Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe, the Hollywood heavy metal band, began with a classified advertisement in a paper called The Recycler. It read: "Loud, rude and aggressive guitar player available." The man who placed it was Bob Deal, who performed as Mick Mars.
By the time the band's story had run for four decades, it had sold over 100 million records worldwide. Along the way its members were arrested at an airport, lost close friends and nearly lost their own lives. They were also sued by one another, and by people who had worked for them.
The pages ahead raise three questions. How did a group so famous for chaos manage to survive it? Who actually owned its songs? And why does a band that bid its audience farewell keep finding a reason to come back?
Greg Leon, who had passed through Quiet Riot and Dokken, set out in early 1981 to form a band with the drummer Tommy Lee. The two went to the farewell show of a well-liked local group called London. Lee could not take his eyes off its bassist, Nikki Sixx.
Lee later said he had London posters on his bedroom wall before they ever met. Leon was far less sure after two auditions. He told Lee, "He looks great. He's great on stage. But he can't play bass at all."
Lee visited Sixx at his Hollywood home to hear songs that Sixx's London bandmates had rejected as too heavy. Lee says he started drumming on the table in time with the music and that everything seemed to fit. He hired Sixx, and Leon walked out in protest. "I never played a show with Nikki Sixx," Leon later said.
At Mars's audition, the guitarist Robin Moore was fired during the very same session, according to the band's biography The Dirt. Mars got the job. The search for a singer took a little longer.
Lee had known Vince Neil since their days at Charter Oak High School in Covina, California, where both played in garage bands. After watching Neil perform with a group called Rock Candy at the Starwood in Hollywood, Lee suggested him. Neil turned the offer down at first. Michael White, who had played with Sixx in London, also joined for a while and then left.
Rock Candy's other members began leaning toward a New Wave sound and drifting into outside projects. Neil grew restless, and Lee asked again. Neil was hired on the 1st of April 1981, and the group played its first show at the Starwood on the 24th of April.
The new band still had no name. Neil says he floated the idea of calling it Christmas, and nobody was keen. Mars then recalled that a member of his old band White Horse had once called the group "a motley looking crew." He had scribbled the phrase down as "Mottley Cru."
The spelling was adjusted, and Neil proposed the two sets of metal umlauts. They were supposedly inspired by the German beer Löwenbräu, which the members happened to be drinking. Soon afterward the band signed its first manager, Allan Coffman, a thirty-eight-year-old who was the brother-in-law of a friend of Mars's driver.
The first Mötley Crüe record came out on the band's own label, Leathür Records. The single "Stick to Your Guns/Toast of the Town" was pressed and distributed through a deal with Greenworld Distribution in Torrance, California. On the 10th of November 1981 the band self-produced and released its debut album, Too Fast for Love. It sold 20,000 copies.
The band's following in the Los Angeles club scene gave Coffman and his assistant Eric Greif leverage in talks with labels. Elektra Records signed the band in early 1982. The producer Roy Thomas Baker remixed the album, and it was re-released on the 20th of August 1982 to coincide with a tour.
That tour, called Crüesing Through Canada Tour '82, produced a string of publicity incidents. In Edmonton, the band was arrested at the airport and then released. Customs officers considered its spiked stage clothing to be dangerous weapons. They also objected to a small carry-on bag of pornographic magazines that Neil had brought. Both episodes were staged publicity stunts.
A front-page story in the Edmonton Journal on the 9th of June 1982 reported a bomb threat against the band at Scandals Disco. Lee and Greif were questioned by police. This too was a stunt, arranged by Greif. Lee also hurled a television set out of an upper-floor window at the Sheraton Caravan Hotel. The magazine Music Express reported that the band had been "banned for life" from the city.
The tour ended early and lost money. It still gave the band its first international press.
