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As it turned out, the ’80s were pretty great for Motley Crue and Ratt, but Stephen Pearcy reveals there was a moment in the early ’80s where both acts could have had a different trajectory if a proposed band pairing had worked out. Pearcy reveals that a foursome of himself, Robbin Crosby, Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee had gotten so far as rehearsing together, but ultimately continued with their respective bands and decided not to pursue their collective.
The revelation came up as the singer was speaking with Tommy London of SiriusXM’s Hair Nation. As transcribed by Blabbermouth, Pearcy says the formation of their group came about from their Sunset Strip days of the early ’80s. “Robbin and I used to go out all the time into Hollywood — you know, ‘The [Sunset] Strip, yeah. You’ve gotta be seen. You’ve gotta be out there.’ Well, Motley was doing the same thing. Nikki, Tommy, Vince — they’d be doing the same thing. You know, tripping down the Strip, going to the Rainbow, going here, getting fucked up,” he recalled.
“So anyway, we meet them on the Strip, hanging out. We became friends and we became The Gladiators, which was our street thing there, when we went out together. And we each had names, which goes back to [Robbin’s nickname] ‘King’. I don’t know if it was Nikki who gave him that nickname or Robbin gave it to himself,” continued the singer.
He then added, “So in ’82, we really became close friends. I don’t think Nikki was ever really satisfied. Musicians were coming and going in bands, as the whole implosion was getting going — [in] ’81, ’82 in L.A. and that whole Strip thing. He wasn’t happy with his band at that moment. So, yes, it’s a true story. Robbin, Nikki, Tommy and myself, and me on guitar, were rehearsing at Mickey Ratt’s rehearsal in Culver City there. And I believe we rehearsed for a couple of times.”
Reflecting on that time, Pearcy says, “I don’t know if we wanted to start a band or if we were just jamming, but something was getting intense in there. And Nikki is, like, ‘Nah. I’m gonna go do my thing.’ And I said, ‘Well, I’m here. Me and Robbin are doing our thing.’ And so be it.”
The singer adds, “True story. True story. So, if that would have been a band, it would have been a great band, actually. I don’t know what songs we played, but we were very supportive of each other back in the day, in the beginning, yeah. It was great.”
As it turns out, Motley Crue would find their breakout with 1983’s Shout at the Devil album, their second release as a band. And they would be one of the biggest heavy bands of the ’80s. Ratt also fared quite well in the ’80s. Their biggest success came with 1984’s Out of the Cellar debut album featuring the single “Round and Round.”
