John Corabi Reveals Main Reason Why Mötley Crüe Fired Him

Former Mötley Crüe vocalist John Corabi appeared on the SDR Show. In the interview, the veteran vocalist reflected on how he parted ways with Mötley Crüe and why he was fired from the band.

Mötley Crüe is considered one of the pioneers of the first wave of glam metal. The Los Angeles-based band dominated the music charts and left its mark in the 80s with its incredible debut. The nine albums released by the band entered the top 10 on the billboard 200, of which Dr. Feelgood peaked at #1.

While the 80s were Mötley Crüe‘s years, the early 90s were a bit of a turbulent time for the band. After the release of the band’s first compilation album, Decade of Decadence 81–91, Vince Neil was fired from the band due to alcohol and a mismatch of personal priorities.

At the time the band parted ways with Vince Neil, John Corabi was confirmed as the new singer replacing with him. As a result, the band’s self-titled album was shared five years later. Although it debuted at number seven on the billboard 200, it failed to deliver what was expected financially.

However, in a brand new interview with the SDR, John Corabi talked about the reason for his departure from the band and the influence of the band’s label on it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zNyGznouWY4

“There was a meeting at Nikki’s house, and Allen Kovac, the manager, came in and he was very frank,” Corabi says. “He goes, ‘Listen, man, I don’t give a shit who’s fronting this band…’

“And you got to go back and look at it from prior to me joining, like, a year before I joined. They had just signed a massive record deal with Elektra for like $40-50 million guaranteed money. And, and then, like six months later, Mötley calls Elektra, [and] goes, ‘Oh, yeah, hey, by the way, the singer’s out.’ And they’re like, ‘Uh, not what we paid for!'”

Elektra Was The Main Reason John Corabi Left Mötley Crüe

According to John, everything was okay with his bandmates and they had always been nice to him. On the other hand, the situation was not the same for the band’s label, Elektra signed a large amount with Mötley Crüe while Neil was on the vocals and did not find it appropriate for the band’s frontman to change suddenly.

“So I don’t know, they were always cool to me, but I don’t think they were huge supporters from the beginning, for obvious reasons,” he continues.

“And so Allen came to me and he said, ‘Here’s the deal dude, no disrespect to you, but this isn’t what the record label paid for.’ His words were, ‘I don’t give a fuck if Paul McCartney was fronting this band – It’s not what they paid for.’ They want Vince Neil, or they’re doing nothing. I understood that. And, you know, that was that.”

Back in January, Corabi made an appearance on the 35th episode of the Rock Interview Series hosted by Thomas S. Orwat, Jr. During the interview, the musician was about his tension with Sixx. Corabi recalled his famous interview and described being misunderstood.

“I’ve had a few people ask me, ‘What’s the beef with you and Nikki?’” Corabi recalled. “And I go, ‘I have no fucking idea.’ I don’t know. The one beef that I did have with Nikki was probably 10 years ago, and it was something in relation to his…

“I had done an interview. And I was in Brazil. And the interviewer asked me a question, and they said, ‘Have you read Nikki’s book ‘The Heroin Diaries’?’ And I said, ‘Yeah. I own the book. I bought the book.’ And he said, ‘What do you think?’ And I said, ‘It’s a great read.’

“Now the guy, I don’t know if he was doing this to bait me or what, but the guy said, ‘Well, do you believe it all?’ And I said, ‘Whatever, dude. It doesn’t matter. It’s a great read.’ And he goes, ‘Well, do you think it was colored?’ And I said, ‘Of course. Of course it was.’ ‘Well, why do you say that?’ ‘Well, ’cause ‘The Dirt’ was colored. I know for a fact ‘The Dirt’ was colored.’

“And then I said, ‘And besides, all of the heroin addicts that I knew didn’t have the foresight to bring a diary with them and write shit down as it was happening or could not remember what they did the night before.’ Now I followed it up with, ‘Maybe Nikki’s different, but the ones that I knew… So I think it was a little… It may have been a little colored.’ And we left it at that.”

Continuing to his words, Corabi revealed an e-mail Nikki Sixx sent him two months later in his interview. According to him, Nikki Sixx was very angry because of his words. Saying that Sixx thought he slagged his book, Corabi mentioned what he said to Nikki Sixx.

“Then, two months later, Nikki e-mailed me and he was pissed,” he continued. “He’s, like, ‘Dude, I don’t appreciate you slagging my book.’ And I go, ‘I didn’t slag it.’

“So I responded to him, and I said, ‘Okay. First of all, a couple of things. Did you read the whole interview? ‘Cause in the interview I did say, at the beginning and at the end, that it was a great read and I bought the book.’

“And then I said, ‘Why do you give a fuck about anything I have to say?’ And I just hit ‘send.’ And then he came back and he was, like, ‘ Oh, okay, dude. Sorry. I didn’t read the whole… Okay. Great. Awesome.’ And it was cool. It was put to bed.

“I’ve never said anything negative about that band ever. But then all of a sudden he started with, ‘Corabi can’t write.’ ‘It was painful.’ ‘He doesn’t have any fire.’ And I’m just, like, going, ‘Where the fuck did that come from?’ It was just random. Now it’s weird.

“If I retort to it, take every little piece of retort and they dissect it and then they reprint just the parts that — you know, the clickbait — and it’s just been this ongoing thing, like I’m saying Nikki doesn’t like it, and it’s back-and-forth volleying between me and Nikki when in all actuality I have zero bad things to say about any of them.

“They’re irreleveant to me — completely irrelevant.”