There wasn’t any vibe around L.A.: Steven Rosen interview with Kim Fowley, used by permission of Steven Rosen.
Gazzarri’s, we auditioned twice: Steven Rosen interview with Alex Van Halen, used by permission of Steven Rosen.
They kicked ass: Steven Rosen interview with Mick Mars, used by permission of Steven Rosen.
There wasn’t really very many local bands happening at that time: Steven Rosen interview with Rodney Bingenheimer, used by permission of Steven Rosen.
Bill Gazzarri called me “Van” for the first two years: David Lee Roth, Crazy from the Heat, Hyperion, 1997, p. 75.
I spoke to this guy Ray who was at the Starwood: Steven Rosen interview with Rodney Bingenheimer, used by permission of Steven Rosen.
I was invited in 1977 to go see a band called the Boyz: Steven Rosen interview with Gene Simmons, used by permission of Steven Rosen.
A lot of clubs would say, “Don’t do any originals”: Ken Kurson, “Tell Me What You Want: Long Island Legends Zebra Earn Their Rock n Roll Stripes,” The Observer, January 4, 2017.
I used my Marshall stacks to kind of wall me in: Steven Rosen interview with Mick Mars, used by permission of Steven Rosen.
London played the Starwood all the time: Matt Wake, “On the Eve of Mötley Crüe’s Final Shows, a Look Back at their Very First Gig,” L.A. Weekly, December 30, 2015.
I asked the guys [in my band]: Steven Rosen interview with Mick Mars, used by permission of Steven Rosen.
When I met Mick he had his shoes duct-taped together: Author interview, 1999.
At the time we first got together I was listening to a lot of different artists: Author interview, 2014.
We had this little guitar player kid named Robin: Author interview, 2014.
My first job. Nikki and Tommy were like, “You tell him!”: Author interview, 2014.
And then it was the three of us: Author interview, 2014.
One day we were rehearsing with O’Dean: Author interview, 2014.
O’Dean had a Roger Daltrey–sounding voice: Author interview, 2014.
The first song we ever played together was “Live Wire.”: Author interview, 2014.
We stuck out like a sore thumb: Author interview, 1999.
You can’t use aerosol: Sylvie Simmons, “Mötley Crüe: Crüesin’ and Blüesin’,” Sounds, February 20, 1982. Retrieved from Rock’s Backpages, rocksbackpages.com.
We would take the amp line: Author interview, 1997.
Those were crazy days: Author interview, 2010.
I just remember sitting in a fucking cowboy bar: Author interview, 1997.
We did [Too Fast for Love] at a place called Hit City: Author interview, 1999.
I think it cost us, what, three grand to make: Mötley Crüe: Audiobiography, Google Play, 2012.
I’d known him a long time and he was doing a band called Accept: Steven Rosen interview with Mick Mars, used by permission of Steven Rosen.
When the lights were all white and cut and industrial-looking: Author interview, 1997.
Bro, we were fucking poor back then: Author interview, 1999.
I was in a “special” program at my school called Continuation Education: Author interview, 2007.
Yup. They were “marketing”: Author interview, 2007.
I think it was that same night that I went out to the Whisky: Author interview, 2007.
Vince and Tommy used to light me on fire in our apartment: Author interview, 2015.
We would experiment with putting pyro gel on his boots: Jon Wiederhorn interview with Vince Neil, used by permission of Jon Wiederhorn.
It was a pyro gel, which I only used once: Author interview, 1999.
I remember back then somebody in my band saying to me: Author interview, 2007.
Our foundation was in theatrics: Chris Dick, “Buzz. Kill.” Decibel, December 2016.
I only did a couple of shows: Rob Kern, “Blackie Lawless: Ever Met Hendrix?,” Classic Rock, May 26, 2010.
Sister was put together in 1977: Jon Wiederhorn and Katherine Turman, Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal, It Books, 2013.
The whole germination came from The Road Warrior: Chris Dick, “Buzz. Kill.”
Not many bands, at the time, were wearing huge nails: Chris Dick, “Buzz. Kill.”
With all the props and everything: Chris Dick, “Buzz. Kill.”
To understand us in the beginning: Paul Elliott, “Exploding Cod-Pieces, Raw Meat and God: An Audience with W.A.S.P’s Blackie Lawless,” Louder Sound, November 10, 2015.
I saw them first at a Bon Jovi concert: Stryper, In the Beginning, VHS, 1988.
I was living in Ocean City, Maryland: Talk Toomey podcast, Ep. 30, February 29, 2016.
We did that for about a year before we even played a gig: Talk Toomey podcast.
Our guitar player at the time, Michael Kelly Smith: Talk Toomey podcast.
They didn’t necessarily want me because I was cool: Behind the Music: Poison, VH-1, 1999.
The reason I would never join a band: Sylvie Simmons, “America Gets Poisoned,” Kerrang!, April 16, 1987. Retrieved from Rock’s Backpages, rocksbackpages.com.
We’ve always worn makeup: Sylvie Simmons, “America Gets Poisoned.”
