Metal Anarchy

According to Variety, Mick Mars has filed a lawsuit against Mötley Crüe. The guitarist is seeking access to the group’s financial records after they allegedly kicked him out and slashed his percentage of profits from 25% to 5%. On top of that, he has also claimed that his bandmates were using pre-recorded tracks on “The Stadium Tour.”

The following was said in the suit:

“How did Mars’s brothers of 41 years respond to Mars’s tragic announcement [about quitting the road]? They noticed an emergency shareholders’ meeting for the band’s main corporate entity in order to throw Mars out of the band, to fire him as a director of the corporation, to fire him as an officer of the corporation, and to take away his shares of the corporation. When he did not go away quietly, they purported to fire him from six additional band corporations and LLCs.”

The following was also added:

“During much of the band’s recent tenure, [Nikki] Sixx continually ‘gaslighted’ Mars by telling him that he [Mars] had some sort of cognitive dysfunction, and that his guitar playing was sub-par, claiming that Mars forgot chords, and sometimes started playing the wrong songs.

Astonishingly, Sixx made these claims about Mars’s playing while he [Sixx] did not play a single note on bass during the entire U.S. tour. Ironically, 100% of Sixx’s bass parts were nothing but recordings. Sixx was seen fist pumping in the air with his strumming hand, while the bass part was playing. In fact, a significant portion of [Vince] Neil’s vocals were also pre-recorded. Even some of [Tommy] Lee’s drum parts were recordings. Some fans actually noticed that Lee was walking toward his drum set as they heard his drum part begin.

Mars, at times on the tour, did play the wrong chords, but not due to any cognitive dysfunction. He was playing live, and his in-ear monitors were constantly malfunctioning, causing Mars to be unable to hear his own instrument. The fact is that Mars is rarely mocked or criticized online. He is a quiet member of the group, who shows up to play, and puts his heart and soul into each performance. Conversely, other band members are often criticized online, particularly Neil, who is routinely torn to shreds for, among other things, not remembering the songs.”

Variety went on to say that Mars’ attorney also received the following threat from the band’s lawyers:

“If your client rejects the severance package that was graciously offered to him by the band, he will get next to nothing. I suggest you think about the repercussions of this decision… There is undisputed legal cause here for Mick’s removal. Mick is unable to perform as a full-fledged band member. Among other things, as demonstrated during the last tour, he repeatedly forgets his chords, does not play the right song, plays chords of a different song while on stage, and so on.”

This news comes shorty after Carmine Appice (Vanilla Fudge, Cactus etc.) recently made headlines after claiming that Mars was unhappy near the end of his time with Mötley Crüe due to their reliance on pre-recorded tracks.