Last month Motley Crue announced plans for a 72-show final tour in North America with overseas dates to follow in 2015. But the rock veterans will not be hitting the road with any new songs with Nikki Sixx casting doubt on the worth of any band in their position making an album in todays climate, citing the difficulty of getting radio play as the main barrier preventing bands reaching an audience.
Nikki Sixx tells Classic Rock in an interview printed in full next issue, “We’ve written some songs. But this is difficult to say and probably harder to hear: when you spend nine months working on an album, all the work that goes into it and recording it, mixing it, mastering it, then you release it and it falls on deaf ears. Radio is so fuckin’ formatted, if you don’t have a banjo and a beard they’re not playing you over here. If you’re this kind of band at this stage of your career you can’t be played on Active Rock; if you’ve been around for more than fifteen years you’re classic rock, but classic rock radio doesn’t play new music. You just think, “Fuck, man, this sucks. I have the belief that I would rather have less music reach more people through different opportunities, whether it be through movies, through sponsorships or co-sponsorships through integrated marketing with other types of companies that want to use your song specifically to reach tens of millions of people. I’d rather work on two songs under that plan than do eleven songs that only reach 100,000 people.”
Mick Mars echoed Sixx’s sentiments to Artisan News stating, “I don’t know … maybe I’m retarded or something, but I like to put a lot of effort into this last, farewell tour…”
Watch Artisan News‘ interview with Mick Mars and Tommy Lee below.
source: classicrockmagazine.com
34 Responses
I can’t stand Motley Crue, but when somebody is right, he’s right, and Sixx is dead-on right about the suckitude that is radio today. Nailed it. Hell, even the Rolling Stones can’t get a new song played on the radio these days.
No that’s total crap! Yea radio sux but true fans will go out and buy a new cd from any band without having to here it on the radio….if you make it they will come… They will buy it….he’ll back in the 80’s they weren’t making music for the radio,they were making it for the fans!!!!! Whatever happened to that?
Clear Channel sends out the playlists. I don’t think Carol Miller plays what she played off the record wall on WPLJ ’79 on Serius either.You get told. True, the Stones got zero play on their last new stuff cept the first 10 days. Sixx knows. 5″ heels on Mick….Lady Gaga move over, the ’77 footwear is back on the guys.
wow.. i sure am glad i don’t rely on the radio to play for me what i like. wake up, sixx. iron maiden don’t get radio play. the misfits never got radio play. i could go on and on……. but the point being, you do it for your fans. and for yourself of course. man i just know my cd collection would be damn near empty if people had the outlook that you do now Sixx. and i’m a motley fan, but this is just BS.
and hey, sixx. “shout” {my fav motley cd} never got play on the radio but it is in my top 10 cd’s of all time. and i bet you many more feel the exact damn same. for a band that so call has always done it their way and been a band for the fans… this surely sounds just the opposite.
who gives a fuck about the radio? online radio is where it’s at anyway. and eddie trunk and so many more will play it. so get out the past as far as that, sixx. fm radio has been shit for eons now. i mean im a cruehead to the core and im already upset that this is going to be once again a hits tour. hasn’t it been that way for awhile now? why not play what the fans would really want. yes you can do a encore of hits but why not give us Shout in it’s entirety? you did it for dr feelgood years back. and yeah i get that is the biggest selling crue cd… but i can guarantee you if you did a poll more fans would want shout. not to mention the cd is what? just over 30 minutes long? why not do it??? if you did 2 and a half hours that still leaves you 2 hours!!! that cd deserves it x’s a million. and since it is 30 years old why not throw it in as a tribute?!
anyway, i got off track there for a minute. all im saying is least go out with one last cd. you got the money. hell, you don’t even have to rent a studio since Tommy has one. sounds to me like you just being lazy Sixx. in the recording sense anyway. that or you all got nothing or at least nothing you feel good about. if none of that is the case then i want you to “stick by your guns” then when it comes time to do a sixx am record. remember, radio don’t play them either. i can count on both hands how many times i’ve heard sixx am on the radio. so no more cd’s then. if no motley cd then no cd at all sixx.
I appreciate your passion Jason, but if you could do a tour – make your cash anyways and not spend the money on a new album that most people won’t buy, why go through the extra expense? I know what you’re saying and don’t disagree. But why spend money if you don’t fee you need to?
Vince says maybe they will make more music Niki and Mick say no! These guys are all over the place make up your fukin minds!
I think they are making a big mistake not making a new album especially for a farwell tour
Give the fans new fucking music, Whi wants to hear the same ol situation a million times?
Plus bands like Kiss and Aerosmith areb10 yrs older and still put out new music and tour to support those albums like they did in the fucking 70s.
The Crüe Are being pussies blaming the current music biz an bullshit.
Put out good music and fans will buy it who cares about the masses just put out new music and sell it on your website you own your own fucking label dudes, what the fucknis wrong with them!