JOHN CORABI On His Time With MÖTLEY CRÜE: ‘They Had Been Secretly Meeting With VINCE NEIL The Whole Time’

John Corabi Nikki Sixx

In a recent interview with Rock Daydream Nation, former MÖTLEY CRÜE frontman John Corabi, who replaced original singer Vince Neil in 1992, was asked if he had witnessed any of the infamous drama the band is known for during his time with them.

There was so much drama in that band and turmoil,” he responded (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). “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.

“Yeah, there was s**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?’ [Laughs]”

When asked if any of the other MÖTLEY CRÜE members fought to keep him in the band after the record company made it clear they wanted Vince Neil back, John responded: “I don’t know. 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 till 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**k, 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.

“There was just so much drama with those guys,” Corabi continued. “I would work out in the morning with Nikki [SixxMÖTLEY CRÜE bassist], and he would talk about Tommy [LeeMÖTLEY CRÜE drummer] and Mick [MarsMÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist], 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 bulls**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.”