They're back....  No, not the ghosts from Poltergeist, but the most entertaining and theatrical live rock band of the last 30 years.  Their songs are pretty cool too.  In 1981, when Nikki Sixx had the bright idea to take 1970s rock theatrics in the vein of Kiss and Alice Cooper, the punk-pop sensibility of bands like the Ramones, and a blonde singer set against a dark, visual backdrop, Motley Crue reinvented and revitalized America Rock n' Roll scene and started the 1980s multi-platinum, pop-metal scene.  No one denies or disputes this.  Then, in 1997, after selling 35 million records, firing and rehiring the aforementioned blonde singer, they reclaimed Rock n' Roll's throne by going out on tour in the dead of winter when no one else had the balls.  Once they proved there still was an audience for true hard rock, thanks in large part to reconnecting with much of their core fan base through the internet, scoring a top-10 debut for their comeback album, Generation Swine- which went Gold when most of the like-genre bands were on CMC International and Cleopatra Records, lucky to scan 10,000 copies of any new album- the Crue's success as the # 7 most successful tour of 1997 reignited the live hair-metal touring circuit, bringing bands like Poison and Cinderella out of the woodwork, and launching a new generation of rock bands like Buck Cherry, as well as fueling the success of the rap-rock genre.  In 2001, the band- while on hiatus- put out what became the best-selling hard rock authorized autobiography in history, and just last December, out of the blue, did it again by announcing a reunion tour which quickly became the best-selling rock-concert tour of the millennium.  Selling out Madison Square Garden in 3 minutes, and starting a grass-roots campaign to bring the band to second-tier markets, Motley Crue's 'Better Live Than Dead' even grabbed Pollstar's number one slot for two weeks.  Oh yeah, and their third Greatest Hits compilation, �Red, White and Crue', scored another top 10 debut on Billboard's Top 200 Album Chart, selling upward of 90,000 copies in its first week, and proving that Motley Crue had a whole new generation of fans waiting to embrace them. 

Irrefutably the Led Zeppelin of their generation in terms of longevity, Motley Crue is a strange breed of cat in that they are so hard to categorize.  They changed their visual presentation with every new album in the 1980s, and in the process, set every one of rock n' roll's next popular trends, from Too Fast for Love all the way through Dr. Feelgood.  Over the entirety of their career, Crue remained a punk-band at heart in that they never did anything on terms other than their own- a case in point being in the early 1990s when, after firing Vince, the band hired an unknown singer and became an alternative rock band for what most core fans agree was their most musically sophisticated album with John Corabi.  By the time the band had racked up 40 million records sold and left their contract with Elektra Records in 1999- with full ownership of their entire master catalog, a first for any rock n' roll band dating back to the Beatles and before- they were truly masters of their own universe of rock n' roll.  The bottom line is that no matter how much the establishment has tried to make it cool to hate Motley Crue, as they successfully did with Poison, the latter band only survived the backlash in the late 1990s and early millennium because Motley made it cool to hate the establishment right back.  Nikki Sixx is hard rock's emblematic MIDDLE FINGER, and we all raised it up in 1999- giving Poison their first platinum album in 10 years when the band's greatest hits album went platinum thanks to the comeback Motley launched.  Not to mention a second chance to most every hair metal band from the 1980s who had any remote form of success between 1981 and 1992, be it via b-list package tours like �Rock Never Stops',  or Cleopatra, Versailles or Spitfire Records tribute albums.  In one way or another, they all owe a thank you to Motley Crue, and most are happy to give it.  In vitually every one of Metal Sludge's 20 Questions with an 80s singer or guitar player of note, when Nikki Sixx comes up in the word association, he's given nothing but glowing accolade and praise, sometimes outright verbal worship.  Tommy Lee has remained a highly visible celebrity in his own right, and has- as a result of his Motley following- released two highly successful solo albums.  His latest solo album, just completed and as yet untitled, is scheduled to ship GOLD if all goes through with an exclusive distribution deal negotiated with Walmart.  What's cool about Motley's latest resurgence is that no one's f***ing with it, its cool this time, no one at MTV or K-ROCK is trying to start retarded anti-Motley campaigns.  How can you hate a band who has influenced almost every new platinum rock band of the last 10 years, from Blink 182 to Hoobastank to Jet and The Killers.  None of the aforementioned would refute it, they proudly admit it.  Even Jessica Simpson showed up at an awards show recently sporting a nicely snug Motley Crue t-shirt.  Good for her. 

As an author of several books with or on band members from the band, one on Nikki Sixx, a Rock Producers' anthology entitled �Behind the Boards', the first Volume of which is due in May, and features exclusive interviews with Tommy Lee and Scott Humphrey (who in addition to producing all of Tommy's solo stuff, also produced the band's 1997 Generation Swine album), Tom Werman (who produced Shout at the Devil, Theatre of Pain, and Girls, Girls, Girls), and James Michael (who regularly co-writes with Nikki Sixx), and a third book I'm finishing currently with former singer John Corabi, I consider it a privilege to be involved with any opportunity to celebrate Motley Crue's legacy.  If you have the opportunity to go out and buy the aforementioned books (which of course I'd not mind, :-), or The DIRT, or Tommyland, or Nikki's forthcoming book, The Heroine Diaries, you will be reading on one of Rock n' Roll's most important musical legacies, one that is just beginning to be properly recognized, acknowledged and celebrated generationally.  Motley Crue deserve it, and its no coincidence that they become eligible for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next year after 25 years in the business. How much money you wanna bet they'll get in?  Even if its begrudgingly, their historical and modern relevance cannot be denied, especially after the success of their latest tour.  Whether its a farewell tour or not, I hope every one of us goes at least once, or twice, or three times to see this amazing rock band remind the world what a dead-of-winter, pot-smoke filled, nose-bleed seat arena show is all about.  If I end up with nosebleed seats at any of the shows I'm going to see, I'll be f***ing happy, and you know why?  Because it will mean I'm sitting there because there were NO OTHER SEATS available, because the show is sold out, because my favorite band is getting the props they deserve.  With thousands of fans bringing their kids to shows, seeing Motley Crue is finally a family affair, and for most of us fans who've grown up with the band, its more like a family reunion.