MÖTLEY CRÜE Bassist NIKKI SIXX On The Current State Of Rock N’ Roll – “It’s Extremely Overproduced In A Lot Of Cases; I Miss Some Of The Slop”

Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx is featured in a new interview with Classic Rock. He reveals what he considers to be his personal highlight of the last 24 years, and offers his thoughts on the current state of rock n’ roll. Following is an excerpt from the chat.

Classic Rock: YouTube is one of the biggest things to have happened in Classic Rock’s lifetime. What’s the most embarrassing footage you’ve seen of yourself? 

Nikki: “It’s funny, the only time I ever really dig down and listen to Mötley Crüe is as we’re putting together a show; you kind of go through the albums and stuff like that. I dug into YouTube and was looking at some of the old videos, and I guess it could all be considered embarrassing, because rock’n’roll is embarrassing – as it should be. We should be ridiculous, we should be outrageous, we should be pushing envelopes and we should be rebelling against each other. We’re supposed to be loud and rude and in-your-face.” 

Classic Rock: What do you make of the state of rock’n’roll right now? Is it in good shape? 

Nikki: “My criticism is that it’s extremely overproduced in a lot of cases. It’s ProTooled to death, it’s chopped to death, and I miss some of the slop. I miss some of the flat notes. I miss when a guitar player doesn’t exactly come down perfect. I kinda miss some of the nuts and bolts of just being in a raw rock’n’roll band. With that being said, there’s some cool bands that are coming out and just going to the studio and cutting it pretty much live off the floor, and it’s real – you can feel it, that they mean it.”

Read the complete interview here.

The Stadium Tour, featuring Def Leppard, Mötley Crüe, with Poison and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts will hit select cities in the US and Canada where each band will bring their electrifying stage shows while promising to perform their stadium sized anthems. Produced by Live Nation, the summer tour is set to steamroll through North America starting June 2022.

Def Leppard are one of the most important forces in rock music. In 2019, the icons closed out a sold-out worldwide tour including a North American stadium run & headlining the UK’s Download Festival to 90k screaming fans. Def Leppard’s star continues to rise and prevail. The band have amassed a staggering 5.5 billion streams since 2018, reaching a younger 18-44 demographic that now represents 58% of their fanbase. Additionally, the band have garnered an impressive 15 million followers across their social media platforms. Def Leppard also celebrates the landmark 45th anniversary of their formation this year, marking 45 years of legendary rock ‘n’ roll history making. Def Leppard’s influential career crosses generations and includes 110 million records sold, numerous hit singles and ground-breaking multi-platinum albums—including two of the best-selling albums of all time, Pyromania and Hysteria, both of which are certified Diamond (10x platinum).

“On behalf of the band, we’re beyond thrilled that The Stadium Tour is finally happening this summer … it’s been a while coming and we can’t wait to get back on stage again & we can’t wait to see you in one of the many stadiums soon!” said Joe Elliott.

Following the huge success of their Netflix biopic The Dirt, Mötley Crüe has seen a massive surge in new audience with fans around the world demanding the band tour again. This led to the band members reuniting and announcing that “Mötley Crüe is back” in 2019. While The Dirt caused a meteoric 350% increase in streams of Mötley Crüe’s music across all platforms and the younger 18-44 demographic now represents 64% of the band’s fanbase most of the new fans have never seen any of the band’s legendary live shows that Crüeheads have relished for 4 decades. In 2021, Mötley Crüe celebrated their 40th band anniversary, as well as the 40th birthday of their iconic debut album, Too Fast For Love. The 35th anniversary of their Girls, Girls, Girls hit album is coming up on May 15. Mötley Crüe have sold over 100 million albums worldwide, achieving 7 platinum and multi-platinum albums, 9 Top 10 albums, 22 Top 40 Mainstream Rock hits, 6 Top 20 Pop singles and 3 Grammy nominations. The band have amassed close to 5 billion streams across digital platforms. They have over 15 million social media followers, a New York Times best-seller and a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. The band is ready to deliver an over the top stage show packed full of hit songs.

“It’s on! We don’t think we’ve ever looked forward more to kicking off a tour than this one. We can’t wait to finally see all the fans across North America again. Get ready for a wild ride this summer!,” Mötley Crüe said in a joint statement.

