It was the late 1980s and Mötley Crüe were riding a high. There were rumors that their album ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ was about to be No. 1 on Billboard 200 chart. However, Nikki Sixx recalled the moment they heard that Whitney Houston had beat them to it.
When the guitarist sat down with Billboard in 2017 he told the story of how everything panned out by starting with the news they got that their record was about to be No.1. He explained:
“I remember I was on a conference call with [then Mötley Crüe managers] Doc McGhee and Doug Thaler, and they said, ‘Hey man, you guys are outselling everybody two to one. You’re gonna have a No. 1 record.’ And I said, ‘That’s great.’ I don’t really think that having a No. 1 record mattered to us that much, but we were like, ‘That’s f*cking cool!’”
Although they initially didn’t care about a No.1 album after they heard that Whitney took their spot they were mad. Sixx recalled how they felt by explaining:
“But then Whitney Houston came out and she was No 1. And I remember that lit a f*cking flame to the f*cking bomb man. That lit the fuse. Because we were like ‘What the f*ck happened?’”
Even though the guitarist didn’t outwardly accuse Whitney for stealing their thunder, he did put the narrative out there by saying:
“All due respect to Whitney Houston, a very talented artist. But her label flew all the heads of retail out to Australia, first class. Five-star hotel. Free concert. F*cking wining and dining. Those were the days of cocaine and bad silicone jobs. And everybody had a real good time. And it was, ‘You just make sure that you report that the right record sold the most.’ And we were f*cking livid.”
Being second place made them more willing to fight for the first spot. Nikki added:
“But that was like the changing of the guard for us. After ‘Girls, Girls, Girls,’ we got a new producer, the band got sober. And we were like, ‘We want a No. 1 album.’ And [1989’s] ‘Dr. Feelgood’ flew into the No. 1 position.”
The rocker even shared that their record label was also upset with their No. 2 album. He expressed:
“And you know, I have a plaque hanging on my wall at home. It says, ‘Hey, Nikki. Congratulations on your No. 1 record. About f*cking time! -Elektra Records.’ Because they were pissed, too. They were pissed too, man! [laughs] Welcome to the music industry!”
You can read Nikki Sixx’s 2017 interview with Billboard here and listen to ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ as well as ‘Dr. Feelgood’ below.