In 1983 the band replaced Coffman with the managers Doug Thaler and Doc McGhee. McGhee was best known for managing Bon Jovi and later Kiss. Greif sued everyone involved in a Los Angeles Superior Court case that dragged on for years. Coffman faced lawsuits of his own from investors to whom he had sold "stock in the band," among them Bill Larson of Michigan. Coffman had mortgaged his house at least three times to cover the band's costs, and he declared bankruptcy.
On the 29th of May 1983 the band played the US Festival, and in September the album Shout at the Devil arrived. It eventually went 4× platinum. An ABC news reporter even cited it in a piece about conservative Christian groups complaining of modern Satanism. Ozzy Osbourne noticed the band, and it joined his 1984 tour for Bark at the Moon.
Backstage antics, towering heeled boots and heavy make-up built the members' reputation, as did what the source calls a seemingly endless appetite for alcohol and drugs. In December 1984 Neil crashed his De Tomaso Pantera. His passenger, Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley, then the drummer of Hanoi Rocks, was killed.
Neil was charged with a DUI and vehicular manslaughter and sentenced to 30 days in jail. He served only 18. He was also sued for $2,500,000. His lawyers negotiated the short sentence so that he could tour and pay the civil suit.
Theatre of Pain came out on the 21st of June 1985 and was dedicated to Dingley. It marked the band's turn to glam metal and reached number 6 on the Billboard album charts, later earning quadruple platinum status. The members themselves regard it as a creative disappointment, because recording was tense after the accident and Sixx's addiction was deepening.
In February 1986, while the band was in London, Sixx suffered a near-fatal heroin overdose. The man who sold him the drugs left his unconscious body in a dumpster. The episode inspired the song "Dancing on Glass."
Girls, Girls, Girls followed on the 15th of May 1987 and debuted at number 2 on the Billboard 200. Sixx believes it would have opened at number 1 had Whitney Houston's record label not maneuvered behind the scenes. The band traded its glam look for a biker aesthetic.
On the 23rd of December 1987 Sixx overdosed again. He was declared clinically dead on the way to the hospital. The paramedic, a Mötley Crüe fan, brought him back with two shots of adrenaline. Those two minutes inspired "Kickstart My Heart." Sixx had also kept a daily diary of his addiction through 1986 and 1987. He entered rehab in January 1988, and the band canceled its planned tour dates.
That same year a man named Matthew Trippe sued, claiming he had been hired as Sixx's doppelgänger after a 1983 drug-related car crash. He dropped the case in 1993 and vanished from public view. Meanwhile, Thaler and McGhee staged an intervention and refused to book a European tour, fearing some members "would come back in bodybags." The whole band then entered rehab together.
Sobriety brought the peak. Dr. Feelgood was released on the 1st of September 1989, produced by Bob Rock in Vancouver. The members recorded their parts separately for the first time, to cut down on infighting. Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, working in the same studio, sang backing vocals.
The album reached number one on the 14th of October and stayed on the charts for 114 weeks. The title track and "Kickstart My Heart" earned Grammy nominations but lost both times to songs by Living Colour. At the American Music Awards, Dr. Feelgood lost once to Guns N' Roses and then won the following year.
In 1989 the band fired McGhee, alleging that he had broken promises tied to the Moscow Music Peace Festival. Thaler became sole manager. A huge world tour followed, which paid well and left the band exhausted. In April 1990 Lee suffered a concussion in New Haven, Connecticut, when a rappelling drum kit stunt went wrong. On the 1st of October 1991 the compilation Decade of Decadence 81-91 arrived, reportedly meant as "just something for the fans" while the band worked on a new album.
In February 1992 Vince Neil left Mötley Crüe, just as grunge and alternative rock were draining the audience for most of the decade's glam metal bands. Whether he quit or was fired is still disputed. Sixx insists he quit, and Neil insists he was fired.
Neil described it in 2000 this way: "It went from 'I quit' to 'You're fired'." He added that the management "just let one of the biggest bands in the world break up."
