Mötley Crüe Contracts to Dissolve, But Who Are They Kidding?

Last week, Mötley Crüe band members Vince Neil, Mick Mars, Nikki Sixx, and Tommy Lee signed a contract to bring an end to the band after one final farewell tour. The contract, deemed by the band as a “cessation of touring agreement,” is supposedly a means of ending the band in a formal and cordial fashion and allowing the members to enjoy individual projects. The real question is whether it does just that.

In a statement to CNN about the contract, Mötley Crüe attorney Doug Mark said:

Other bands have split up over rancor or the inability of people to get along, but this is mutual among all four original members and a peaceful decision to move on to other endeavors and to confirm it with a binding agreement.

Mark’s words are all well and good, but we here at Abnormal Use think the contract is as effective at ending the band as the release of Generation Swine was at re-launching them. The contract is signed by all four members and, thus, can be modified by those four members if they so choose. Even if contracts couldn’t be modified, who is going to enforce it if the band reunited? For the contract to serve its purpose, it would need to be signed by representatives of the public-at-large. Or, at least those Mötley Crüe fans who purchase tickets for the farewell tour thinking they are part of the band’s last hurrah.

Really, this contract is about the fans. The band attempting to assure its fans that this farewell tour is the real thing and won’t be followed by a farewell-farewell tour. Last year, Vince Neil alluded to this idea, telling the Oakland Press, “We want to go out on top. . . . but it’s not going to be like a KISS farewell to the farewell to the farewell tour.” We respect the notion, but let’s see if they follow through.

If Mötley Crüe does again re-unite at a later date, who is really harmed? We understand that there is some sentimental value to fans as having been a part of a band’s last tour. Perhaps some fans who otherwise may not have gone to a tour purchase tickets due to this fact. But Mötley Crüe isn’t some band we are ready to see call if quits. Even in their 50s, this is still the band that gave the world “Dr. Feelgood” and “Girls, Girls, Girls.” And for that, if the band does decide to continue touring, we here at Abnormal Use will forget that contract ever happened. Maybe.