The motto was “Shake your hiney at the Piney”: Chuck Yarborough, “Bret Michaels and Poison Bring Cheap Trick and a Proud ‘Weekend Warrior’ Mentality to Blossom,” Cleveland.com, June 5, 2018.
Somewhere, there’s a Polaroid image of me: Chuck Yarborough, “Bret Michaels and Poison Bring Cheap Trick.”
It was New York or Los Angeles: Behind the Music: Poison.
We sold everything we owned and went to L.A.: Behind the Music: Poison.
We had a kind of naive belief in ourselves: Jon Hotten, “Poison—From the Gutter to Glam Rock Superstars,” Classic Rock, July 27, 2006.
The day we left was my younger sister’s birthday, March 2, 1983: Author interview, 2015.
Four of the most striking looking guys this city has to offer: “Mötley Crüe: Crüesin’ and Blüesin’,” Sounds, February 20, 1982. Retrieved from Rock’s Backpages, rocksbackpages.com.
We had the goods for that record: Author Interview, 1999.
If Shout at the Devil is a darker album: Author Interview, 1999.
I was doing a lot of drugs, and lots of weird shit was happening: Author interview, 1999.
I had to finish the bass on “Red Hot” with a metal pin in my shoulder: Author interview, 1999.
I was seventeen when I came out to California: Joe Bosso, “Raunchy Guitars and Reckless Reps,” Guitar World, March 1989.
The first thing I remember about Axl, this is before I knew him: Mark Rowland, “If Guns N’ Roses Are Outlawed, Only Outlaws Will Have Guns N’ Roses,” Musician, December 1988. Retrieved from Rock’s Backpages, rocksbackpages.com.
He came out like three times before he stayed: Mick Wall, “Izzy Stradlin: Life and Death, Sex and Drugs and Guns N’ Roses,” Classic Rock, November 7, 2016.
When you’re coming from towns like Mechanicsburg and Butler, PA: Author interview, 2015.
Kim and a bunch of other people took us to see Hollywood Rose in Chinatown: Richard Bienstock, “Decade of Decadence: A Timeline of the Eighties Sunset Strip,” Rolling Stone, October 23, 2015.
When we pulled into town every band wore leather and studs: Sylvie Simmons, “America Gets Poisoned.”
We stayed at the Tropicana Motel, which was like the rock ’n’ roll hangout: Author interview, 2015.
I saw Poison’s first-ever gig in L.A., at the Troubadour: Author interview, 2015.
Sure, we’d have girls buying our groceries: Jon Hotten, “Poison—From the Gutter to Glam Rock Superstars.”
If you were living in Los Angeles in 1983–84 like we did: Behind the Music: Poison.
We moved into the back of a dry cleaner’s: Author interview, 2015.
We spent one Christmas in there: Jon Hotten, “Poison—From the Gutter to Glam Rock Superstars.”
You have to survive. You have to eat. You have to have shelter: Behind the Music: Poison.
We were workaholics with a dream: Author interview, 2015.
Ozzy is one of the sweetest men I’ve ever met: Kory Grow, “The Last Word: Nikki Sixx on Drugs, Groupies and What Dying Taught Him,” Rolling Stone, March 20, 2019.
I remember Ozzy just had his daughter Aimee: Steven Rosen interview with Mick Mars, used by permission of Steven Rosen.
Me and Slash, we were walking down Sunset Boulevard: Video interview with Rock Scene, October 29, 2015.
I said, “If we get that singer and that guitar player”: Video interview with Rock Scene, October 29, 2015.
There was Izzy and Axl, and then there was Steven and I: Joe Bosso, “Raunchy Guitars and Reckless Reps.”
It was down to Dave and Jeff LaBar: Talk Toomey podcast.
We dressed and looked like how we thought a rock band should look: Andrea Seastrand, “Interview with Eric Brittingham from Cinderella: Know What You’ve Got,” The Aquarian, August 10, 2011.
He said, “I am going to be a father and we are living like pigs”: Jon Hotten, “Poison—From the Gutter to Glam Rock Superstars.”
I had been sort of scrounging around, looking for anything that was happening: Author interview, 2007.
I really didn’t like Poison. I didn’t like that whole thing: Author interview, 2007.
I played the shit out of those songs: Author interview, 2015.
I got where Slash was coming from: Author interview, 2015.
He clearly fit the part better than I did: Author interview, 2007.
After the Poison thing, I joined this band called Black Sheep: Author interview, 2007.
It just happened, you know?: Author interview, 2007.
Who wouldn’t want to get signed to a massive record deal?: Author interview, 2015.
Ric had a different vision: Author interview, 2015.
And then we finished the entire record by ourselves: Author interview, 2015.
That was probably the most glam we ever got: Author interview, 2015.
I one thousand percent will never deny: Author interview, 2015.
The critics looked at Poison: Behind the Music: Poison.
That whole androgynous thing was very cool: Billy Manes, “DeVille Worship,” Orlando Weekly, September 1, 2000.
Razzle was dead on arrival at the hospital: Ian Winwood, “The Tragedy of Hanoi Rocks: How a Deadly Car Crash Destroyed One of Metal’s Greatest Bands,” The Telegraph, January 8, 2020.