John Corabi, formerly of Angora and the Scream, took over as singer. The self-titled album reached number 7 in March 1994, but it was a commercial failure and many fans disliked both the sound and Neil's absence. Corabi recalled, "my record was the first record that they had done that didn't go platinum, didn't make some sort of crazy noise, and everybody panicked."
Neil, meanwhile, released the solo albums Exposed in 1993 and Carved in Stone in 1995. Corabi himself suggested bringing Neil back, and the band fired Corabi in 1996. Rolling Stone broke the news in its issue of the 26th of November 1996.
The reunion came together in 1997 after the managers Allen Kovac and Bert Stein arranged a meeting between Neil, Lee and Sixx. They agreed to leave their egos at the door and made Generation Swine. It debuted at number 4 but failed commercially, partly for lack of label support.
The band's contract with Elektra expired in 1998, and with it came something rare. The band now owned the master recordings of all its albums. It reportedly got there by being as difficult as possible until Elektra handed over the rights. It then formed its own label, Mötley Records.
In 1999 the band reissued its whole catalog as Crücial Crüe, with demos, live cuts and unreleased tracks. That year Lee quit to pursue a solo career, amid growing friction with Neil. Neil said, "All we got was a call from his attorney saying he wasn't coming back."
Randy Castillo, a longtime friend of the band who had drummed for Ozzy Osbourne, replaced him. The album New Tattoo arrived in July 2000. Castillo then fell ill with a duodenal ulcer, and the former Hole drummer Samantha Maloney filled in. While recovering from surgery, Castillo found a tumor on his jaw and was diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma. He died on the 26th of March 2002, and the band went on hiatus.
During the break Sixx played in the side projects 58 and Brides of Destruction. Neil appeared on the first season of the VH1 show The Surreal Life. Lee formed Methods of Mayhem. Mars, who has a hereditary arthritis of the spine called ankylosing spondylitis, withdrew into seclusion in 2001.
That same year all four members and Neil Strauss published The Dirt, which billed the band as "the world's most notorious rock band." It spent ten weeks on The New York Times Best Seller list. In 2003 two box sets titled Music to Crash Your Car To drew criticism from Hanoi Rocks singer Michael Monroe, who heard a reference to the crash that killed his bandmate.
A promoter in England named Mags Revell spent months clamoring for a Mötley Crüe reunion. In September 2004 Sixx announced that he and Neil were back in the studio. In December the four original members unveiled a reunion tour by arriving at the Hollywood Palladium in a hearse. The tour began on the 14th of February 2005 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Trouble found them quickly. On New Year's Eve 2004 the band played a live episode of The Tonight Show, and Neil yelled an obscenity. The FCC investigated, and NBC banned the band. The band sued the network, the suit was settled out of court and the band later returned to the show.
Saints of Los Angeles reached American shelves on the 24th of June 2008. It was first titled The Dirt, since it was loosely based on the book. Its title song was sold briefly as a Rock Band exclusive, which made Mötley Crüe the first band to release a single only through a video game. The song sold more through Rock Band than through streaming sites.
On the 28th of January 2014, at Beacher's Madhouse Theater in Hollywood, the band announced its retirement. It would begin with a tour of 70 North American dates, with Alice Cooper as special guest. The members signed a "cessation of touring agreement" that barred them from touring under the Mötley Crüe name past the end of 2015. The tour opened in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on the 2nd of July 2014.
Sixx explained why new music was uncertain. Few people buy albums song by song anymore, he said, so he preferred getting one, two or four songs to ten million people over eleven songs to a hundred thousand. The band's last advertised show took place at Staples Center in Los Angeles on the 31st of December 2015. It was filmed for the movie Mötley Crüe: The End.
In 2017 Neil told Sammy Hagar the band was "completely done." Then, on the 13th of September 2018, Neil announced on Twitter that four new songs were being recorded. They were for a Netflix film based on The Dirt, directed by Jeff Tremaine, with Daniel Webber, Iwan Rheon, Douglas Booth and Colson Baker, known as Machine Gun Kelly, as the four members.
