MÖTLEY CRÜE's NIKKI SIXX: Why We Changed Our Minds About Touring With POISON

MÖTLEY CRÜE members Nikki Sixx (bass) and Tommy Lee (drums),along with NEW YORK DOLLS frontman David Johansen, appeared on the February 28 edition of Sixx's nationally syndicated radio show "Sixx Sense With Nikki Sixx" to announce CRÜE's summer headlining tour with support from POISON and "special guest" NEW YORK DOLLS. You can now listen to the audio of their appearance using the Kyte media player below.

Regarding the CRÜE's decision to do the tour, Sixx said, "One of the things MÖTLEY CRÜE said was that we would never tour with POISON because we were sort of punk / heavy metal / glam, we came out of the very, very early '80s and took what we did very... it was very important to us. And then bands came after us and we wanted to kind of separate from them. And we had never planned on touring with any of the bands from that era. There was no animosity — it was just that we put a very clear line. But when the [NEW YORK] DOLLS signed on, it made it seem like it was the right time to do that this tour."

In a February 2004 online posting, Sixx shot down reports that his then-band BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION would be touring later that year with POISON and KISS. "No way in fucking hell would we (BRIDES OF DESTRUCTION or MÖTLEY CRÜE) ever, ever tour with a fucking band like POISON," he wrote. "We have had talks with KISS and I told them very clearly that we would not do the tour if they used POISON. That would be the death of us... I will not be attached to that kind of fake bullshit..." When questioned about his comments in a May 2004 interview with the Stamford Advocate, Sixx explained, "I was in negotiations and said it depends who else is on the tour. If you're going to do a nostalgia thing, we're not interested. If you go get JET or THE DARKNESS, it sounds like fun. All of a sudden they come back with KISS, the BRIDES and POISON! There ain't no way in hell I'm doing that tour. I will not play with fucking POISON. There are followers and leaders. I'm not into followers."

During a July 2005 interview with the Fox 2 TV network, Sixx famously closed out the four-minute chat by calling the interviewer "an asshole" after he was asked the question, "Who rocked harder in the '80s: MÖTLEY CRÜE or POISON?"

When POISON drummer Rikki Rockett was questioned in an August 2006 interview with DelcoTimes.com about Sixx being abrasively vocal in his displeasure about being categorized alongside POISON, Rikki replied, "Nikki really needs to get over it. I don't think a forty-something-year-old man should be acting like that; you'd think with all that Nikki has been through, he wouldn't care about these dumb little rivalries."

MÖTLEY CRÜE frontman Vince Neil was asked during a November 19, 2010 appearance on the "Elliot In The Morning" radio talk show about POISON singer Bret Michaels' onstage claim that POISON and MÖTLEY CRÜE would celebrate their 25th and 30th anniversaries, respectively, this year by joining forces for a North American trek. "I don't know why Bret would say that," Neil said. "And I hadn't heard about it. People were asking me, and I'm going, 'I never heard that in my life.' And I was getting a lot of Twitters about it. I finally just called my office and said, 'What is up with this?' I was kind of pissed that nobody told me. And they go, 'Look, we have no idea. There was never anything like that [being considered] or that was even being talked about.' But the funny thing is, ever since [Bret] did that and now people are talking about it, crazier things have happened. It could happen. Because you have promoters out there going, 'Hmmm…. Yeah, maybe. Yeah, that sounds like a great package.' You know what I mean?!"