Editing Mötley Crüe (section)

===1981–1983: Early history and ''Too Fast for Love''===
{{main|Too Fast for Love}}
The nucleus of the group first came together in early 1981, when former Suite 19 guitarist/lead vocalist, and one-time member of [[Quiet Riot]] and [[Dokken (band)|Dokken]], [[Greg Leon]] and drummer [[Tommy Lee]] decided to form a new band.<ref name="Greg Leon interview">{{cite web |url=http://www.sleazeroxx.com/interviews/leon.shtml |title=Greg Leon interview |publisher=Sleaze Roxx |date=March 25, 2007 |access-date=October 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719085910/http://www.sleazeroxx.com/interviews/leon.shtml |archive-date=July 19, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.guitarworld.com/features/greg-leon-motley-crue | title="I wanted to put a great band together like Rainbow, Deep Purple or Humble Pie. Nikki Sixx simply was not capable. So I told Tommy, 'If this is the guy you want, I'm leaving'": Before Mick Mars, Greg Leon was Mötley Crüe's original guitarist | date=October 24, 2023 }}</ref> They attended the farewell gig of a popular local band called [[London (heavy metal band)|London]], and Lee was already impressed by the image and stage presence of their bassist, [[Nikki Sixx]]. Even before meeting Sixx, Lee claims he had posters of London on his bedroom walls.<ref name="tommyland">{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Tommy |title=Tommyland |date=2005 |publisher=Atria Books |isbn=978-0743483445}}</ref> "Tommy just loved how Nikki looked", recalled Leon. "He was gung-ho about him, saying, 'This is the guy we should get'." Sixx auditioned twice but Leon felt he was "awful", telling Lee "He looks great. He's great on stage. But he can't play bass at all."<ref name="guitarword-daly">{{cite web |last1=Daly |first1=Andrew |title=Before Mick Mars, Greg Leon was Mötley Crüe's original guitarist |date=October 24, 2023 |url=https://www.guitarworld.com/features/greg-leon-motley-crue |publisher=GuitarWorld.com |access-date=12 December 2023 |archive-date=December 12, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231212170646/https://www.guitarworld.com/features/greg-leon-motley-crue |url-status=live }}</ref>
 
Lee subsequently became friends with Sixx and went to his Hollywood home to listen to new material he was working on. The music had been rejected by his London bandmates for being too heavy, and Lee says he immediately began banging on the table in time with the music and "everything just seemed to mesh".<ref name="tommyland" /> Lee subsequently hired Sixx for the new band, prompting guitarist/vocalist Leon to quit in protest. "I never played a show with Nikki Sixx. Tommy and I played together many times, but I was gone as soon as Nikki entered the picture. But they couldn't find a guitar player or singer initially, so they kept calling me. But I refused," Leon has said of his time in the band.<ref name="guitarword-daly" /> Sixx and Lee began a search for new members and soon met guitarists Robin Moore (Jeff Gill)<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.answers.com/Q/How_was_Jeff_Gill_related_to_the_band_Motley_Crue_I_was_told_he_played_or_helped_form_or_was_manager_of_the_band_in_the_beginning_years |title=How was Jeff Gill related to the band Motley Crue I was told he played or helped form or was manager of the band in the beginning years? |website=[[Answers.com]] |access-date=January 18, 2021 |archive-date=November 6, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151106135858/http://www.answers.com/Q/How_was_Jeff_Gill_related_to_the_band_Motley_Crue_I_was_told_he_played_or_helped_form_or_was_manager_of_the_band_in_the_beginning_years |url-status=live}}</ref> and Bob Deal, better known as [[Mick Mars]], after answering an advertisement that he placed in ''[[The Recycler]]'' that read: "Loud, rude and aggressive guitar player available". Mars auditioned for Sixx, Moore and Lee, and was subsequently hired while Moore was fired at the same session according to the band's biography ''The Dirt''.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wake |first1=Matt |title=10 Rock Classifieds That Changed Music History |url=https://www.laweekly.com/10-rock-classifieds-that-changed-music-history/ |website=L.A. Weekly |date=February 24, 2015 |access-date=3 January 2020 |archive-date=January 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103193534/https://www.laweekly.com/10-rock-classifieds-that-changed-music-history/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

