The man who experienced unmitigated bliss and sheer anguish at the hands of none other than Mötley Crüe.
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“Everywhere we traveled, fans went berserk. In Milan, a group of contest winners attacked me and started tearing off pieces of my clothing for souvenirs. I looked over at Nikki. ‘Get ready for it, Crab.’ He beamed. ‘It’s going to be like this all the time.’”
This is the tale of John Corabi, a man who experienced both unmitigated bliss and sheer anguish at the hands of the world's most notorious rock band: Mötley Crüe. It all began with a 1992 issue of Spin magazine.
Corabi and his band, The Scream, had just released their first record, Let It Scream. They waited with bated breath for the reviews to roll in, perhaps expecting the same elitist mundanity often churned out by music reviewers. What The Scream had not expected was for Nikki Sixx, Mötley Crüe’s bassist, songwriter, and founder, to praise the album in an interview for Spin. Corabi had never been a big Mötley Crüe fan, but he knew the name Nikki Sixx carried weight. Determined to thank Sixx for his kind praise, Corabi picked up the phone.
***
Sixx’s praise had signaled good fortune for Corabi and The Scream. For Mötley Crüe, however, good fortune seemed just beyond their reach.
The band was snapping under the weight of two years of non-stop touring and back-to-back sessions in the studio. The pressure was mounting as they attempted to create a follow-up to their strongest album yet, Dr. Feelgood, and when lead singer Vince Neil failed to show up for rehearsal yet again, they reached their breaking point.
Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee, and guitarist Mick Mars sat waiting in silent anger, the only sound being the torrential downpour beating against the roof. The clock ticked, minutes fading into hours, apathy fading into fury, and still no Vince. A mutiny was brewing. After dozens of unanswered phone calls and one fax, the studio doors burst open. Vince stormed into the studio, sopping wet and enraged. A screaming match erupted between the four men who likely hadn’t had a day off in months. Incensed, Vince pulled the plug. “I’m not going to stay here and listen to this bullshit!” he yelled. “I’m fucking out of here! I quit!”
***
Corabi pressed the phone against his ear as a familiar voice poured through. “Hey, what’s up man, it’s Nikki!” followed by a distant, “And Tommy, dude!” Corabi instantly sensed something was up as he chatted with the Terror Twins, who sounded all too eager to talk to him about a quote from Spin magazine. Before his mind could wander too far, the duo came clean. They informed Corabi that Vince was no longer a member of Mötley Crüe - “You have to promise not to tell anybody this,” they said.
Corabi was shocked by Vince’s resignation, but he was further dumbfounded when Nikki and Tommy asked if he would audition to be Vince’s replacement.
Within days, Corabi was in the studio with Mötley Crüe, unsure if he would be able to pull this audition off. Not only did he lack any knowledge of the band’s repertoire, but he also knew his voice sounded nothing like Vince's. Vince’s voice was high and smooth, gliding freely between growling “I Get It For Free” and trilling “Too Fast For Love.” Corabi’s voice was low and gravelly, dark and mysterious. If Vince was a sunny California beach, John was a dark rainforest. Vince was an entertainer, while Corabi was a musician. Nonetheless, he gave it his all - and that was more than enough for Mötley Crüe.
Before Corabi could comprehend what had transpired, he was instated as the new lead singer of Mötley Crüe and had unwittingly signed a deal with the devil. This devoted husband and loving father had entered Mötley’s palace of debauchery and joined their carnival of sins - where the carnival goes, disaster soon follows.
Mötley Crüe fell head over heels for Corabi. His voice, his songwriting, and his guitar playing - they salivated at his every move. He was utterly perfect for this band, who had been longing for something new and exciting. They spoiled him rotten, from loaning him the funds to move his family to a better neighborhood to gifting him a brand new Harley. They showed him how to party Mötley-style, and Corabi glimpsed a world of decadence he had never dared to explore. Strip clubs, drug binges, kamikazes, private jets, and prank wars, Corabi was soon swimming in a pool of excess. It is no surprise that Mötley Crüe's first fatality was Corabi’s marriage.
The end of Corabi’s marriage, however, allowed him to indulge entirely in Mötley Crüe. Together, they worked on the band’s eponymously titled sixth album. Creativity flowed like wine, and the passion was palpable. Mötley Crüe worked day in and out, crafting imaginative lyrics and shaping their new album, which would take on a much heavier sound with Corabi on vocals and rhythm guitar. Never in Mötley Crüe history had there been two songwriters or guitarists, but Corabi’s collaborations with both Sixx and Mars proved to be bountiful.
“That year was probably the best time of my life.”
Corabi was riding high on the wave of Mötley Crüe, basking in every glorious moment, unaware that he would soon come crashing against the shore.
***
Corabi first sensed trouble when the band wrapped a tour of Japan. Although he enjoyed relishing in Mötley’s excess, he couldn’t help but notice the path of destruction they left in their wake. What had begun as charming fun had grown into fistfights and trouble with the law. Corabi bit his tongue, however, and went along for the ride.
When Mötley Crüe returned to the studio, Corabi watched as Nikki and Tommy suddenly broke down and fired almost everyone on their team, including Dr. Feelgood producer Bob Rock. Their carnival of sins quickly became a tidal wave of terror in which Corabi would find himself drowning.
Suddenly, the band that had once been infatuated with Corabi became entirely embittered. In Corabi’s eyes, they had become cynical and mean, taking their frustrations with the failure of the Mötley Crüe album out on him.
Mötley Crüe had been a catastrophe. The band had been prepared to dive back into the top charts. Instead, they had belly-flopped and sunk to the bottom.