I wrote a $2.5 million check for vehicular manslaughter: Michael Odell, “Twilight of the Gods,” Blender, March 2005.
For us, it was kind of hard to grasp that somebody died: Paul Elliott, “Competition, Chaos and Car Crashes,” Classic Rock, January 9, 2020.
With Theatre of Pain we figured out how to take the drum riser and have it lean all the way forward: Author interview, 2015.
Jani and Steven lived in an apartment just down the street from Jerry and I: Let There Be Talk podcast, Ep. 363, June 19, 2017.
There were flyer wars, let me say this. It was crazy: Author interview, 2015.
You know, as sad as it sounds, the concept of marketing has always intrigued me: Author interview, 2007.
We had a list of fourteen high schools and junior high schools within driving distance: David Lee Roth, Crazy From the Heat, p. 101.
Not a day, not a moment went past that we weren’t promoting: Behind the Music: Poison.
We went out to the Cathouse, and then back to Franklin Plaza: Author interview, 2007.
My recreation director was named Paul: David Lee Roth, Crazy From the Heat, p. 314.
For a while when I saw that movie I was like, “Oh, god, look at us.”: Richard Bienstock, “Decade of Decadence.”
Originally, my character of Kelly Bundy on Married with Children was kind of like a tough little rebellious biker kind of chick: Fresh Air, June 5, 2019.
Well, Kane Roberts … Kane had Stallone’s body: Author interview, 2018.
I saw bands like Mötley Crüe and Bon Jovi, and it was the era of the video: Author interview, 2018.
I heard about Kip Winger from one of my producers: Author interview, 2018.
All of a sudden, your real life exceeds your dreams: Behind the Music: Poison.
We were just rebelling against the fact that there were all these bad bands coming out of L.A. who were copping our look: Author interview, 1999.
Pushing boundaries in terms of what [Van Halen] wore was never an ambition of ours: Leah Harper, “David Lee Roth: ‘My Advice for Aspiring Artists? Breathable Fabrics,’” The Guardian, June 25, 2019.
My hair in the “Still of the Night” video was actually a hairdressing accident: Author interview, 2017.
In working with them as an A&R person, artists learn to hate you: Artist House Music video interview, 2010.
“Home Sweet Home” for us was our “Dream On” or our “Stairway to Heaven”: Mötley Crüe: Audiobiography, Google Play, 2012.
I believe that that was one of the first hard rock ’n’ roll power ballads: Mötley Crüe: Audiobio-graphy, Google Play, 2012.
It came from a guitar figure that I had had since I was seventeen: Mötley Crüe: Audiobiography, Google Play, 2012.
The record company was totally against us putting “Home Sweet Home” on there: Author interview, 1999.
When we played “Every Rose” for our label and management, they told us it would end our career: Author interview, 2001.
I mean what the fuck do the lyrics of “Here I Go Again”: Author interview, 2017.
Beau Hill had produced my band Streets with Steve Walsh of Kansas: Double Stop podcast, Ep. 92, February 29, 2016.
Beau called me and said, “Look, how would you feel about doing the guitars on this record as a ghost player?”: Double Stop podcast.
We lucked out in our first single, “Down Boys”: Let There Be Talk podcast, Ep. 363, June 19, 2017.
Jani could have a hurtful sense of humor sometimes: Let There Be Talk podcast.
We never had any permits or anything: Saul Austerlitz, “Moscow Music Peace Festival: How Glam Metal Helped End the Cold War,” Rolling Stone, September 22, 2017.
All these bikers came and surrounded the hotel: Author interview, 2015.
It was like in Mad Max, and Ozzy was the guy: Author interview, 2015.
It was so interesting, this dynamic between all the bands: Author interview, 2015.
There were a lot of egos because that’s what it’s all about: Author interview, 2015.
When Ozzy Osbourne appeared, the fans bum-rushed the stage: Saul Austerlitz, “Moscow Music Peace Festival.”
Everybody and their mother was playing all scales: Author interview, 2014.
Was I kinda overlooked or put in a different category? Yes: Author interview, 2014.
I hated that whole sort of whammy bar thing: Author interview, 2019.
At a St. Louis stadium Axl Rose jumped into the audience: Sky Magazine, September 1991.
I was the sole instigator of calling and getting Alice in Chains: Mark Yarm interview with Bret Michaels, used by permission of Mark Yarm.
I think on the first two Warrant records we got a lot of love from the fans: Let There Be Talk podcast.
The Still Climbing tour, which was in 1995, was a disaster: Talk Toomey podcast.
C.C. was getting fucked up and I was drinking: Jon Hotten, “Poison—From the Gutter to Glam Rock Superstars.”
When the album came out, I remember Rolling Stone saying: Paul Elliott, “Competition, Chaos and Car Crashes.”
All those grunge bands have been gone for a long time: Jon Wiederhorn interview with Vince Neil, used by permission of Jon Wiederhorn.
The band always prided itself: Melissa Locker, “Nikki Sixx Says Goodbye for Good: Inside the End of Mötley Crüe,” Time, February 5, 2014.