Although a lead vocalist named O'Dean Peterson was auditioned,<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://loudwire.com/motley-crue-too-fast-for-love-anniversary/ |title=37 Years Ago: Mötley Crüe Release ''Too Fast for Love'' |first=Joe |last=Divita |magazine=[[Loudwire]] |date=November 10, 2018 |access-date=March 25, 2019 |archive-date=March 25, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190325101249/https://loudwire.com/motley-crue-too-fast-for-love-anniversary/ |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G3Bb4LYafKsC&q=%22O%27Dean%22+motley+crue&pg=PA380 |page=380 |first=Cesare |last=Rizzi |title=Enciclopedia della musica rock. 3. 1981–1989, Volume 3 |isbn=88-09-01796-X |publisher=Giunti Editore Firenze Italy |year=2000 |language=it |access-date=November 18, 2020 |archive-date=February 2, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210202225656/https://books.google.com/books?id=G3Bb4LYafKsC&q=%22O%27Dean%22+motley+crue&pg=PA380 |url-status=live}}</ref> Lee had known [[Vince Neil]] from their high school days at [[Charter Oak High School]] in [[Covina, California]],<ref>{{cite news |title=It's not end of the line for Vince Neil |url=https://www.heraldpalladium.com/features/it-s-not-end-of-the-line-for-vince-neil/article_c10fbf58-860f-54d5-ba44-c54446595a12.html |newspaper=The Herald Palladium |access-date=June 17, 2019 |archive-date=June 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617170228/https://www.heraldpalladium.com/features/it-s-not-end-of-the-line-for-vince-neil/article_c10fbf58-860f-54d5-ba44-c54446595a12.html |url-status=live}}</ref> and the two had performed in different bands on the [[garage band]] circuit. Upon seeing him perform with the band Rock Candy at [[Starwood (nightclub)|the Starwood]] in Hollywood, California, Lee suggested they have Neil join the band. At first Neil refused the offer.

On the same day as Mars, lead vocalist [[Michael White & the White|Michael White]], who previously played with [[Nikki Sixx]] in London, joined the band.<ref name="Notorious">''The Dirt: Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band'', by Mötley Crüe and Neil Strauss (pp. 36–37), {{ISBN|0-06-098915-7}}</ref> But White eventually ended up leaving also.

As the other members of Rock Candy started to think about moving in more of a [[New wave music|New Wave]] direction and became involved in outside projects, Vince Neil grew anxious to try something else.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mötley Crüe's Vince Neil |url=http://www.mtv.com/news/621038/mtley-cres-vince-neil/ |website=MTV |access-date=3 January 2020 |archive-date=January 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103194808/http://www.mtv.com/news/621038/mtley-cres-vince-neil/ |url-status=dead}}</ref> Lee asked again; Neil was hired on April 1, 1981, and the band played its first gig at the Starwood nightclub on April 24.<ref>{{cite web |title=On the Eve of Mötley Crüe's Final Shows, a Look Back at Their Very First Gig |url=https://www.laweekly.com/on-the-eve-of-mtley-cres-final-shows-a-look-back-at-their-very-first-gig/ |website=LA Weekly |date=December 30, 2015 |access-date=June 17, 2019 |archive-date=June 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617132120/https://www.laweekly.com/on-the-eve-of-mtley-cres-final-shows-a-look-back-at-their-very-first-gig/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

{{Quote box
| quote = I wanted a band that would be like [[David Bowie]] and the [[Sex Pistols]] thrown in a blender with [[Black Sabbath]].
| source = &nbsp;—Nikki Sixx<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-06-22-ca-5662-story.html |title=It's Not a Reunion |newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]] |date=June 22, 1997 |access-date=December 10, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161221030433/http://articles.latimes.com/1997-06-22/entertainment/ca-5662_1_motley-crue-bracelets/2 |archive-date=December 21, 2016 |url-status=live |df=mdy-all}}</ref>
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The newly formed band did not yet have a name. Neil has said that he told his bandmates that he was "thinking about calling the band Christmas". The other members were not very receptive to that idea. Then, while trying to find a suitable name, Mars remembered an incident that occurred when he was playing with a band called White Horse, when one of the other band members called the group "a motley looking crew". He had remembered the phrase and later copied it down as 'Mottley Cru'. After slight modification of the spelling, "Mötley Crüe" was eventually selected as the band's name, with the stylistic decision suggested by Neil to add the two sets of [[metal umlaut]]s, supposedly inspired by the German beer [[Löwenbräu]], which the members were drinking at the time.<ref>{{cite web |title=38 Years Ago: Nikki Sixx Forms Motley Crue |url=https://loudwire.com/motley-crue-founded-anniversary/ |website=Loudwire.com |access-date=November 18, 2019 |archive-date=November 11, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191111070449/https://loudwire.com/motley-crue-founded-anniversary/ |url-status=live}}</ref> Other than the periods of February 1992 to September 1996 and of March 1999 to September 2004, and until October 2022, the lineup of Neil, Sixx, Lee, and Mars remained the same.<ref>{{cite web |title=Motley Crue Lineup Changes: A Complete Guide |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/motley-crue-lineup-changes/ |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |access-date=June 17, 2019 |archive-date=June 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617132312/https://ultimateclassicrock.com/motley-crue-lineup-changes/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

