Band History Formation and early years 1981-1983

Motley Crue was formed on January 17, 1981 when bass guitarist Nikki Sixx left the band London and began rehearsing with drummer Tommy Lee and vocalist/guitarist Greg Leon. Lee had worked previously with Leon in a band called Suite 19 and the trio practiced together for some time with Leon eventually deciding not to continue. Nikki and Tommy then began a search for new members. Sixx and Lee soon met guitarist Bob "Mick Mars" Deal. Mars was quickly auditioned and subsequently hired by Sixx and Lee. The newly formed band did not yet have a name. While trying to find a suitable name, Mars remembered an incident which occurred when he was playing with a band called White Horse, when one of the other band members called the group "a motley looking crew." He had remembered the phrase and later copied it down as Mottley Cru-. After modifying the spelling slightly, "Mötley Crüe" was eventually selected as the band's name, with the stylistic decision to add the two sets of metal umlauts supposedly inspired by the German beer Löwenbräu, which the members were drinking at the time. The group was still in need of a singer. Lee had known Vince Neil from their high school days at Royal Oak H.S. in Covina, California and the two had performed in different bands on the garage-band circuit. On seeing him perform with the band Rock Candy at the Starwood in Hollywood, California, Mars suggested Mötley Crüe hire Neil. At first Neil refused the offer. However, as the other members of Rock Candy became involved in outside projects, Neil grew anxious to try something else. When Lee made one final appeal to audition, Neil accepted and was hired.

The band soon met their first manager, Allan Coffman, "the thirty-eight-year-old brother-in-law of Mick’s driver friend Stick".^[6] The band's first release was the single "Stick to Your Guns/Toast of the Town", which was released on their own record label, Leathür Records, which had a pressing & distribution deal with Greenworld Distribution in Torrance, California. In November 1981, their debut album Too Fast for Love was self-produced and released on Leathür, selling 20,000 copies. Coffman's assistant Eric Greif set up a tour of Canada, while Coffman and Greif used Mötley Crüe's success in the Los Angeles club scene to negotiate with several record labels, eventually signing a recording contract with Elektra Records in late spring 1982. At Elektra's insistence, the debut album was then re-mixed by producer Roy Thomas Baker and re-released on August 20, 1982, two months after its Canadian Warner Music Group release using the original Leathür mixes, to coincide with the tour.

During the "Crüesing Through Canada Tour '82," there were several widely-publicized incidents. First, the band was arrested and then released at Edmonton International Airport for wearing their spiked stage wardrobe (considered "dangerous weapons") through Customs and for Neil arriving with a small carry-on filled with porn magazines (considered "indecent material"); both were staged PR stunts. Customs eventually had the confiscated items destroyed. Second, while playing Scandals Disco in Edmonton, a spurious "bomb threat" against the band made the front page of the Edmonton Journal (June 9, 1982); assistant band manager Greif and Lee were interviewed. This too ended up being a staged PR stunt perpetrated by Greif. Lastly, Lee threw a television set from the upper story window of the Sheraton Caravan Hotel. Canadian rock magazine Music Express noted that the band were "banned for life" from the city. Despite the tour ending prematurely in financial disaster, it was the basis for the band's first international press.

In 1983, the band changed management from Coffman to Doug Thaler and Doc McGhee. McGhee is best known for managing Bon Jovi and later Kiss (starting with their reunion tour in 1996). Greif subsequently sued all parties in a Los Angeles Superior Court action that dragged on for several years, and coincidentally later re-surfaced as manager of Sixx's former band, London. Coffman himself was sued by several investors to whom he had sold "stock in the band", including Michigan-based Bill Larson. Coffman eventually declared bankruptcy, as he had mortgaged his home at least three times to cover band expenses.