JOHN CORABI: 'The Hardest Part' Of Exiting MÖTLEY CRÜE 'Was I Felt Like I Was Losing Three Friends'

In a new interview with Erin Greatrix of This Day In Metal, former MÖTLEY CRÜE frontman John Corabi, who joined the band in 1992 as the replacement for original singer Vince Neil, once again reflected on his time with the group. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "I love the opportunity that MÖTLEY CRÜE gave me, and if I could just be blatantly honest, I know — nobody knows better than I do — that had I not been in MÖTLEY CRÜE, I'm not saying I wouldn't have had a career, but it definitely helped me get to this point. THE DEAD DAISIES wouldn't even have called me if I didn't have that name tag, 'John Corabi of MÖTLEY CRÜE'. So, I'm grateful for the opportunity. I love that record [I made with MÖTLEY CRÜE]. But I'm also not a person that gets into the car. Do you know what I mean? I'm a firm believer of looking through the windshield — glance in the rearview mirror, just glance, make sure it's all good behind you, but look through the windshield and move forward."

Asked if there is something that he would want to tell himself, if he could go back in time to before he joined MÖTLEY CRÜE, John said: "Well, yes. I probably would not have put… I don't know if I would've left [John's pre-MÖTLEY CRÜE band] THE SCREAM. If I could go back and tell myself, 'Hey, hold on a minute. Let's think about this for a second. You're gonna leave this band that's on kind of an upward trajectory for another band that, at the end of the day, is only gonna keep you for four years.'"

He continued: "There's a word that bugs me in my descriptions, and I don't wanna say it bugs me, but to a degree it does, and that's the word 'journeyman'. And it's only because none of this was planned. None of it was me going, 'Fuck you, guys. I'm out. I'm leaving. I'm gonna go do something.' It was just the way the cards were dealt to me. Who knew I was gonna get a call to join MÖTLEY? Who knew MÖTLEY was gonna bring Vince back? Who knew UNION [John's post-MÖTLEY CRÜE band with former KISS guitarist Bruce Kulick, Brent Fitz and Jamie Hunting] wasn't gonna get any attention from anybody that mattered? So it's just been this ongoing thing, but I would love nothing more than to be sitting here talking to you about the 15th SCREAM album."

Corabi added: "But if I was to go back, I might tell myself not to leave THE SCREAM, but I would definitely tell myself, if I was getting in MÖTLEY, 'Don't become so emotionally attached to anything.' 'Cause the hardest part, to me, out of that MÖTLEY thing was I felt like I was losing three friends. And I still, on occasion, talk to Tommy [Lee, MÖTLEY CRÜE drummer], I still, on occasion, talk to Mick [Mars, MÖTLEY CRÜE guitarist]. Nikki [Sixx, MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist] and I have no dialogue at all. And it, to some degree, kind of bums me out a little bit. But I think that's the only thing I would tell myself. Read the fine print. Don't get so emotionally attached to everything. And just you know what? If you're gonna be here, do your job, make the best of it, and move on."

With Corabi on vocals, MÖTLEY CRÜE released one critically acclaimed full-length CD, which ended up being a commercial failure in the wake of grunge despite a Top 10 placing on the album chart. When Neil returned to the fold in 1997, Corabi was left on his own and formed UNION with Kulick.

In a 2016 interview with Sweden Rock Magazine, Sixx said that writing the "Mötley Crüe" LP with Corabi was a prolonged and difficult experience. He went to call it "a very unfocused record" that was "painful for me, because John Corabi can't write lyrics, and I had to do all that work."

Nikki added: "It was the first time I ever had to work with somebody that wanted to participate in the lyrics. And my standard is so high that it was so hard, it took months. Usually, I write a set of lyrics in an hour.

"It's all about having pent-up information and aggression and just [letting it out]. It was just hard, because [John] was a nice enough guy, but he just didn't have that fire, and it was hard for me."

In the Sweden Rock interview, Nikki also offered his theory as to why Mars and Lee have both publicly expressed their fondness for the Corabi-fronted album. He said: "I think Mick and Tommy love that record, 'cause it's [got] great drums, great guitars. And, yeah, I think there was a freedom in having a different singer, you know. But it was just hard for me to have to go slow. I'm just not a good 'slow' guy in the studio. I've been in sessions with other artists where [someone is working slowly] and I've just gotta bail; I've just gotta go. It's, like, you can create on the spot or you can't create. That's it with me. I just don't have patience for that."

In February 2018, Corabi released a live album of his performance of MÖTLEY CRÜE's entire 1994 self-titled album, recorded on October 27, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee. "Live '94: One Night In Nashville" documents the album in its entirety along with the bonus track "10,000 Miles", which was originally released as a bonus track on the Japanese version of the "Quaternary" EP.

Corabi released his new full-length solo album, "New Day", on April 24, 2026 via Frontiers Music Srl.

Corabi's autobiography, "Horseshoes And Hand Grenades", came out in June 2022 via Rare Bird Books. It was written with the help of MÖTLEY CRÜE historian/author Paul Miles.