The band soon met its first manager, Allan Coffman, the thirty-eight-year-old brother-in-law of a friend of Mars's driver.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://members.ozemail.com.au/~cruekiss/81.htm |title=Chronological Crue |publisher=Members.ozemail.com.au |access-date=October 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101019034117/http://members.ozemail.com.au/~cruekiss/81.htm |archive-date=October 19, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> The band's first release was the single "Stick to Your Guns/Toast of the Town", which was released on its own record label, [[Leathür Records]], which had a pressing and distribution deal with Greenworld Distribution in [[Torrance, California]]. On November 10, 1981, its debut album ''[[Too Fast for Love]]'' was self-produced and released on Leathür, selling 20,000 copies. Coffman's assistant [[Eric Greif]] set up a tour of Canada,<ref>[http://members.ozemail.com.au/~cruekiss/82.htm ''1982'', Chronological Crue] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090915223349/http://members.ozemail.com.au/~cruekiss/82.htm |date=September 15, 2009}} . Retrieved October 2, 2009.</ref> while Coffman and Greif used Mötley Crüe's success in the Los Angeles club scene to negotiate with several record labels, eventually signing a recording contract with [[Elektra Records]] in early 1982. The debut album was then remixed by producer [[Roy Thomas Baker]] and re-released on August 20, 1982—two months after its Canadian [[Warner Music Group]] release using the original Leathür mixes—to coincide with the tour.<ref>{{cite web |title=How Motley Crue Kickstarted Hair Metal on 'Too Fast for Love' |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/motley-crue-too-fast-for-love/ |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |date=November 10, 2016 |access-date=June 17, 2019 |archive-date=June 17, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190617125254/https://ultimateclassicrock.com/motley-crue-too-fast-for-love/ |url-status=live}}</ref>
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| quote = Listening to [[Queen (band)|Queen]] inspired Mötley Crüe to work with Roy Thomas Baker on ''[[Too Fast for Love]]''. He would come in, "Hello Darlings ..." and listen for maybe thirty minutes or so and leave. And we're like, "What?! Where's he going?". But he produced Queen, so, man, we had to have him produce us, too.
| source = &nbsp;—Tommy Lee<ref>Phil Sutcliffe, Peter Hince, Reinhold Mack. ''Queen: The Ultimate Illustrated History of the Crown Kings of Rock''. p. 27. Voyageur Press, 2009.</ref>
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During the "Crüesing Through Canada Tour '82", there were several widely publicized incidents. First, the band was arrested and then released at [[Edmonton International Airport]] for wearing their spiked stage wardrobe (considered "dangerous weapons") through customs, and for Neil arriving with a small carry-on filled with porn magazines (considered "indecent material"); both were staged [[Public relations|PR]] stunts. Customs eventually had the confiscated items destroyed. Second, while playing Scandals Disco in [[Edmonton]], a spurious "bomb threat" against the band made the front page of the ''[[Edmonton Journal]]''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.canada.com/edmontonjournal/info/library.html |title=Edmonton Journal Library |publisher=Canada.com |access-date=October 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100301085948/http://www2.canada.com/edmontonjournal/info/library.html |archive-date=March 1, 2010 |url-status=dead}}</ref> on June 9, 1982; Lee and assistant band manager Greif were interviewed by police as a result. This too ended up being a staged PR stunt perpetrated by Greif. Lastly, Lee threw a television set from an upper story window of the Sheraton Caravan Hotel. Canadian rock magazine ''Music Express'' noted that the band was "banned for life" from the city.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Patch |first1=Nick |title=Motley Crue's Nikki Sixx describes being kicked out of Canada in the '80s |url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/motley-crue-s-nikki-sixx-describes-being-kicked-out-of-canada-in-the-80s-1.2202166 |website=CTV News |date=January 23, 2015 |access-date=3 January 2020 |archive-date=January 3, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200103194246/https://www.ctvnews.ca/entertainment/motley-crue-s-nikki-sixx-describes-being-kicked-out-of-canada-in-the-80s-1.2202166 |url-status=live}}</ref> Despite the tour ending prematurely in financial disaster, it was the basis for the band's first international press.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.sleazeroxx.com/interviews/greif.shtml |title=Eric Greif Interview |publisher=Sleaze Roxx |date=April 28, 2007 |access-date=October 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110929001925/http://www.sleazeroxx.com/interviews/greif.shtml |archive-date=September 29, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1983, the band changed management from Coffman to Doug Thaler and [[Doc McGhee]]. McGhee is best known for managing [[Bon Jovi]] and later [[Kiss (band)|Kiss]], starting with their [[Alive/Worldwide Tour|reunion tour]] in 1996. Greif subsequently sued all parties in a Los Angeles Superior Court action that dragged on for several years, and coincidentally later resurfaced as manager of Sixx's former band, London. Coffman himself was sued by several investors to whom he had sold "stock in the band", including [[Michigan]]-based Bill Larson. Coffman eventually declared bankruptcy, as he had mortgaged his home at least three times to cover band expenses.<ref>{{cite web |title=Views – Too Fast Perspective |url=http://members.ozemail.com.au/~cruekiss/exclusive.htm |website=Chronological Crue |access-date=29 December 2019 |archive-date=September 22, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190922035214/http://members.ozemail.com.au/~cruekiss/exclusive.htm |url-status=live}}</ref>