It all started with a tweet. When a fan asked via Twitter whether he was ever considered to replace Vince Neil in Motley Crue in 1992, Sebastian Bach responded saying “Not considered. Asked.” “The short answer is that i actually thought at the time this band Skid Row was better. Gee i sure know how to pick em :/,” Bach followed up with. Well as it turns out, Nikki Sixx remembers things a whole lot differently.
After the former Skid Row’s tweets made its way around the web, Sixx took to his Sixx Sense radio show to claim that Bach’s claims are absolutely not true. “I don’t know where Sebastian got this,” claimed the Motley Crue bassist on-air. “I think maybe Sebastian wanted to be in Motley Crue and just forgot to tell us that he wanted to be in Motley Crue when we were looking for a singer. Which I don’t think we would have taken him anyway, just because of our friends from Skid Row.” He went on to say that while the band should’ve worked things out with Neil in 92 rather than booting him out, Bach was never part of the “master plan.”
So that’s the end of that, right? Nope. Shortly after Sixx took to the airwaves, Bach defended his original tweets in a lengthy post on Facebook. In addition to addressing how bizarre everyone’s reactions have been to his tweets, Bach straight out says that not only was he asked to join Motley Crue but even rehearsed with the band in the early 90s. Here’s the part of Bach’s post that addresses the Crue rehearsals directly:
“The fact of the matter is I was not only asked to join Motley Crue….. I actually REHEARSED with the band Motley Crue. I was driven to rehearsal by Tommy Lee and I spent a full day singing the Motley Crue set with the band Motley Crue. In front of their whole road crew. I remember the songs that Nikki asked me to sing that day. I remember the whole road crews’ ecstatic reaction to us jamming together all day. And I remember Nikki’s very generous, kind offer, at the end of our rehearsal, for me to join the band Motley Crue. I remember his exact words, that he said to me in front of his whole road crew, Tommy, and Mick as well. It’s not every day that your hero asks you to join his band.
I remember everything about that day…. including what kind of sandwich Tommy Lee had for lunch. I will tell this complete story in my upcoming book. This was not just a simple offer to ‘join a band.’ I rehearsed with the band. I spoke to their management on the phone days later about Nikki’s offer. It was a big deal involving record companies, management companies, and all sorts of business dealings. Maybe Nikki doesn’t remember that day. But I find it hard to believe that I would spend a day rehearsing with the band, at their official rehearsal hall, do the set with them, in front of their whole road crew, and Nikki doesn’t remember this? Oh well. I will tell the complete story of Nikki offering me to join Motley Crue in my upcoming book, which will be arriving on bookshelves soon. I am not simply ‘making this up.’”
Bach’s post also reiterates his feelings that Vince Neil is the singer of Motley Crue, saying “He always has been, and he always will be.” Though we can’t help but notice that Bach’s talking a lot about his upcoming book (nice little plug, eh?). It’s also worth noting that Bach previously claimed that he almost replaced Rob Halford in Judas Priest as well.
So now it comes down to who you believe: Sixx or Bach. But regardless of who you’d believe, what would Motley Crue sound like with Bach on the mic? For as much crap as we often give him, there’s no denying that Bach in his heyday was a monster vocalist. Well it just so happens that in addition to actually singing backup vocals the Dr. Feelgood track “Time for Change,” Bach had also joined Crue onstage back in the early 90s numerous times. Check out bootleg video of Bach onstage with Crue in 1990 playing “Jailhouse Rock” in Philadelphia below.
[youtube width=”500″ height=”344″]http://youtu.be/1IpumQ4TzNU[/youtube]
[photo via]