The film and its soundtrack arrived on the 22nd of March 2019. The soundtrack reached number 10 on the Billboard 200, the first time the band had hit the top ten in over a decade. Bob Rock, who produced Dr. Feelgood, produced it too.
On the 18th of November 2019, Rolling Stone reported that all four members had agreed to tour, using a loophole in the cessation contract. The band confirmed it that day, with a video of the contract being destroyed. The Stadium Tour with Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts was set for summer 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic pushed it to 2021 and then again to 2022. In November 2021 the band sold its entire back catalog to BMG Rights Management, the same catalog it had fought so hard to own. The tour finally ran in summer and fall 2022 and was the group's first major tour in seven years.
A shouted insult outside the Troubadour in Hollywood in 1982 started the long-running quarrel with Metallica. Lars Ulrich claims that he drunkenly yelled his dislike of Mötley Crüe there and that Sixx chased him. The original Metallica guitarist Dave Mustaine joked in a 1983 interview that glam stood for "Gay LA Music."
Metallica still admired the sound of Dr. Feelgood. It hired Bob Rock to produce its self-titled fifth album in 1991. Ulrich later accused Mötley Crüe of using a backing track at the 1997 American Music Awards, and Sixx answered online by attacking Metallica's album Load. In 2015 Lee posted a picture of Ulrich captioned "Straight Outta Tempo." By 2021 Sixx was praising Metallica's longevity.
Guns N' Roses opened for the Crüe in summer 1987. The relationship soured in 1988, when Neil and Riki Rachtman accused the Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin of assaulting Neil's wife Sharise at Rachtman's Cathouse club. At the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards, Neil rushed the side of the stage and threw a punch at Stradlin before security separated them.
In August 1990 Axl Rose told the interviewer Kurt Loder, "Anytime he wants it, Atlantic City, I don't care. We'll put money on it." Neil challenged Rose to a fight in early 1991. Eddie Van Halen and Sammy Hagar reportedly offered money to host it at Madison Square Garden, but neither man answered. Neil claims Stradlin phoned to apologize. In 2014, Neil mocked on Twitter an award that called Rose "The World's Greatest Singer," then deleted the post.
Godsmack joined the Crüe Fest 2 bill in 2009 and clashed with the headliners over how support bands were treated. Drummer Shannon Larkin said the Crüe's security was strange about Godsmack's guests who wanted backstage access. Sully Erna reportedly wrote a 2010 song about Sixx, though Larkin says it was about a football quarterback. In 2015 Erna called Sixx an "old, fat, washed-up has-been" and challenged him to a fight.
Steel Panther toured with the Crüe and Def Leppard in 2011 and found the atmosphere hostile, especially from Sixx and Lee. In 2019 their singer Michael Starr joked that he would revive Vince Neil from the 1980s. Sixx lashed out on Twitter. Steel Panther answered by posting a 1994 interview in which Sixx and Mars mocked Neil's weight after a jet ski accident. Members of Steel Panther have since repeatedly credited the Crüe's music as an influence.
In late October 2022, after 41 years, Mick Mars announced he was retiring from touring because of ankylosing spondylitis. The band named John 5, who had played with Rob Zombie, David Lee Roth and Marilyn Manson, as his replacement. He became a permanent member in April 2023.
The parting turned bitter. Carmine Appice, a friend of Mars, said Mars had also lost his enjoyment of touring. Sixx called Appice "a washed up drummer" on Twitter. In a Variety interview published on the 6th of April 2023, Mars called his severance "laughable" and said the band had cut his royalties to 7.5%.
Mars sued in Los Angeles County Superior Court in April 2023. He claimed his touring royalty had been cut from 25% to 5% after he retired. The band's representative Sasha Frid pointed to a 2008 agreement signed by all four members, which held that anyone who quit would not receive the same pay from live shows or merchandise. The band also said it had never fired Mars.
