History Music / MotleyCrue

* StepUpToTheMicrophone: ''Generation Swine'' had Tommy Lee singing on "Brandon", [[WrittenForMyKids a song he wrote for his son]], and Nikki Sixx is both the lead of "Rocketship" and a very proeminent back-up in "Beauty" and "Find Myself".

* '''''Robert Alan Deal (Mick Mars)''''' - guitar, vocals, bass guitar, sitar, mandolin, talkbox, backing vocals (1981-2022; currently retired from touring)

* [[Music/QuietRiot Greg]] [[Music/{{Dokken}} Leon]] - guitar (1981)

* '''Robert Alan Deal (Mick Mars)''' - guitar, vocals, bass guitar, sitar, mandolin, talkbox, backing vocals (1981-2022)

!!People that were in the band over the years.(Founding members in '''bold''')

* '''''Robert Alan Deal (Mick Mars)''''' - guitar, vocals, bass guitar, sitar, mandolin, talkbox, backing vocals (1981-2022)

* John 5 - guitar (2022-present)

* '''''Robert Alan Deal (Mick Mars)''''' - guitar, vocals, bass guitar, sitar, mandolin, talkbox, backing vocals (1981-present)

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Sixx, Mars, the whole band, really.
** Also some of the members' children, particularly Mick Mars' oldest son, Les Paul Deal.

* HeavyMeta: While the entirety of the song isn't about this (see BackFromTheDead), the break in "Kickstart My Heart" (quoted at the top) qualifies. It could be said that -- being a break in a song that otherwise ranks high on the MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness -- this could be the part where Sixx's life started flashing before his eyes. Also doubles as a BadassBoast.

* MohsScaleOfRockAndMetalHardness: Mostly a 6, although they sometimes go up to a 7.

* HomePornMovie: In the late 1990s a sex tape featuring Tommy Lee and his then-wife Creator/PamelaAnderson was stolen from their home and sold to a pornographic video distributor, causing a huge stir in the entertainment media. The Lees sued the distributor and attempted to get the video taken off the internet, but failed. In the end, they simply got a cut of the profits.

* ChorusGirls: "Girls, Girls, Girls"
* ClusterFBomb: A concert staple.
* CoolBike:
** They love this trope.
** They pose mounted on some on the cover of ''Girls Girls Girls'', and the video of the title track, which also features bike engine noises, features the members riding on bikes to a strip club. And just when you thought it was enough, the intro riff of "Kickstart My Heart" was made to sound like a revving motorbike.

* DarkerAndEdgier:
** ''Shout at The Devil''
** Being released at the height of the grunge era, their 1994 SelfTitledAlbum was considerably heavier than anything they'd done prior to that.

** In one chapter of ''The Dirt'', Tommy Lee even admits to [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas punching a former girlfriend in the face because she insulted his mother while they were having an argument.]]

* GallowsHumor: See [[YMMV/MotleyCrue YMMV entry]].
* [[LesserStar The Garfunkel]]: Somehow, the lead guitarist (who tries to cultivate a mysterious image).

* GroupieBrigade: Just read ''The Dirt''. Ye gods...
* HairMetal: One of the all-time definitive examples.

* MyspeldRokband: See the explanation on HeavyMetalUmlaut.
* MurderBallad: "You're All I Need".
* NewSoundAlbum:
** [[{{Grunge}} ''Mötley]] [[SelfTitledAlbum Crüe'']]
** [[AlternativeMetal ''Generation Swine'']]
* NobodyLovesTheBassist: Averted. Particularly rare for a hard rock/metal band, guitarist Mick Mars is actually the least famous member of the band.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Mick Mars. While he was about a decade older than the rest of the band, constant alcohol abuse, not to mention his debilitating arthritis has left him looking closer to twenty years older at the very least.

* ReallyGetsAround: All of the band members were frequented by groupies, which inspired their hit song, 1987's "Girls, Girls, Girls". Special focus goes on Vince Neil and Mick Mars, who became dads while they were still teenagers, with even more attention turned towards the band's general infidelity.
* SanitySlippageSong

* ShotToTheHeart: The song "Kickstart My Heart" was supposedly inspired by Nikki being revived by an adrenaline shot to the heart after almost dying of a heroin overdose.

* StageNames: Neil and Lee shortened their names a bit, while Mick Mars is Robert Alan Deal and Nikki Sixx is [[OverlyLongName Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna, Jr.]] (Sixx has been his legal name since 1975).

* TenMinuteRetirement: Their "cessation of touring agreement" didn't last long, despite Nikki's claims that they would never break the contract. The reason they ended their retirement was due to a renewed interest in the band following the popularity of the Netflix film ''Film/TheDirt''.

