. "What?!! Are you kidding?" was his shocked response. Then a stunned silence was broken by the long, hearty laugh of a satisfied winner. "Great. Great. Yay, yay," said Mick, sounding like a kid at a supermarket checkout counter whose mother had just bought him some candy. "I kicked ass. Jesus Christ, that's some stiff competition," Mars noted as the list of his challengers was revealed. "I'll tell you truthfully, I didn't think I'd beat Edward and Yngwie. The best I'd thought I'd be was third." It was in the small hours of the morning and snow was falling in New England when Tommy Lee rang. "Where are you right now Tommy?" "I'm sitting in between my girlfriend's legs," came his reply. And to prove it, the world's most excitable boy later put TV star Heather Locklear on the line. If Circus felt sorry to interrupt Lee in the middle of his first three consecutive days off in five months, Tommy wouldn't hear of it, insisting that his famous flame had made him call. "Aaooo!" he howled at the news of his victory, doing a passable imitation of Lon Chaney's Wolfman character. 'That's unreal. I've been busting my balls for a couple of years to get this pole position. I can't fucking believe this!" When informed of his band's landslide triumphs, Lee cursed again for emphasis, calling the results "awesome." He seemed pleased most of all for his guitarist, noting, "Mick is definitely underrated as hell and he never gets any recognition. That's great!"

A few days passed and deadlines were stretched as Crue leader Nikki Sixx was missing somewhere in action. Finally he was located, tucked in bed, a little worse for wear and tear, in what he labeled "the Hollywood Hills of Doom."' Apparently the road-weary bassist's outlook was darkened by a massive, party-induced hangover. He brightened considerably at the good tidings of his Best Songwriter and Best Bassist awards. "Both? No shit! Songwriter, man that blows my mind."' Steve Harris, Juan Croucier, Gene Simmons and Geddy Lee all finished behind Sixx for the bassist award. "Far out," replied Sixx. "Looks like I'm in good company." And in songwriting the Motley leader outpolled Paul Stanley/Gene Simmons, Steve Harris, Ratt as a group and Dio. "Wow, again good company; That's really flattering," he added in a sleepy, parched-throat voice. "What else did we win?" The list of Number Ones was read off and Sixx responded as if he had just been thrown into a cold shower: "My God! I just opened my eyes! I'm sitting up now." Then came a laugh, remarkably similar in tone to Mick Mars'. In it could be heard what a popular TV sports show calls, "the thrill of victory."

"I guess it just goes to show you that the work ethic works. It sure did for us," Nikki said. "We're real happy with the success of Theatre of Pain. As far as the single ["Smokin' "], that was great - it made us feel real good. It's funny, the success is like a Catch-22. When you have a single that's that successful, all of a sudden a lot of your hardcore fans go, 'Oh, they've sold out.' And we said, 'Whoa, back up here.' We didn't write this song to be a hit - we just thought it was a great tune. 'Looks That Kill' was a single and so was 'Too Young to Fall in Love' off Shout at the Devil. But because they weren't so popular, the hardcore fans said, 'Oh that's great, they haven't sold out yet.' It's not the music that changes," noted Sixx, who was beginning to perk up, "it's the attitude of the people around you. And that's the only downfall to success. It probably bothers me more so then anyone else in the band because I'm scared of that, losing our fans to 'singles success' or becoming Top 20. "We've always put two ballads on every album," the blue-eyed bassist commented. "We put just one on this album and it seemed to get a little more success then any time before. All of a sudden it's 'Oh, the Crue's mellowing out.' We all started laughing when we read that. I mean, half the song's about going on the road and raising hell."

Currently, the band is raising roofs on its second European tour - they began rocking the Old World on January 22 and will continue until March 7. "We're doing England, Germany, France, Scandinavia, Switzerland and Italy," reported co-manager Doug Thaler. "When we finish in Italy, the tour's done." In all, the Theatre of Pain trek will have run some nine months, having kicked off July 7, 1985 at Sun Plaza in Tokyo, Japan. Already the party-and-work, work-and-party boys have begun collaborating on songs for their fourth LP. Said Lee, "Just playing together every night, all of us have gotten so much better. It's exciting considering we're going to be doing another album shortly. With the things these guys know now, it's gonna be great. "Nikki and I have been working on some songs together in the hotel room with a drum machine and a little Rockman amp. We've come up with some serious stuff. I can't wait," concluded the drummer. There are a lot of fans out there who feel the same way Tommy does.