In January 2026 the band won. Mars admitted under oath that his claims were false, including that he was fired, that the band tried to cut his stake in Mötley Crüe Inc. and that it used backing tracks. He was ordered to repay $750,000 in touring advances. He was also dismissed as manager, agent and co-owner of Mötley Crüe Inc.
The music kept coming. On the 23rd of April 2024 the band announced a deal with Big Machine Records. Three days later it released "Dogs of War," its first song in five years and its first with John 5. An EP, Cancelled, followed on the 4th of October 2024.
Critics have long described the band as heavy metal, glam metal and hard rock. AllMusic said it had "a knack for melding pop hooks to heavy metal theatrics." Loudwire counts it among the first bands labeled hair metal. Spin ranked Shout at the Devil the 11th best metal album of all time, and the band received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006.
In 2014 the tribute album Nashville Outlaws had country stars including Rascal Flatts, LeAnn Rimes and Darius Rucker covering Crüe songs. It debuted at number 2 on the Billboard Country Album chart. Loudwire later placed the band among the big four of 1980s rock, alongside Van Halen, Def Leppard and Guns N' Roses. The band's touring history now lists a 2026 run called The Return of the Carnival of Sins.
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Updated
Common questions
How did Mötley Crüe get its name?
Mick Mars remembered a bandmate in White Horse calling the group "a motley looking crew." He wrote it down as "Mottley Cru." The spelling was adjusted, and Vince Neil suggested the metal umlauts, supposedly inspired by the German beer Löwenbräu.
Who owns Mötley Crüe's master recordings?
The band gained ownership of its masters when its contract with Elektra expired in 1998. It then started its own label, Mötley Records. In November 2021 it sold its entire back catalog to BMG Rights Management.
What inspired the song "Kickstart My Heart"?
On the 23rd of December 1987, Nikki Sixx overdosed on heroin and was declared clinically dead on the way to the hospital. A paramedic who was a fan revived him with two shots of adrenaline. His two minutes in death inspired the song.
Why did the band return to touring after its final show in 2015?
In November 2019, Rolling Stone reported that all four members had agreed to tour again by using a loophole in their cessation of touring contract. The band confirmed it with a video of the contract being destroyed, and announced The Stadium Tour with Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts.
What happened with Mick Mars's lawsuit?
Mars sued in April 2023 over cut touring royalties. In January 2026 the band won. Mars admitted under oath that his claims were false, was ordered to repay $750,000 in touring advances and was dismissed as manager, agent and co-owner of Mötley Crüe Inc.
All sources
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- 110Motley Crue to Reunite for 2005 Tour, AlbumMarch 25, 2015
- 111MOTLEY CRUE To Kick Off Reunion Tour In San Juan, Puerto RicoDecember 12, 2004
- 113FCC probes profanity slip by Motley Crue on 'Leno'January 5, 2005
- 114Motley Crue sues NBCMay 25, 2005
- 115When Motley Crue Sued NBC Over a Network BanMay 26, 2015
- 116Rotten TomatoesScott Weinberg — March 9, 2005
- 117Motley Crue in Stop-Motion Disaster!March 7, 2005
- 118Motley Crue Release 'Carnival of Sins' Double Live AlbumFebruary 9, 2006
