Tommy Lee says that it would be an “honor” for MÖTLEY CRÜE to be inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame one day.
Despite the fact that artists are eligible for the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame 25 years after the release of their first album or single, iconic hard rock and metal bands like MÖTLEY CRÜE (which has been eligible since 2006), IRON MAIDEN and JUDAS PRIEST have yet to be recognized by the institution, which inducted GUNS N’ ROSES in that group’s first year of eligibility.
CRÜE won last year’s “Voice Your Choice” in-museum Rock Hall fan vote but failed to make the list of nominees for the Class Of 2020. The band saw its votes surge when its biopic “The Dirt”, premiered on Netfix in March 2019.
Asked in a new interview with “CLE Rocks” podcast about CRÜE bassist Nikki Sixx previous assertion that he would “probably decline” the Rock Hall nomination, Tommy said (hear audio below): “I get Nikki‘s, like, you know what? There’s a bunch of people that are in there that he doesn’t agree with, and, yeah, I might not agree with that either. And it seems like just fucking anybody’s in there now. I get his disappointment with that. But at the end of the day, for me, dude, it would be a fucking honor regardless. Because there is a bunch of people that deserve to be there. I wouldn’t kick it out of bed, you know? [Laughs]”
Last year, Sixx said that CRÜE was told by the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame that it will never be inducted into the institution because of how he and his bandmates “acted.” Tommy, for his part, told “CLE Rocks” that he doesn’t believe the band’s exclusion has anything to do with CRÜE‘s notorious 1980s partying lifestyle.
“MÖTLEY‘s always been that kind of band that just, (a) won’t go away, and (b) with some of those kind of people, we’ve always butted heads with that kind of stuff,” Lee explained. “People sometimes don’t think that we’re the fucking real deal, I guess. I don’t know what their deal is. Who knows, bro? Who knows?”
Back in 2015, Sixx said that if his band was ever honored into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, he would “probably decline” the nomination, explaining that the Rock Hall “has lost touch with art, songwriting craft, lyrics and influential music.” He explained: “It’s a fixed old-boy network that has lost touch with art, songwriting craft, lyrics and influential music and usually has other agendas at hand. Young bands tell me it’s a joke, and these bands are the future.”
Three months later, CRÜE guitarist Mick Mars told Rolling Stone that he didn’t think the band would ever get the Rock Hall nod. “We were there when the thing was being built; we had to wear hard hats while we were walking around the building site. They were like, ‘One of these days, you guys will be in here!’ Right. [Laughs] I’d have to say, 80 percent no, 20 percent yeah. But it’s like when you’re a kid in kindergarten, and you take a nap and get a gold star as a reward. I don’t need a few handful of people to say that I got a gold star, because I already got it from my fans. I see the crowds, I see the enthusiasm, I see all that stuff, and that’s already satisfying enough for me.”
Lee told Rolling Stone that he was somewhat torn on the question of even wanting to be in the Hall in the first place. “I do give a shit about it, because it’s a time-stamp, it’s the acknowledgement of your peers and fans and the music industry,” he explained. “But then again, there’s a part of me that goes, ‘If we don’t, that’s fucking cool, too!’ In my heart, I know that we came, we saw, we kicked its fucking ass; I don’t need a pat on the back, or an induction, or another platinum album or two. Maybe I’m just not good with compliments.”
Singer Vince Neil chimed in: “We’ll probably go in at some point, but we might not all be alive when it happens. Our grandkids will probably have to pick up the awards.”
Photo credit: Paul Brown