** Nikki is a performer as well. His outfits tended to be the most flashy, his personal life was the stuff of legend, and he's been the bassist of a major band despite, by his own admission, barely, (if that) being able to play his instrument.
** Tommy is a mix. He has the media presence and the looks, plus the stage antics, but he's also been acclaimed for his drumming skills. The man could play a full drum solo rotating in a cage for god's sake!

M[[HeavyMetalUmlaut ö]]tley Cr[[HeavyMetalUmlaut ü]]e are a HardRock[=/=]HairMetal band formed in Los Angeles and popular in TheEighties by drummer Tommy Lee and bassist Nikki Sixx, joined by guitarist Mick Mars and lastly by singer Vince Neil. Like most of their contemporaries from the Glam era, they were probably more well known for their [[SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll sleazy, sordid antics]] than their music: during their first tour in Canada they were banned from Edmonton for carrying "dangerous weapons" (their stage spikes) and "indecent material" (Neil's porn) through customs, got accused of a bomb threat and threw a TV out the window of their hotel (all publicity stunts). They rose to international fame on the release of ''Shout At The Devil'', ''Theater of Pain'' and ''Girls, Girls, Girls'', receiving heavy rotation on Creator/{{MTV}} and selling millions of copies. Sixx has overdosed on heroin over a dozen times, [[OnlyMostlyDead three times near-fatal]] (the first of these in 1987 in which he was [[BackFromTheDead declared dead for a minute]], inspired the song "Kickstart My Heart").

In 1988, in light of Sixx's near-fatal overdose -- at the plea of their managers -- the band cancelled their then scheduled European tour and went into rehab (except for Mars, who cleaned up on his own). Finding sobriety and quitting drugs, the band recorded their highly successful ''Dr. Feelgood'' (1989 decade ender), getting a Grammy nomination for "Kickstart My Heart" and the title track. The band's popularity declined in the 1990's in the wake of that decade's {{Gangsta Rap}}, {{Grunge}} and {{Hip Hop}} movements like it did for all bands of their kind. Neil quit/was fired (he maintains he was fired, Lee says he quit) from the band in 1992, being replaced by John Corabi, who would record their 1994 SelfTitledAlbum. They reunited in 1997 to record ''Generation Swine'', receiving lackluster sales in part thanks to bad support from their label, Creator/ElektraRecords, ultimately prompting the band to form their own label, Mötley records (this made them one of the few bands at the time to have total control over their own publishing, recording and back catalog).

M[[HeavyMetalUmlaut ö]]tley Cr[[HeavyMetalUmlaut ü]]e are a HardRock[=/=]HairMetal band formed in Los Angeles and popular in TheEighties by drummer Tommy Lee and bassist Nikki Sixx, joined by guitarist Mick Mars and lastly by singer Vince Neil. Like most of their contemporaries from the Glam era, they were probably more well known for their [[SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll sleazy, sordid antics]] than their music: during their first tour in Canada they were banned from Edmonton for carrying "dangerous weapons" (their stage spikes) and "indecent material" (Neil's porn) through customs, got accused of a bomb threat and threw a TV out the window of their hotel (all publicity stunts). They rose to international fame on the release of ''Shout At The Devil'', ''Theater of Pain'' and ''Girls, Girls, Girls'', receiving heavy rotation on Creator/{{MTV}} and selling millions of copies. Sixx has overdosed on heroin over a dozen times, [[OnlyMostlyDead three times near-fatal]] (the first of these in which he was [[BackFromTheDead declared dead for a minute]], inspired the song "Kickstart My Heart").

In 1988, in light of Sixx's near-fatal overdose -- at the plea of their managers -- the band cancelled their tour of Europe and went into rehab (except for Mars, who cleaned up on his own). Finding sobriety and quitting drugs, the band recorded their highly successful ''Dr. Feelgood'', getting a Grammy nomination for "Kickstart My Heart" and the title track. The band's popularity declined in the 1990's in the wake of that decade's {{Gangsta Rap}}, {{Grunge}} and {{Hip Hop}} movements like it did for all bands of their kind. Neil quit/was fired (he maintains he was fired, Lee says he quit) from the band in 1992, being replaced by John Corabi, who would record their 1994 SelfTitledAlbum. They reunited in 1997 to record ''Generation Swine'', receiving lackluster sales in part thanks to bad support from their label, Creator/ElektraRecords, ultimately prompting the band to form their own label, Mötley records (this made them one of the few bands at the time to have total control over their own publishing, recording and back catalog).