- 120Mötley Crüe to Donate All Proceeds From 'Home Sweet Home' Remake to CharitySeptember 27, 2005
- 122Crue Chief for Par PicApril 28, 2006
- 123Motley Crue slam MTV over 'The Dirt'June 20, 2008
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- 133The Mars Volta Wins 'Best Hard Rock' Grammy For 'Wax Simulacra'February 8, 2009
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- 138Mötley Crüe, Hinder, Theory Of A Deadman: North American Tour Dates AnnouncedNovember 14, 2008
- 140Slipknot, Prodigy and Motley Crue set for Download 2009February 10, 2009
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- 145Announcing Mötley UK Tour with Def Leppard and Steel PantherAugust 30, 2011
- 146Kia's Optima Super Bowl ad gets Adriana Lima, Motley Crue into your dreamsFebruary 2, 2012
- 147Mötley Crüe Are Doing a Las Vegas ResidencyDecember 2011
- 148MagazineKiss And Mötley Crüe Announce The TourMarch 21, 2012
- 149Motley Crue Reveal 2013 Canadian Tour DatesFebruary 26, 2013
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- 154Mötley Crüe's 'The Final Tour' Has Already Been Seen By Half A Million FansNovember 26, 2014
- 155Motley Crue Reveal Official Retirement ShowsJanuary 15, 2015
- 156Line-up
- 157Last Show
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- 161MagazineMotley Crue Set 'The Dirt' Premiere DateDecember 3, 2018
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- 184Motley Crue Guitarist Mick Mars to Retire From TouringJem Aswad et al. — October 26, 2022
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- 187Motley Crue working on new material with producer Bob RockStef Lach — April 22, 2023
- 189Mick Mars Sues Mötley Crüe, Says He Was Unilaterally Removed From Band + GaslightedLauryn Schaffner — April 6, 2023
- 191Motley Crue Officially Recording in Studio With Big Name ProducerJoe DiVita — April 19, 2023
- 192Mötley Crüe have finished their first studio album with John 5 – and promise it's "heavier than anything"Jonathan Horsley — May 15, 2023
- 194Vince Neil Discusses New Mötley Crüe Recordings, Extending Crüe's Stadium TourPhilip Trapp — July 3, 2023
- 195New Mötley Crüe Songs Are 'So Good': 'Everybody Is Just Killing It'September 23, 2023
- 201MagazineWatch Dolly Parton and Mötley Crüe's New 'Home Sweet Home' Video20 June 2025
- 203Motley Crue and Dolly Parton team up on new Home Sweet Home20 June 2025
- 204Watch Mötley Crüe and Carrie Underwood tackle two Crüe classics on American IdölFraser Lewry — 12 May 2026
- 205Mötley Crüe Thank Fans After ‘Kickstart My Heart’ Hits One Billion Spotify Streams: ‘This One’s For YOU!!’Gil Kaufman — 1 October 2026
- 206Metallica on the '80s Metal Bands They Didn't Get Along WithAugust 17, 2020
- 207Dave Mustaine talks about glam rock/metalFebruary 25, 2011
- 209The Truth About Nikki Sixx's Feud with MetallicaOctober 7, 2020
- 210Crue Bassist Defends MetallicaJune 2, 2003
- 211James Hetfield Meets a Mötley Crüe Hater (Gets really Uncomfortable/Cringy)November 24, 2020
- 213Vince Neil Hangs Up On Radio Host Over Motley Crue/metallica Feud QuestionsSeptember 30, 2015
- 214Deeper With Metallica's James Hetfield (AUDIO)July 12, 2017
- 216What Happened Between Axl Rose And Vince Neil?May 16, 2022
- 217The Bitter Feud Between Axl Rose and Vince NeilArun Starkey — 2022-07-03
- 219Axl Rose vs Vince Neil Feud: Guns N Roses vs Motley CrueMarch 31, 2020
- 220Why Motley Crue's Vince Neil Attacked Guns N' Roses' Izzy StradlinApril 25, 2022
