Inside Motley Crue's trying year
by Ben Liemer

Nightmares. Everybody has them. Nobody, except possibly masochistic horror movie freaks, likes them. But what if your life was to change overnight, Twilight Zone-style, into your worst fears, your worst nightmares? This was what life was like for Motley Crue for at least some of 1985. But it is only now, more than a year since singer Vince Neil's tragic December 1984 car crash, that the members of the Crue were willing and able to discuss in detail how "the accident" overshadowed the recording of Theatre of Pain (Elektra), their second consecutive double platinum LP, and how it affected their subsequent plans for returning to live rock action. Before Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars and Tommy Lee left for a European tour on January 22, they spoke at length about the aftermath of the accident and how it may have changed their outlook on. life. Ironically, these same interviews also focused on their greatest 'triumph to date: a near monopoly of the annual Circus Magazine Readers' Poll. A year of potential disaster had been turned around into one of triumph. But how? By now, Crue fans should be aware that Neil pleaded guilty to one charge each of vehicular manslaughter and drunk driving. On September 20, 1985 a Superior Court judge in California ordered Vince to spend 30 days in jail in June 1986. This sentence was given in addition to Vince's cash restitution a payments of some $2.7 million to the 13 injured and dead parties, five years probation and 200 hours of community service work. The irrepressible Tommy Lee best summed up the group's reaction to the tragedy and the trial: "We were freaking out, saying, 'What is gonna happen?' It was terrible being in the position of saying, 'Well, what can we do?' We weren't involved in the accident; it was Vince. So there wasn't much we could do to help the guy, although donating money - a large amount of money - to drug abuse centers [helped somewhat]. But when it came down to the final decision and the judge said 'yea' or 'nay', the band really didn't have a thing to do with it. It was pretty much Vince, his attorneys and the judge. It's awful when your friend is in trouble and you're helpless. It's a feeling that I hope never happens again." At the center of this legal and media controversy was, of course, Vince. Sounding unusually serious, Neil explained, "We just took it one day at a time because we didn't know if the band was gonna be together tomorrow or not. I mean, if I had to go to prison [for a long time], the band was gonna break up. But we wanted to get an album out, so we didn't really try and think about it. We just wanted to get the best album out possible. And that's why even our tour plans didn't come out until [an agreement with the District Attorney was nearly settled]. Things were very hard, because nobody knew what was going on this year." For his part, Crue leader Nikki Sixx tried to remain philosophical during the drawn-out legal proceedings. His feeling was, "Whatever's gonna happen is gonna happen anyway, so you might as well not worry about it." Sixx's attitude, along with the experience of the Motleys' veteran management team of Doug Thaler and Doc McGhee, helped support Vince during his depressing, guilt-ridden postaccident period. "They've been more helpful than words can really say," Vince revealed, "because they're not only managers, but they're like my best friends too. People say you have fewer friends than you have fingers-it's probably truefriends that you can count on. The band and these guys, really came through for me."

To be a frontman in an arenaheadlining rock & roll band requires self-confidence, a bit of cockiness and, yes, what could be called egotism. If a performer is stripped of these qualities, it can be virtually impossible to step in front of 10 or 20,000 screaming fans and be able to perform adequately. Even in the macho metal world, it's not very difficult to find a half dozen examples of band members all too ready to throw up from stage fright seconds before stepping into the limelight. Although a trial settlement seemed certain, Neil was unsure of himself. The accident had led him to ask himself hard, disturbing questions. His confidence was shaken initially. "I didn't know how the fans would react to me after the accident," said the blond singer. "I didn't know if they saw me smiling, if they'd go, 'How can that guy be out there smiling after what just happened?' Or if I was onstage frowning, if they'd say, 'Why doesn't this guy try to loosen up?' I didn't know how to react. That was always in the back of my mind until I actually got out onstage. Then it was like, 'Hey man, this is my life. This is my job. This is the way I am onstage and it's never gonna change.'" Still other hurdles had to be cleared by Vince and the group. Accusations were being made that the Crue had "mellowed out." For an image-oriented metal band, such accusations can sometimes entail detrimental effectsrecords don't go platinum and arenas remain half full. Tommy, for one, wouldn't hear of it. Asked whether the band's image has changed because of Vince's accident, he sprang to the defensive like a German shepherd guard dog: "No, because I think people realize that Vince is definitely a rock & roller and will always be one. It doesn't mean he can't sing his ass off, and that's the most important thing. That's all that should matter. If anybody gets upset at his not being able to drink or be a rock pig, well then, screw them. Because if it was them..." Lee caught his breath and continued, "If anything, this band has gotten worse. We just don't tell everybody about it now. Last year, we would tell everybody what we did, how many girls we were with.... There's some really ridiculous things [that go on), like me telling Nikki, no, forcing him, out of my room at seven in the morning, to get the fuck away from me because I've got to sleep because we've got to play tomorrow.

"I want to slap people when they say, 'The Crue's mellowed out,'" Tommy added. "No, Vince has mellowed out because he's got to - that's the only condition that they've let him do this. But that doesn't mean that we've done that. You just tell people that." Neil was equally vehement in denouncing the Crue's supposed laidback lifestyle: "What pisses me off - I read in magazines, 'Motley Crue's mellowed out because they have a warning against drinking and driving." To people like that I say, 'Fuck you, man.' How is that mellowing out when you want to save someone's life? I really don't understand that. I mean, would we be tougher if we said, 'Go out and fuckin' drive and kill yourself?' Would people think, 'Oh that's cool of Motley Crue. They're bad." "It's just a side of us that cares," Vince added. Sixx agreed with his Crue mates. "The band hasn't changed. I think it's a small amount of peoples' attitudes that have changed. Everyone said, 'You can't put "Don't drink and drive" on your record." Then all of a sudden I see that Autograph's got that message on their album, a couple of other bands too. We saw the WA.S.P. video - it's on the back of their bus on 'Blind in Texas." I think that's cool. Maybe all the bands will pull together and support the fans instead of all the fans pulling together and supporting the bands." Nikki also spoke of something good coming out of a bad situation. The glam 'n' damn rockers have performed benefits for drug abuse treatment centers - like their L.A. Forum show aiding the Palmer Drug Abuse Program in California - and Vince continues to speak to young patients in drug and alcohol abuse treatment facilities. "I think they're important," Nikki said of their benefits. "We acknowledge the fact that young people are going to use drugs and alcohol, or they are going to at least try these things. A lot of them are, though not all. We're not representing sobriety or non-drug use, we're just saying, 'Don't abuse it.' And for those people who have abused it, we want to help them get their feet back on the ground." "Most of these programs are nonprofit, and they're not federally funded," Neil pointed out. "They get their money by donation. So the band - it's not just me - are donating money to causes which they feel are good." While on the Theatre of Pain tour, Vince would stop by local clinics when time permitted. The experience was a rewarding one for him. "I think it's great, because a lot of these kids don't get a chance to talk to the people whose pictures they have on their walls. I don't preach to'em. And it's not like I'm in an auditorium and standing up there talking. Mostly they ask me about the band: 'When is the new album coming out?' And then they will ask me about the accident. I just try and tell them, 'When you do drink, don't drive.'"

If all of this sounds unusual coming from the mouths of rock & rollers, remember that Motley Crue has never been your usual run-of-the-mill act. As the band rocks around Europe, American Crue fans can take heart in the parting words of Neil. Looking to a future he almost didn't have, the thankful Vince concluded, "Now that the dust has settled, we're still a unit, we're still out there rocking, and we'll be rocking for a long time to come."