M[[HeavyMetalUmlaut ö]]tley Cr[[HeavyMetalUmlaut ü]]e are a HardRock[=/=]HairMetal band formed in and popular in TheEighties by drummer Tommy Lee and bassist Nikki Sixx, joined by guitarist Mick Mars and lastly by singer Vince Neil. Like most of their contemporaries from the Glam era, they were probably more well known for their [[SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll sleazy, sordid antics]] than their music: during their first tour in Canada they were banned from Edmonton for carrying "dangerous weapons" (their stage spikes) and "indecent material" (Neil's porn) through customs, got accused of a bomb threat and threw a TV out the window of their hotel (all publicity stunts). They rose to international fame on the release of ''Shout At The Devil'', ''Theater of Pain'' and ''Girls, Girls, Girls'', receiving heavy rotation on Creator/{{MTV}} and selling millions of copies. Sixx has overdosed on heroin over a dozen times, [[OnlyMostlyDead three times near-fatal]] (the first of these in which he was [[BackFromTheDead declared dead for a minute]], inspired the song "Kickstart My Heart").

In 1989, in light of Sixx's near-fatal overdose -- at the plea of their managers -- the band cancelled their tour of Europe and went into rehab (except for Mars, who cleaned up on his own). Finding sobriety and quitting drugs, the band recorded their highly successful ''Dr. Feelgood'', getting a Grammy nomination for "Kickstart My Heart" and the title track. The band's popularity declined in the wake of the '90s and the {{Grunge}} movement like it did for all bands of their kind. Neil quit/was fired (he maintains he was fired, Lee says he quit) from the band in 1992, being replaced by John Corabi, who would record their 1994 SelfTitledAlbum. They reunited in 1997 to record ''Generation Swine'', receiving lackluster sales in part thanks to bad support from their label, Creator/ElektraRecords, ultimately prompting the band to form their own label, Mötley records (this made them one of the few bands at the time to have total control over their own publishing, recording and back catalog).

* TenMinuteRetirement: Their "cessation of touring agreement" didn't last long, despite Nikki's claims that they would never break the contract.

** TheCoverChangesTheMeaning: Slightly. They Americanized "Anarchy in the UK":

** As the legend goes, Stephen Tyler of Aerosmith saw Vince Neil from behind at a party and immediately assumed he was a woman. And even after seeing Vince from the front, it took Tyler a minute to realize that Vince was actually a man.

* Randy Castillo - drums, percussion (1999-2002, died 2002)

* [[Music/{{Hole}} Samantha Maloney]] - drums, percussion (2002-2004)

In 1999, Lee left to pursue a solo career. His replacement, Randy Castillo recorded ''New Tattoo'' with the band before dying of cancer while on tour, and with no replacement set, they went into hiatus. During this time, they released an autobiography, ''The Dirt'', Lee started the NuMetal band Methods of Mayhem and married Pamela Anderson (divorced and remarried multiple times), Neil toured as an on-and-off solo artist, Sixx played in several other bands and Mars [[ReclusiveArtist became a recluse]] due to his inflammatory spinal arthritis [[note]]Ankylosing Spondylitis for the curious[[/note]].

* 1983 - ''[[DarkerAndEdgier Shout At The Devil]]''
* 1985 - ''[[LighterAndSofter Theatre Of Pain]]''

* 1999 - ''Live: Entertainment Or Death''

* 2006 - ''Carnival Of Sins Live''
* 2008 - ''[[GrandFinale Saints Of Los Angeles]]''

** [[Music/{{Metallica}} James Hetfield]]: "We thought we saw some hookers, but it was actually Motley Crue."

* TheFriendNobodyLikes: Vince Neil's relationship with his bandmates has often been tense, and after he parted with the band in 1992 (Nikki claims that Vince quit the band, but Vince claims that he was fired) he sued his former bandmates for 25% of their future profits and also $5 million in damages. The other members of Motley Crue have often and publicly criticized Vince for his arrogance and selfishness, and have also accused him of being a habitual liar.

* John Corabi - lead vocals, guitar, bass, piano (1992-1996)
* '''''Robert Alan Deal (Mick Mars)''''' - guitar, vocals, bass, sitar, mandolin (1981-)
* '''''Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna (Nikki Sixx)''''' - bass, backing and lead vocals, synthesizer, keyboard, piano (1981-)
* '''''Thomas Lee Bass (Tommy Lee)''''' - drums, percussion, piano, backing and lead vocals, synthesizer (1981-1999, 2004-)

* '''''Vincent Neil Wharton (Vince Neil)''''' - lead vocals, harmonica, guitar (1981-1992, 1997-)