How Nikki Sixx Lied to Mötley Crüe Fans (And Us)
We shouldn’t really take rock stars at their absolute word, should we? Like all humans, they sometimes say things they regret, or change their minds about something they planned on committing themselves to, or decided to distance themselves from. Thus, Nikki Sixx has proven himself to be rather human after playing a stripped down version of Mötley Crüe’s “Live Wire” on a French radio show with his new band, Sixx A.M.
You see, in April 2015 Riffyou.com sat down with Sixx for a one-on-one interview in Toronto to discuss what Sixx A.M. was up to. He was very nice to us and wonderfully candid during our time together.
What was most obvious was Sixx’s aim to keep Mötley Crüe and Sixx A.M. in separate stratospheres. We couldn’t blame the guy – Mötley Crüe was doing its victory lap and Sixx A.M. was working on increasing its popularity. Thus, it made sense at the time when Sixx told us this:
“I think they’re totally separate – I really compartmentalize the two,” said Sixx of Mötley Crüe and Sixx A.M. “What’s important to me is to never do anything I already did in Mötley Crüe, because I cherish that music, those times and those band members. So, I never want to try and replicate that.
“A lot of times, I see people try and do ‘the next thing’ and it’s just kind of the same as the other. [If that were me] I’d think, ‘Well, why not just do Mötley Crüe?’ But why would I do another version of Mötley Crüe? Sixx: A.M. is completely different musically, spiritually, emotionally, visually…and that gives me pride,” he continued. “The people who are coming to see us, are coming to see Sixx: A.M. We don’t play Mötley Crüe music and we never will play Mötley Crüe music. The day Mötley Crüe plays its last show, I will never play another Mötley Crüe song again…even if it’s one I wrote. To be respectful to Mötley Crüe is the biggest gift I can give to fans.”
Yup, well that’s changed in a hurry with the emergence of the “Live Wire” clip you can listen to below.
In usual circumstances, Riffyou.com wouldn’t care all that much about Sixx changing his mind. After all, he is human and is the man that wrote the lion’s share of Mötley Crüe material. But, when we published our interview with Sixx and shared it with him over Twitter, he publicly lambasted our headline: ‘Interview: Nikki Sixx Gets a New Crüe with Sixx: A.M.’ This soon led to his devoted fan base ripping on us for days. Clearly, he didn’t enjoy the wordplay and wanted so hard to keep the bands on separate plains, he didn’t mind throwing us to the wolves in the process.
We can take the punches and are by no means on the ledge about this. But, people with the influence of Sixx should know better when it comes to the weight and impact of their words. We didn’t appreciate being called out back then – and we certainly don’t appreciate the now hypocritical nature of it all.
As for Mötley Crüe fans who hold the band and Sixx’s word close to them, this change in direction must be bothersome for them also.