Poison will be bringing a rocking real and relevant no holds barred thunderous live show to The Stadium Tour this summer with the all original lineup of Bret Michaels, C.C. DeVille, Bobby Dall and Rikki Rockett. Poison will be unleashing an onslaught of hit after hit songs in its set. The humanitarian of the year, two years running, Michaels along with Poison is known to bring a unique style of passionate high energy, sincere gratitude and a positive attitude. Michaels engages all the fans and makes it an absolute epic ride of true live music. Together With C.C.Deville on guitar, Bobby Dall on bass, and Rikki Rockett on drums Poison will rock the stadium with a chemistry that will bring a big summer mega party vibe and Michaels promises to give 1000 % on the stage as the hotter it gets the harder Poison promises to rock!!!

Poison’s Bret Michaels also added: “There are not enough words to thank the three generations of fans for making this such an exciting, record breaking, historical tour with the fastest sell outs in history at these stadiums.”

Joan Jett grew up during a time when rock ‘n’ roll was off limits to girls and women, but as a teenager, she promptly blew the door to the boys’ club right off its hinges. After forming her band the Blackhearts in 1979, with whom Jett has become a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, she has had eight platinum and gold albums and nine Top 40 singles, including the classics “Bad Reputation,” “I Love Rock ‘N’ Roll,” “I Hate Myself For Loving You,” and “Crimson and Clover.” With a career that has spanned music, film, television, Broadway, and humanitarianism, Joan Jett remains a potent force and inspiration to generations of fans worldwide. As a producer, she has overseen seminal albums by Bikini Kill, and the Germs’ LA punk masterpiece ‘GI.’ Jett and Kenny Laguna (her longtime producer and music partner) co-founded Blackheart Records from the trunk of Kenny’s Cadillac after rejections from no less than 23 labels. 40 years later, Blackheart is a thriving entertainment company producing music, film and television, and continues to champion emerging bands. Joan Jett and the Blackhearts continue touring the globe with headlining shows alongside fellow rock legends like The Who, Green Day, Heart, and Foo Fighters. After two COVID-19 postponements, the group will return to the road in summer 2022 for The Stadium Tour with Def Leppard, Motley Crue and Poison. ‘Bad Reputation,’ a documentary about Jett’s life, premiered to critical acclaim at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and is now available for streaming.

“We are so excited to be back out on the road! We missed doing what we love most and can’t wait to see the fans out there again!” said Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.

Emerging rock band Classless Act, signed to Better Noise Music, is set to open the tour. With the release of their single “Give It To Me” in 2021, the band has already received critical praise. Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee was an early follower of the band and is excited to have them join him and his bandmates on the road, saying, “I remember when we went out with Ozzy in 1984 and how it was an insane game changer!! We literally blew up after having that opportunity to play live in front of 20,000 people every f***ing night! Since then, we’ve always felt it was important to help new bands; whether it was Guns N Roses, Skid Row or so many others. This summer we’re gonna help out Classless Act.”

Confirmed dates for The Stadium Tour:

June

16 – SunTrust Park – Atlanta, GA

18 – Hard Rock Stadium – Miami Gardens, FL

19 – Camping World Stadium – Orlando, FL

22 – Nationals Park – Washington, DC

24 – Citi Field – Flushing, NY

25 – Citizens Bank Park – Philadelphia, PA

28 – Bank of America Stadium – Charlotte, NC

30 – Nissan Stadium – Nashville, TN

July

2 – EverBank Field – Jacksonville, FL

5 – Busch Stadium – St Louis, MO

8 – Wrigley Field – Chicago, IL

10  – Comerica Park – Detroit, MI

12 – Hersheypark Stadium – Hershey, PA

14 – FirstEnergy Stadium – Cleveland, OH

15 – Great American Ballpark – Cincinnati, OH

17 – American Family Field – Milwaukee, WI

19 – Kauffman Stadium – Kansas City, MO

21 – Coors Field – Denver, CO

August

5 – Fenway Park – Boston, MA

6 – Fenway Park – Boston, MA

8 – Rogers Centre – Toronto, ON

10 – The Stadium Tour – Orchard Park, NY

12 – PNC Park – Pittsburgh, PA

14 – US Bank Stadium – Minneapolis, MN

16 – Lucas Oil Stadium – Indianapolis, IN

19 – Minute Made Park – Houston, TX

21 – Alamodome – San Antonio, TX

22 – Globe Life Park in Arlington – Arlington, TX

25 – State Farm Stadium – Phoenix, AZ

27 – SoFi Stadium – Inglewood, CA

28 – Petco Park – San Diego, CA

31 – T-Mobile Park – Seattle, WA

September

2 – BC Place – Vancouver, BC

4 – Commonwealth Stadium – Edmonton, AB

7 – Oracle Park – San Francisco, CA

9 – Allegiant Stadium – Las Vegas, NV