Motley Crue’s Nikki Sixx still isn’t happy with Kiss

Motley Crue

Last week, Nikki Sixx accused Kiss of stealing the stage production that Motley Crue used during their final show in Los Angeles back in 2015.

The Crue bassist posted a composite image showing him being carried above the crowd on a crane and one of Kiss bassist Gene Simmons doing something similar.

He added: "Wow. Our body wasn’t even cold before they took this exact grande finale from our tour. Might not matter to Kiss fans but it does to Crue fans.”

The pictures have now been removed, but Sixx has spoken about the incident in more detail and says he’s still annoyed about what Kiss did.

Sixx tells Kerrang: “What they did that really bothered me and my bandmates, is we built these giant arms that fitted in the venue’s ceilings that had lights in them. We developed these things. 

It was exactly our shtick. I just think it’s uncool

Nikki Sixx

“It was a lot of work and it cost a lot of money. We’d use the lights, then, at the end of the set, these arms would come down from the ceiling and me and Vince Neil would jump on them and they would take us out over the arena and that was our grand finale.

“But then I saw a video of Kiss and they were using our arms. It was exactly our shtick. I just think it’s uncool. I think it’s uncool of the company to make the same thing again for them.”

Sixx adds: “It just bothers me. It was our last tour and something that people have posters of on their walls is now being repeated by Kiss. Sure, we all use pyro and stuff, but with this we re-invented an idea. And this was our idea.”

Last week, Motley Crue released their new single The Dirt (Est. 1981) which will feature on their long-awaited biopic The Dirt. The film will premiere on March 22 on Netflix with the soundtrack out on the same day.

It’ll include 14 Crue classics along with the new single and three recently recorded tracks: Ride With The DevilCrash And Burn and a cover of Madonna's Like A Virgin.

Motley Crue: The Dirt Soundtrack
1. The Dirt (Est. 1981) (feat. Machine Gun Kelly)  
2. Red Hot
3. On With The Show
4. Live Wire
5. Merry-Go-Round
6. Take Me To The Top
7. Piece Of Your Action
8. Shout At The Devil
9. Looks That Kill
10. Too Young To Fall In Love
11. Home Sweet Home
12. Girls, Girls, Girls
13. Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.)
14. Kickstart My Heart
15. Dr. Feelgood
16. Ride With The Devil
17. Crash And Burn
18. Like A Virgin

Motley Crue: The Dirt Soundtrack

Motley Crue: The Dirt Soundtrack
The soundtrack to the long-awaited Motley Crue biopic The Dirtwill launch on March 22 and features 14 classic Crue cuts along with four new tracks.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald newspapers, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.