Mötley Crüe and their former guitarist Mick Mars are butting heads again. When Mars retired from touring due to his health condition ankylosing spondylitis, the plan was for him to remain a member of the band. But, this week the musician sued Motley Crue, claiming that they’d “unilaterally” kicked him out of the band and allegedly reduced his percentage of their profits from 25% to 5%.
The bands attorney spoke to Variety, saying, “After the last tour, Mick publicly resigned from Mötley Crüe. Despite the fact that the band did not owe Mick anything — and with Mick owing the band millions in advances that he did not pay back — the band offered Mick a generous compensation package to honor his career with the band. Manipulated by his manager and lawyer, Mick refused and chose to file this ugly public lawsuit.”
Frid also claims that Mars can’t draw a distinction between retiring from touring and quitting the band because at this phase in the band’s history, “the band’s primary function is to tour and perform concerts,” and the band’s legal team provided statements from seven road crew members indicating Mars could no longer remember or execute his parts.
In response, Mars also spoke to Variety, claiming “I carried those bastards for years,” before questioning if any of the other members could accurately reproduce all their parts on demand. Mars continued, “Those guys have been hammering on me since ’87, trying to replace me,” Mars added. “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 backer to start this band. It wouldn’t have gone anywhere.” Mars claims that since 2012, the other members had begun harping on about his bad memory, despite Mars visiting doctors and being told nothing was wrong. (Stereogum)
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