Pick a Day

Mick Mars, founder and lead guitarist of Motley Crue, is born Robert Alan Deal in Terre Haute, Indiana. Visually, he blends into the scenery, but his riffs and solos create a sonic boom that helps define their sound.

Mötley Crüe bass player Nikki Sixx is born Frank Feranna Jr. in San Jose, California. He's the main songwriter in the band; all of their hits (excluding their cover of "Smokin' In The Boy's Room") he writes either on his own or with other members of the group.

Motley Crue lead singer Vince Neil is born in Los Angeles. His distinctive vocals and commanding stage presence help them rise to the top of the hair metal mountain, but he has a tempestuous relationship with his bandmates. He leaves the group in 1992, returning in 1997.

Motley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee is born Thomas Lee Bass in Athens, Greece. He soaks up media attention by marrying Heather Locklear and Pamela Anderson, and locking horns with lead singer Vince Neil. Outside of Crüe, he fronts a rap-metal band called Methods Of Mayhem.

Tommy Lee of Mötley Crüe marries actress Heather Locklear. They divorce seven years later.

Mötley Crüe release the album Girls, Girls, Girls, the pinnacle of their rock star excess.More

Mötley Crüe hold a listening party for their album Girls, Girls, Girls at a strip club in Hollywood called The Body Shop. They are quite familiar with the venue, which is mentioned in the title track.

Mötley Crüe begin their Girls, Girls, Girls tour with a show in Tucson, Arizona. The stage show features an inflatable Harley, lots of pyro, and a contraption that spins Tommy Lee and his drum kit upside down while he plays. Whitesnake is the opening act; later on the tour an new band called Guns N' Roses takes that slot.

Mötley Crüe lead singer Vince Neil suffers a mustard-related injury when he angrily breaks a jar of Gulden's before a show in Rochester, New York (he wanted Frenchie's). The show is cancelled, and Neil is airlifted to Baltimore, where surgeons work to repair nerve and tendon damage in his hand.

After a night of debauchery with Robbin Crosby of Ratt and Slash from Guns N' Roses, Mötley Crüe bass player Nikki Sixx suffers a drug overdose and his heart stops beating. He is declared clinically dead, but comes back to life.More

Mötley Crüe frontman Vince Neil punches Guns N' Roses guitarist Izzy Stradlin in the face during the MTV Video Music Awards.More

Newly sober Mötley Crüe release their fifth album, Dr. Feelgood, which goes to #1 and becomes their best seller. The debaucherous bunch draw on their exploits for subject matter: the title track is about their drug dealers; "Kickstart My Heart" tells the story of bass player Nikki Sixx' near-fatal overdose.More

Lead singer Vince Neil, who had been pursuing IndyCar racing, is booted from Mötley Crüe. "Race car driving has become a priority in Neil's life," the band's management says in a statement. "His band mates felt he didn't share their determination and passion for music." Neil returns to the fold in 1997.

Baywatch's Pamela Anderson marries Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee on a Cancun beach. The bride wears a white bikini.

Two weeks after his divorce from Playboy Playmate Brandi Brandt is finalized, Mötley Crüe bass player Nikki Sixx marries Baywatch star Donna D'Errico.

Motley Crue member Vince Neil, not to be outdone by Tommy Lee, announces an agreement with Internet Entertainment Group and Vivid Video to distribute a 60-minute home video of him having sex with two adult film models while on vacation in Hawaii.

Pamela Anderson Lee calls 911 after getting in a heated altercation with her husband, Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee, at their Malibu home. Tommy is arrested and spends three months in jail for spousal abuse.

Tommy Lee of Motley Crue is sentenced to six months in jail and three years' probation stemming from an incident three months earlier when he got in a fight with his wife, Pamela Anderson Lee. Goes to jail that evening and serves three months before he is released.

Motley Crue fans are able to fulfill all their fashion needs when the band's new retail store, S'Crue, opens at 7201 Melrose Ave. in Los Angeles. The store stocks merchandise from the band's worldwide tours, clothing from both the clothing lines by bassist Nikki Sixx and vocalist Vince Neil, and all Motley Crue albums.

Following his reunion with Pamela Anderson Lee, Tommy Lee quits Mötley Crüe to devote time to his new band, Methods of Mayhem, and his family.

Drummer Randy Castillo, who played with Ozzy Osbourne and Motley Crue, dies of cancer at age 51.

Mötley Crüe announce their "reunion/farewell tour," with drummer Tommy Lee returning to the fold after a five-year absence. It is not their farewell: They tour every year until 2015, when they sign a "cessation of touring agreement." That one doesn't stick either - they go back on the road in 2022.

Mötley Crüe lead singer Vince Neil marries Lia Gerardini at a ceremony in Las Vegas officiated by MC Hammer, who shared a house with Neil on the reality show The Surreal Life. Among the guests are his bandmates Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx, and basketball star Dennis Rodman. It's Neil's fourth marriage.

With Tommy Lee back in the band for the first time in five years, Mötley Crüe begin their Red, White & Crüe tour in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It's a circus theme, with clowns, fire-eaters and acrobats. For his drum solo, Tommy Lee and his rig go up on a trapeze and he performs from 30 feet in the air.

Crüe Fest kicks off in West Palm Beach, Florida. The tour features Mötley Crüe, Buckcherry, Papa Roach, Sixx:A.M., and Trapt; it earns about $40 million.

The bands Kiss and Motley Crue donate $100,000 together to the families of the victims of the Aurora, Colorado, "Dark Knight" shooting. The massacre occurred Friday, July 20 at a movie theater showing The Dark Knight Rises. James Eagan Holmes burst into the theater with guns blazing, killing 12 and wounding 58. The story rocks the United States and the ensuing trial of shooter Holmes, who was inspired by the actions of The Joker, a famed villain in the Batman franchise played by Heath Ledger, is to generate top headlines for many months yet.

At a press conference, all four members of Mötley Crüe sign a "cessation of touring agreement" preventing them from ever touring again after 2015. It prevents nothing: they kick off their next tour in 2022.

The Raskins, who have paid $1 million to join Mötley Crüe on tour, are accosted by members of the headliner's road crew who come on stage and spray them with urine during their set at the Darien Lake Performing Arts Center, according to a lawsuit filed by the band.

Mötley Crüe play what they claim is their last show: a New Year's Eve concert in Los Angeles complete with Nikki Sixx's flamethrower bass and Tommy Lee's drum roller coaster.More

Eight years after signing a "cessation of touring agreement," Mötley Crüe kick off a co-headlining tour with Def Leppard in Atlanta.