Mick Mars Says Motley Crue Have Been Trying to Replace Him Since 1987

2023-04-07

Motley Crue performing at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Michigan in 2015.

Motley Crue – Story by Scarlett Hunter, photo by Ken Settle

Mick Mars is suing Motley Crue, and he’s responding to the band’s comments on his lawsuit

Motley Crue were always filled with drama in the ’80s, and that’s one thing that hasn’t changed. Longtime guitarist Mick Mars is suing Motley Crue, and now, he has responded to Motley Crue’s statement regarding those lawsuits.

Thursday (April 7), TMZ obtained legal documents stating that Mars had filed a lawsuit against the band. In the lawsuit, Mars said that he still wanted to play with Motley Crue, perhaps one-off shows or studio recording, but was “unilaterally” removed from the band after a band meeting. Mars also said that his profit share was cut from 25% to 5% after he announced his retirement from touring.

The lawsuit continued, adding that Mars said that Nikki Sixx was “gaslighting” him over his guitar abilities, which have declined over time. In his defense, Mars asserted that Sixx didn’t “play a single note on bass” on Motley Crue’s latest tour. He also said that Sixx instead replaced live playing with pre-recorded tracks.

Following the news of Mars’ lawsuit, Motley Crue released their own statement. In it, they claimed that the lawsuit was “unfortunate” and “completely off-base.”

Now, in a new statement provided to Variety, Mars responded to the Crue, saying, “I carried those bastards for years.” He added, “Those guys have been hammering on me since ’87, trying to replace me. They haven’t been able to do that, because I’m the guitar player. I helped form this band. It’s my name I came up with [the Mötley Crüe moniker], my ideas, my money that I had from a backer to start this band. It wouldn’t have gone anywhere.”

“The thing that they keep pushing, for many years, is that I have a bad memory,” Mars added. “And that’s full-blown, out-of-proportion crap. Around 2012, when they first started saying that my memory was bad and I didn’t remember the songs, I came home and saw all my doctors, because I keep myself together, because I’m an old bastard. They had all the 10th Street people there [from the band’s management] — probably about five or six people — (versus) all my doctors going: ‘There’s nothing wrong with him.’ And now they’re still playing that game with me.”

Read the full statement via Variety here.

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Scarlett Hunter

Meet the expert - Scarlett Hunter has written about alternative music for a variety of publications over the past 10 years. She covers alternative and rock for Audio Ink Radio. Hunter is a graduate of Ohio State University. Contact her at scarlett@audioinkradio.com.

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