Cats don’t have anything on Mötley Crüe, who seem to have enjoyed nine lives and then some. At the time of this writing, they’re in between legs of their “World Tour,” which is taking place a full eight years after their “Final Tour” insisted they were done for good. (That’s not to mention the many times the group members have cheated death.)
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But this tour is one that’s going on without the band’s longtime guitarist, Mick Mars, who announced his retirement from touring in 2022 due to an advanced form of arthritis known as ankylosing spondylitis. Sadly, the separation hasn’t been smooth, as Mars started legal proceedings against his former band earlier in 2023 to attain what he claims are unpaid royalties.
Although we wouldn’t put anything past these guys in terms of the possibility of them reuniting, it appears for now that Mars’ time in the group is finished. That makes it as good a time as ever to reflect on his legacy with the band. Yes, he’s been a major force with the band as a guitarist. But did you know he’s been an integral piece of the band’s songwriting puzzle over the years, as well? Here are five times when he asserted himself as a writer in addition to being a performer with this iconic heavy metal band.
1. “Girls, Girls, Girls” (from Girls, Girls, Girls, 1987)
It took a while for Mars to get his songwriting legs under him, as Nikki Sixx did the bulk of the writing on Mötley Crüe’s earliest albums. The only credit Mars has on the first two albums is the instrumental “God Bless the Children of the Beast” on 1983’s Shout at the Devil. His writing production beefed up on third album Theatre of Pain, and then, by 1987, he co-wrote, with Sixx and Tommy Lee, the title track and lead single from their fourth album.
The song is Mötley Crüe’s answer to The Beach Boys’ “California Girls.” Only instead of mentioning different locations across the world, “Girls, Girls, Girls” takes us on a tour of the world’s strip clubs. The high-energy rocker, driven by Mars’ brawny guitar lines, rolled into the Billboard Top 20 upon its release.
2. “Dr. Feelgood” (from Dr. Feelgood, 1989)
Dr. Feelgood is generally regarded to be the finest album in the Mötley Crüe catalog. Hooking up with producer Bob Rock, the band churned out a hook-laden, boogie-filled collection where each single seemed to have more energy than the next.
Of the five singles released from the album, four were co-written by Mars, so it’s clear this was his peak with the band as well. The title track was also the first single released, and it turned out to be the biggest pop hit of their career, bounding all the way up to No. 6 upon its release in 1989. Mars was responsible for the melody and the guitar hooks, with Nikki Sixx devising the words about a particularly popular drug dealer.
3. “Without You” (from Dr. Feelgood, 1989)
If you were a heavy metal band in the late ‘80s, you had better have your power ballad game in working order. It was pretty much assured that, at some point during an album cycle, a band was going to gear it down a little bit for a lighter-waving slow song. In fact, Mötley Crüe had helped to pioneer the music biz tactic with “Home Sweet Home” a few years earlier. It made sense, then, that the third single from Dr. Feelgood was “Without You,” once again a collaboration between Sixx and Mars, that played up the band’s sensitive side.
[RELATED: Mick Mars Speaks Out on Mötley Crüe’s Choice to ‘Fire’ Him]
Sixx got the inspiration from drummer Tommy Lee’s relationship with Heather Locklear. But without Mars’ outstanding guitar work, including some lovely steel guitar that he plays on the track, it’s hard to imagine this song being anywhere near as affecting. Or as many lighters having been waved.
4. “Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)” (from Dr. Feelgood, 1989)
One of the reasons that Dr. Feelgood enjoyed such success is that it showed so many sides of the band. “Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)” is a rambling rock song that would have sounded right at home in the middle of the arena rock ‘70s as a song that brings the crowd to its feet every single time.
Once again, it came down to the excellent songwriting combination of Mars and Sixx. Sixx heard the title line in a movie and it took off from there. Mars took care of most of the music, which matches the somewhat tongue-in cheek nature of the lyrics. Albums of the ‘80s often ran out of steam after the second single. But the Crüe were still riding high with this fourth single off Dr. Feelgood, as “Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away”) rolled into the Top 20. You could make an argument that there was no songwriting partnership any more successful at that time than that of Sixx and Mars, which isn’t something you might expect from a band that was so often the target of critical arrows.
5. “Same Old Situation (S.O.S.)” from (Dr. Feelgood, 1989)
Dr. Feelgood was the gift that kept on giving, as it made it all the way to five singles released. And even though “Same Old Situation (S.O.S.)” didn’t do as well as previous tracks from the album on the charts, its video enjoyed a nice run on MTV (as did just about every video the band ever did in their heyday). It’s one of the rare Mötley Crüe songs credited to all four members, although it seems like the idea emanated from Nikki Sixx and singer Vince Neil.
In any case, there was yet another key contribution from Mars on this one. And it represented the last gasp of the band’s most successful era. When the band returned from a five-year hiatus for their next record, a self-titled release in 1994, much had changed. Vince Neil was absent, replaced by John Corabi, and grunge had wiped away the band’s commercial momentum, meaning “S.O.S.” has its own special place in the band’s history.
Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for Live Nation