Bursting with creativity and enthusiasm, the Crüe had created an album they were proud of - a heavy metal, grungy masterpiece and a strong departure from their typical sound. They were excited to step into something different and enter a new phase of their careers, but the same could not be said for the fans. It was such a drastic change to the listeners, who dropped the record like a hot potato before ever giving it a chance. They were incensed by the unexpected change - this was not Mötley Crüe and they wanted nothing to do with it. Fans’ rejection of the album had unintentionally turned Corabi into a martyr and a scapegoat, as the liability would rest on his shoulders. He was an innocent victim crushed by the cogs of the Mötley Crüe machine.
The band would reprimand him, accusing him of singing terribly or not capturing the right style. One day, they wanted him to emulate Pantera, and the next, they wanted Cheap Trick. No matter what Corabi did, it wasn't good enough. He was left feeling inferior, unwelcome, and confused by the dramatic change in how his bandmates treated him.
“If the time we spent recording Mötley Crüe in Vancouver was the best year of my life, this was fast becoming the worst.”
“Corabi was being treated like a criminal who had stolen our careers. Every day, we’d take all our frustrations out on him: we’d tell him that he needed to cut his hair or that he needed to sing in a completely different style. And every week we’d change our minds about everything. We were trying too hard to make a great album, but we had no idea what great was supposed to be anymore because we were too scared to be ourselves.” - Nikki Sixx
Corabi’s home life was hardly an improvement from his work. His girlfriend was often just as critical as his bandmates, jumping at every chance to lash out and browbeat him. His mother was losing her battle with cancer and struggling to pay her steep hospital bills. Corabi sold the Harley he’d been given to help, but it wasn’t long before she passed away. His son was also in and out of the hospital, grappling with diabetes.
“It seemed like my entire support system - my mother, my girlfriend, my son, my best friends, and my band - was collapsing. I was locked in a room watching the walls around me fall down one by one.”
Mötley Crüe soon ventured to New York to meet with their record label after their album tanked and their tour flopped. This was the beginning of the end for Corabi, and no one attempted to hide it. As the band entered the meeting, Corabi was stopped at the door. Barred from entering, he waited anxiously outside. When Nikki and Tommy returned, the band was stuffed into a car with their manager, Allen Kovac, in the passenger seat. He turned around and scowled at Corabi.
“You are not a star,” he barked, “And we are in fucking hell. You’ve got to get it together!”
In a last-ditch effort to salvage Corabi, Kovac had him sign up for both choreography lessons and voice training and hired a stylist for him. Corabi was suffocating, feeling inferior and useless and wondering if he had made a terrible, terrible mistake.
Back in the studio, Corabi bit his tongue as he was berated for singing the “wrong way” yet again. Needing to cool down and regain some semblance of control, he grabbed his guitar and strummed some chords. “Maybe I should just be a guitar player,” he joked. “At least I can do that right.”
The next day, Corabi walked into the studio, only to be greeted by his bandmates sitting with stern faces alongside Kovac. Kovac had been prowling in the shadows, waiting to strike and Corabi’s joke had provided the perfect opportunity for Kovac to spring into action. Corabi insisted he was being sarcastic, that it had just been a silly joke, but it was too late.
“Look, this is the deal,” Kovac said. “The record company is not going to promote anything the band does unless we have the original lineup. End of story.”
Corabi was crushed, engulfed in disappointment. He had endured so much and, somehow, it was a sarcastic comment made in passing that was the final straw. Then the relief flooded in. No longer would he come to work every day and feel inadequate, no longer would he be sucked into their unbridled debauchery, and no longer would Kovac be breathing down his neck. “The nightmare was over.”
Mötley Crüe’s carnival of sins had taken Corabi and lifted him high into the air for a brief moment of glory before slamming him back down to earth. It was a whirlwind of confusion and hurt, anger and frustration that had yielded extreme joy and painful torment. It had broken Corabi, but it hadn’t destroyed him.
“Between my girlfriend, my mother, my son, and my former band, I couldn’t figure out what I had done wrong to deserve all this. I drove to my ex-wife’s house to be with my son and collapsed on the couch, running through every moment of my life like a bad movie script. My son was watching television and, suddenly, he turned to me, jumped into my lap, and hugged me, snapping me out of my self-pity. ‘Thanks for coming over and watching TV with me, Dad,’ he said. ‘I love you.’
I smiled and told him that I loved him too, then I told myself that none of this other shit mattered. My son loved me.”
Listen to Corabi's Lead Vocal on "Smoke The Sky"
Author's Note: Despite the Mötley Crüe album's lack of success, many Mötley Crüe fans now hold it in high regard. Some even claim it is perhaps their best album ever and is absolutely their most underrated. It is definitely one of the most underrated albums in metal history and it is an album that stands the test of time. While Corabi may have been ripped to shreds by Mötley Crüe's management, fans now recognize that he is a multifaceted musician and incredible vocalist who only added to Mötley Crüe's vast pool of talent. Perhaps the most haunting fact of all, however, is that if Mötley Crüe had simply rebranded and changed their name during their time with Corabi, the album undoubtedly would have been a smash hit.
And if you're wondering what happened to Vince, he rejoined Mötley Crüe on his own terms and even befriended Corabi. The pair have sung together on a few occasions and clearly share a deep appreciation for one another. During his time away from Mötley Crüe, he dealt with his own struggles (struggles far worse than a flopped album), but also had a pretty successful solo career. By all means, he was achieving more success than Mötley Crüe.
References
Lee, T., Mars, M., Neil, V., Sixx, N., & Strauss, N. (2002). The Dirt: Confessions of the World's most notorious rock band. HarperEntertainment.
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