Fresh off their highly successful Stadium Tour, Mötley Crüe guitarist Mick Mars has decided to retire from touring. The 71-year-old co-founder of the group has long battled ankylosing spondylitis, a chronic, inflammatory form of arthritis that mainly affects the spine and pelvis.
Reported by Variety, a statement from Mars’ representative reads: “Mick Mars, co-founder and lead guitarist of the heavy metal band Mötley Crüe for the past 41 years, has announced today that due to his ongoing painful struggle with Ankylosing Spondylitis (A.S.), he will no longer be able to tour with the band. Mick will continue as a member of the band, but can no longer handle the rigors of the road. A.S. is an extremely painful and crippling degenerative disease, which affects the spine.”
Last month, Metal Sludge first reported that Mars could be replaced by longtime Rob Zombie guitarist John 5. “Metal Sludge have been tipped off from a few in the industry that John 5 is strongly being considered and just might be the guy you will see playing guitar for Motley Crue at some point in the future,” said the site.
Singer Vince Neil had previously said the band decided to first “go out on top” in 2015. “Mick’s health is not that good, and touring is tough on him,” Neil said. “I’m sure in five, 10 years’ time, we’ll probably do something together again, but it’s not gonna be like a KISS farewell to the farewell to the farewell tour. We’re not gonna be like that.”
Tommy Lee also said at the time: “Our guitar player, Mick, he has a spinal disease that’s slowly fusing his vertebrae together. It’s one of those things that’s treatable, but not curable. So it’s just progressively getting really worse and it’s painful for him, so he doesn’t wanna tour much longer. I can’t say I blame him… The last thing we ever wanna do is go out running on two cylinders with some hired guy playing guitar; that’s just wack. So we wanna go out with one big hurrah with the original guys and be done with it.”
Mars shared his first experiences with A.S. in the band’s 2001 biography, “The Dirt.”
“My hips started hurting so bad every time I turned my body that it felt like someone was igniting fireworks in my bones,” he said.
“I didn’t have enough money to see a doctor, so I just kept hoping that I could do what I usually do: will it away, through the power of my mind. But it kept getting worse. Then, one afternoon while doing my laundry. I started having trouble breathing. At first, it felt like someone had plunged a knife into my back. But as the weeks passed, the pain kept moving around my back. Next, my stomach started burning, and I worried that my whole body was about to fall apart. I thought that there was a hole in my stomach, and acids were leaking out and destroying my bones and organs. I’d grab hold of doorknobs, anchor my legs into the ground, and pull with my hands to stretch my back and ease the pressure out.”
John 5 reportedly dismissed the rumor of him joining Mötley Crüe in a since-deleted comment replying to a fan asking if it was true. “No, just a rumor,” he wrote.
Last week, Mötley Crüe and Def Leppard announced they would go global in 2023 with “The World Tour.” The trek kicks off next February in Mexico City.
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