Singer John Corabi joined Mötley Crüe in 1992 replacing the then-departed Vince Neil. Corabi recorded one album with the group, a self-titled record that has come to be celebrated far more in the years following its release than during its initial arrival.
In a recent interview with Rock Daydream Nation, Corabi was asked if there was any band drama during his time with the group. “There was so much drama in that band and turmoil,” he said. “And so when they told me that they were bringing Vince back, there was a huge part of me that was bummed and kind of upset, but there was another part of me that felt like somebody was… I felt like a 300-pound man was standing on my shoulders. So I was actually relieved at the same time, if that makes any sense at all.”
Corabi continued: “Yeah, there was sh*t like that going on all the time. And it’s funny, now this interview is gonna come out and it’s gonna go global and everybody’s gonna say, ‘Goddamn it. He’s talking about Mötley again. Doesn’t that guy have anything better to talk about?’”
Corabi was also asked if any of the band members fought to keep him with the group. “I don’t know,” he said. “I found out later that they had been secretly meeting with Vince and the whole time that they were meeting with him, I was kind of under the impression… The record label had said to them — this guy Doug Morris basically said, ‘You need to bring back Vince. Get rid of that guy.’ He didn’t even know my name. He was, like, ‘Get rid of the new guy and bring Vince back.’ And they never really said that to me; they didn’t tell me that ’til the very end. But I know from that point where we had all flown to New York — this was even before we started doing what became the ‘Generation Swine’ record; f*ck, it was probably a year and a half before, a year before — and I was getting, ‘There’s no way, Crab. We’re never bringing that guy back. No way, dude. No way, dude.’ And then in the meantime, they were meeting with him and taking meetings and trying to work things out. And I think they were keeping me in their back pocket in case it didn’t work out with Vince. Which is — to be honest with you, I get it. That’s a smart thing to do.”
Corabi also said there was plenty of in-fighting during his tenure. “There was just so much drama with those guys,” he said. “I would work out in the morning with Nikki, and he would talk about Tommy and Mick, and then I would go hang out with Tommy to write music in the afternoon, and he would talk about Nikki and Mick. And I was living in Mick’s guest house, so then I would come home at night and I would sit and have a drink with Mick and he would talk about Tommy and Nikki. And I was, like, ‘Oh my God. It’s impossible to keep up with all this bullsh*t.’ You know what I mean? So when they told me, ‘Hey, dude, Vince is coming back,’ I was bummed. But like I said, it also felt like someone took a 300-pound man off my shoulders.”
Corabi’s full interview can be viewed below.
