Ex-Mötley Crüe singer John Corabi casts doubt over Mick Mars’ exit, says he was “shown the door”

Former Mötley Crüe singer John Corabi has raised doubts over Mick Mars’ recent retirement from the band.

In October, it was announced that Mars – who served as Mötley Crüe’s lead guitarist since its inception in 1981 – would no longer tour with the band due to his battles with Ankylosing Spondylitis disease. Now, in a recent interview on the podcast Life In The Stocks, Corabi expressed scepticism over the reasoning behind Mars’ exit, instead suggesting the guitarist was “shown the door” by his bandmates.

“I don’t totally believe Mick’s reasons for leaving Mötley”, Corabi said. “I don’t even know if he left Mötley, I believe maybe he was shown the door.” Cobrabi – who joined the Mötley Crüe line-up for four years during Vince Neil‘s hiatus in the ’90s – went on to suggest that it was Mars’ guitar skills that forced his retirement.

“When we were doing the ‘Generation Swine’ record… [Mötley] were complaining about his guitar playing”, Corabi said. Elaborating on that record, Corabi said he believes Mars didn’t play on a handful of Mötley Crüe’s albums including ‘Red, White & Crüe’ and ‘Saints Of Los Angeles’. Instead, he claimed that it was D.J. Ashba who played on those records, while John 5 played on the soundtrack to the Mötley Crüe biopic The Dirt. 

Listen to Corabi’s full Life In The Stocks episode below:

Corabi explained that he’d “reached out to Mick and his wife a few times” following the announcement of the latter’s retirement, but said “Mick hasn’t responded at all”. The singer said that when he followed up about Mars with his wife, he was met with “crickets”, which he described as “unusual behaviour [since] they would normally [be] like, ‘Yeah, dude. Everything’s cool, whatever.’”

In late-October, it was announced that John 5 of Rob Zombie would replace Mars as Mötley Crüe’s touring guitarist. The band’s announcement read: “It [will] take an absolutely outstanding musician to fill Mick’s shoes so we are grateful that our good friend John 5 has agreed to come on board and join us moving forward.”

John 5 will join Mötley Crüe on their planned 2023 tours, which they’ll be embarking on alongside Def Leppard.

The post Ex-Mötley Crüe singer John Corabi casts doubt over Mick Mars’ exit, says he was “shown the door” appeared first on NME.