Mick Mars' Complex Relationship With Former Mötley Crüe Frontman, John Corabi
The members of Mötley Crüe are certainly no strangers to tumultuous interpersonal struggles. If you've ever read the group's iconic and debaucherous autobiography "The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band" (2001), you understand the size and scope of chaos that has predominated much of their time together over the years. "Mötley Crüe, collectively and individually, have done things on our own terms," bassist and prime Crüe songwriter Nikki Sixx once said (via Idle Hearts).
However, it would seem that certain terms and conditions do in fact apply. According to Heavy Magazine, when guitarist Mick Mars and once-upon-a-time frontman John Corabi teamed up outside of Mötley Crüe to test out some new musical waters, things got a little troubled under the surface. Some say that it was singer Vince Neil who didn't exactly approve of what the two were trying to create together just a few years ago.
John Corabi's Mötley Crüe legacy
In 1992, after a series of disagreements and differences prompted Vince Neil to step aside as Mötley Crüe frontman, the group looked elsewhere for a replacement that could (they hoped) measure up to the man they'd relied upon for so long. They landed on former vocalist of The Scream, John Corabi (per All Music). From the start, Neil was bound to be a tough act to follow, but half the members in Crüe actually look back on those years rather fondly. "The sounds on that record, dude. I still listen back and go, 'My God! ...' And it is one of my favorite albums too. I'm with Mick on that one," said drummer Tommy Lee back in 2020, according to Blabbermouth.
As you can probably guess, Mick Mars was the other member of the group who commended John Corabi for his contributions to Mötley Crüe. Over the years, the two kept in touch, even after the latter's discharge from Crüe in '97. While the 1994 self-titled album that the band recorded with Corabi wasn't exactly cut from the same musical cloth as their earlier material, it certainly had its merits. The record has an unbridled sound that's more akin to the grunge phenomenon that was predominating the music scene throughout the mid 1990s. Unfortunately, it failed to effectively reach listeners, and John Corabi was later swapped out for Crüe's original frontman, as All Music reports.
The Mick Mars/John Corabi team-up
"A couple of years ago, Mick asked me to sing a couple of songs, and I did it. He put snippets of them out, but he's gone on to do a full record. And as of right now, I have no idea whether or not Mick is using those songs," John Corabi said in December of 2021, according to another posting on Blabbermouth. Apparently, Mars asked the former Mötley Crüe frontman to join him in the studio for a few songs that he wanted featured on his solo album. "Gimme Blood" and "Shake the Cage" became the two progenies of their musical correspondence, though it's unclear whether or not the songs will appear on Mick's record that's due out by the end of 2022 (per Metal Castle).
John Corabi remarked that there was a certain member of Crüe who was "a little bit pissy" about the team-up (some speculate that it could be Vince Neil's disapproval that's looming over his studio work with Mick Mars). All the same, Corabi maintains a friendship with Mars, telling Full in Bloom (posted on YouTube) that they speak periodically, wish each other happy birthday, and frequently exchange memes/jokes via email.
Corabi didn't like some of Mars' previous work
Prior to his removal from Mötley Crüe, John Corabi was set to appear on an additional album, "Generation Swine." However, the band and their producers decided to re-record the songs with Vince Neil in his place, so the plethora of music that was supposed to be delivered through the prism of Corabi's voice was altered to accommodate a more traditional Crüe sound, according to Metalhead Zone.
Apparently, Corabi didn't approve of some of the changes made to Mick Mars' previous guitar work when "Generation Swine" hit record store shelves in 1997. "I'm not real happy with the record the way it came out, because I think they went so far left ... We wrote a song, and then they turned it into a song called 'Glitter.' And if you listen to some of the guitar parts that Mick Mars was doing, it's like this weird random noise,” he said in an interview with Rob's School of Music (also on YouTube).