Nikki Sixx Promises There’s Plenty of Touring in Motley Crue’s Future

Motley Crue is on a bit of a renaissance in recent years. A lot of it can be traced back to the success of their Netflix film adaptation of their classic memoir The Dirt. This then led to the band literally blowing up their "cessation of touring" agreement and returning to the road. According to Nikki Sixx, the Crue is showing no signs of stopping touring any time soon.

The songwriter/bassist touched on this in an interview with Brazil's A Rádio Rock back in December 2022. Sixx talked about how well everyone is getting along, how much fun they're having and Tommy Lee's destination 60th birthday in Mexico. Lee's birthday gave everyone a chance to just bond and not be all business as it tends to be on tour.

Sixx recalled a conversation he had with Lee and Vince Neil while in Mexico. He said (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), " ... I go,' What are you guys doing for the next eight years?' And everybody's laughing: 'I don't know.' I said, 'Why don't we just keep going? Let's just take it to 50 [years since the band's inception, which will be in 2031].'"

Sixx added, "So this isn't a final tour. What does that look like? I have no idea. I'm just telling you, you have the band saying, 'We're having a blast. Why stop?'"

The Crue certainly isn't letting up on the gas in 2023. The South American leg of their world tour with Def Leppard just wrapped last night (March 7) in Sao Paulo, Brazil. After about a two-month break, they'll return to the road on May 22 in Def Leppard's hometown of Sheffield, England to kick of the European leg of the world tour. A complete list of 2023 tour dates can be found at Motley.com.

Motley Crue, through all of the obstacles (and there have been plenty), has managed to survive for four decades. It's an overwhelming thought when you think about it. Just reading or watching The Dirt gave fans an idea of the absolutely insane things the band has gone through. From drugs to horrific tragedies and everywhere in between, The Crue has seemingly seen or done it all.

The latest chapter in the band involves the exit of Mick Mars. The guitarist retiring from touring with Mötley Crüe in October 2022 seemed to come out of nowhere. Apparently, the band thought the same.

Nikki Sixx told Guitar World, "We never saw it coming that Mick wasn’t going to be able to tour and was going to have to quit the band."

At the time, Mötley Crüe was about to hit the road again with Def Leppard following the success of The Stadium Tour.

Sixx expressed that after Mars' retirement, the band didn't want to let fans, Def Leppard or tour promoter Live Nation down. This then led them to bring in guitarist John 5 to fill in for Mars. Sixx referred to the substitution as "a no-brainer in a horrible situation -- something we did not ask for or want.

Of course, a lot has played out in the press in the aftermath of Mars' retirement. To begin with, Mars filed a lawsuit against Mötley Crüe alleging his percentage of band profits was cut from 25 percent to 5 percent.

He claimed in his lawsuit the band held a meeting to "unilaterally" remove him from Mötley Crüe. He was also allegedly removed from many of the band's various corporations and LLCs.

Additionally, Mars claims bassist Nikki Sixx repeatedly "gaslighted" the guitarist.

Sixx told Mars he consistently forgot chords and fans were complaining about his playing. (Mars claimed in the lawsuit Sixx "did not play a single note on bass during the entire U.S. tour" and accused him of using backing tracks and pantomiming.)

While this issue is still ongoing, let us not forget they've provided rock fans with quite the catalog of songs, with a number of those tunes now considered rock/metal classics.

From the classics to the deeper cuts, here are the 40 best songs of Motley Crue, ranked.