- 221Godsmack's Shannon Larkin explains Sully Erna-Nikki Sixx feudSeptember 9, 2011
- 222The Godsmack Song Written to Attack Motley Crue's Nikki SixxElif Ozden — 2021-12-26
- 223Sully Erna Calls Nikki Sixx an 'Old, Fat, Washed Up, Has-BeenJoe DiVata — 2015-11-28
- 225Inside Godsmack's feud with Motley CrueLorenzo Tanos — 2021-09-23
- 226Steel Panther Star claims he had sex with Tommy Lee's girlfriendEren Merdan Gursoy — 2020-01-13
- 228Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx fires shot at 'Backstabbers' Steel PantherGraham Hartmann — 2019-10-18
- 229Steel Panther frontman: 'If I could bring one musician back from the dead, it'd be Motley Crue's Vince NeilRobert Pasbani — 2019-10-12
- 230Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars sues band, claiming he was fired for "horrific" diseaseAimee Picchi — CBS News — 2023-04-11
- 233NewsMötley Crüe Guitarist's Lawsuit Says He Was Kicked OutMckenna Oxenden — April 8, 2023
- 238MagazineMick Mars Never Wants to Speak to Mötley Crüe Again — and 14 Other Things We LearnedJuly 3, 2023
- 242John Corabi Thinks Mötley Crüe is Lying About Mick Mars Retirement StatementNovember 30, 2022
- 243Motley Crue – Dr. FeelgoodDavid DeSylvia — October 8, 2006
- 244The Hair Metal 100: Ranking the '80s Greatest Glam Bands—The Final 20!Mike McPadden — VH1 — 25 September 2015
- 245Motley Crue to Become First Hard Rock Band to Hold Las Vegas ResidencyJosh Hart — December 2, 2011
- 246The 'Big 4' Bands of '80s Rock2026-02-27
- 247Corabi revisits 1994 Motley Crue albumBruce Henne — January 4, 2015
- 248BookThe Top 500 Heavy Metal Songs of All TimeMartin Popoff — ECW Press — 2003
- 249MTVNews.com: The Greatest Metal Bands Of All TimeMtv.com — March 9, 2006
- 250Top 50 Metal Bands of All TimeJuly 20, 2016
- 25140 Greatest Metal Albums of All TimeOctober 30, 2019
- 252The 15 Best Hair Metal Bands of All TimeAdam Steininger — September 3, 2013
- 253MagazineThe 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All TimeJune 21, 2017
- 254Motley Crue Gets Hollywood Walk of Fame StarJanuary 25, 2006
- 255MagazineNashville Outlaws: A Tribute to Mötley CrüeAugust 19, 2014
- 256Chart Watch: Nashville Salutes…Motley Crue?!!Paul Grien — August 27, 2014
- 257The 20 greatest hair metal bands of all timeJeff Mezydlo — 2019-09-03
- 258Who Are the 'Big 4' of Hair Metal?2025-08-06
- 259Motley Crue Lineup Changes: A Complete GuideOctober 31, 2022
- 261Introducing Motley Crue's Early Mystery Man, Greg LeonMartin Kielty — March 22, 2019
- 262Chronological CrüeMembers.ozemail.com.au — October 15, 2010
- 263Watch: MÖTLEY CRÜE Plays First Concert With New Guitarist JOHN 5Blabbermouth — 2023-02-11
- 265Magazinemotley-cruerock candy mag — 25 November 2017
- 267Pearl Aday follows in father's footstepsTom Lounges — April 23, 2010
- 269Will Hunt Admits Using Cheat Sheet Notes To Replace Tommy Lee In Mötley CrüeSu Yeniocak — 2022-02-08
- 270Mötley Crüe With Sevendust's Morgan Rose: First Video Footage Posted OnlineBlabbermouth.net. Roadrunner Records — August 16, 2009
- 272Mötley Crüeauburn_reporter — 2012-08-18
- 273In Indianapolis, Motley Crue limps toward finish lineDavid Lindquist
- 275Stadium Tour Makes Historic Run in Boston's Fenway Park Live Music NewsJoel Shover — 2022-08-10
- 276NewsReview: Did Def Leppard-Motley Crue-Poison-Joan Jett concert (finally) go as planned?THÉODEN JANES — 30 June 2022
- 277Tommy Lee Exits Mötley Crüe's Reunion Tour Kickoff Five Songs into Set Due to Broken Ribs: WatchConsequence. — June 16, 2022