Surprisingly, licensing doesn't really gum up the works for a big Hollywood production: $100,000 a song might seem like a lot to us normal folks, but in the bloated world of Hollywood budgets, it's chump change. Doug Mark of Mark Music and Media Law thinks it all boils down to clashes of visions and creative differences. He has something of a vested interest in the topic, as been trying to get a movie made of Motley Crue's book The Dirt, which would make a pretty rad biopic if it's done right.

"It's been torture!" [Mark] says. "Motley Crue is a band that has a really gritty book that was a hit, and yet people want a smoothed-over script. ... Rock 'n' roll that makes a good movie is hardcore stuff!"

A proposed Keith Moon biopic has similarly suffered. Its development has been overseen by Roger Daltrey and Bill Gerber; the script has gone through two drafts, and the filmmakers are planning on taking it "more independent" and "more organic," presumably because the scripts have lacked verisimilitude.

With deceased figures, the issue of branding comes up. Take Jimi Hendrix: The Hendrix estate wants any biopic to be about his music as much as his life, and worries that a drug movie would tarnish the image of their No. 1 brand. New flicks about Louis Armstrong and Miles Davis both heavily involved the estate of the artists in the process, but getting that permission, while crucial, is often difficult.

First off, I think it's a little ridiculous for someone like the Hendrix estate to worry about the depiction of drugs in a Hendrix movie; that information is already way out there in the public sphere, and if anything, the movie could set straight the facts surrounding his accidental overdose. (I remember watching a laughable John Denver TV movie where Chad Lowe portrayed Denver's alcohol issues by swaying at a party for 10 seconds. You could almost feel the writers saying, "That's that! That huge aspect of Denver's life is now swept under the rug.") If anything, realistic portrayals of artists only enhance the audience's enjoyment and understanding of an artist's music by placing it into the context of their often messy lives. Think about it: Is a Motley Crue movie without the raunch really a Motley Crue movie?

Also only hinted at here is fatigue with the format. We've seen the biopics. Countless Behind the Music episodes follow the same narrative arc: rise, drugs, fall, breakup, reconciliation/tragedy/both. It feels like even disparate stories are being told in similar ways. There are so many interesting musical stories out there, and so few see it through with any uniqueness. What about a movie where everybody enjoyed playing music the whole time and got a lot out of it?

And where is my Fleetwood Mac movie already? That thing would be downright sleazy: cult members, drugs, love triangles, drugs, pop music, drugs.

Filmmakers fight to make music biopics [Variety]

There's no dancing around the fact that rock radio in 2008 is ruled largely by pretty much any monsters of 90's alt-rock who are still roaming around the major-label landscape. One need look no further than the current Hot Modern Rock Tracks, the top three slots of which have been filled by Weezer, Offspring and the Foo Fighters for three weeks now, to prove this point. I say some variation of this line every other column, I know, but said landscape is much than it used to be, so the survivors are bigger now almost by default, even as bands of more recent vintage nip at their heels.

Rock programmers must be among the most loyal in their profession, because name recognition seems to triumph over all in their arena; consider that the rock charts have recently seen the return of even more onetime hitmakers, some of whom no one particularly wanted to hear from again, and others who are remembered fondly even though they're indisputably past their peak.

One of the more surprising familiar names to reappear lately is Candlebox, the Seattle hard rock band who got signed and went multiplatinum at the tail end of the early-'90s grunge explosion. The band never got much respect from the alt-rock crowd, lacking the cred of any connection to the '80s Sub Pop scene, and fared better on Active Rock stations. (I remember seeing the video for "Change" on
Headbanger's Ball months before MTV started giving the band heavy Alternative Nation exposure.) But they became frigging huge for a brief moment, and each of their first three albums yielded at least one top 5 Mainstream Rock hit, even the infamous sophomore slump Lucy and 1998's Happy Pills, which I didn't even really know existed. By that standard, the newly reunited Candlebox's current No. 19 single, "Stand," can't quite be considered a comeback—but it's also the chart's airplay gainer this week, so it may be getting there. And it can't hurt that the song's opening riff is so similar to that of the band's breakthrough single, 1993's "You," that when
I first checked the song out on YouTube, I initially did a double take to make sure I didn't click on the wrong search result.

There's a lot riding on Mötley Crüe's Saints Of Los Angeles, the first album by the band's original lineup since 1997's Generation Swine. And while the first-week album sales and the summer tour receipts haven't come in yet, things look good on the radio front, where the title track hasn't dipped out of the Mainstream Rock top 10 since debuting there in April. (It's currently peaking at No. 7.) But that's a little less impressive when you consider that "If I Die Tomorrow," the Simple Plan outtake (seriously!) that the band recorded for a greatest-hits comp in 2005, peaked at No. 4, and Nikki's side project Sixx: A.M. hit No. 2 just a few months ago. And if you're still wondering about the unconfirmed rumors that Mötley cut a 360 deal with concert-promotion giant Live Nation, which would give the company a cut of any of the band's possible revenue streams, there might be subliminal hints in "Saints," which features refrains of "we signed our life [sic] away" and "give it up, give it up."

Over on the Modern Rock chart, one of the format's longest-running dynasties, The Cure, has been back in business as of late. The band racked up four Modern Rock chart-toppers in its heyday, and probably would've had more if Billboard had created the chart earlier than 1988, just before Disintegration came out. Of the band's contemporaries from that era, only U2 and, to a lesser degree, Depeche Mode, are still making occasional runs at the chart. The latest from Fat Bob and co., "The Only One," is one of four advance singles planned for the new Cure album, which won't be out until September and hasn't yet been given a title. The track, a pretty faithful approximation of the band's most radio-friendly Wish-era songs, has only peaked at No. 34 and already seems to be slipping off the charts, while the second single, "Freakshow," has yet to chart since being released earlier this month. I'm pretty curious to see if The Cure's experiment with so many singles in quick succession will have any impact on radio play, or if those songs will end up functioning as early leaks for die-hard fans to snap up. Perhaps one of the singles released in July or August will get a surge of airplay once the album comes out this fall, or maybe "The Only One" will drop off months before its release, never to return. Time will tell.

So who's definitely not staging a comeback, at least on the radio? Filter and the Black Crowes come to mind. Both bands recently reunited and released new albums, but their lead singles peaked at No. 27 and No. 33, respectively, on Mainstream Rock, then quickly fell off the chart. Likewise, Bush frontman Gavin Rossdale's "Love Remains The Same," from his recent solo debut, dropped off the Modern chart after hitting No. 33, which can't be more embarrassing than his song with the Blue Man Group, at least. And Judas Priest, who scored a minor hit in 2005 with their first new single after the return of frontman Rob Halford, "Revolution," have yet to chart with any of the songs off of their admirably ludicrous concept album Nostradamus. But if so-called rock stations can't embrace a seven-minute single about a 16th-century prophet, let's face it, that's their problem.

• "As nasty and filthy as ever, but despite the band's latter-day sense of mortality, not as irresistible or as contagious. " [Dallas Morning News]

• "The riffs aren't quite as lasting as the memories. They easily could soundtrack a kegger, but most stick like temporary tattoos. Guitarist Mick Mars still won't win any shredding contests, and overrated drummer Tommy Lee probably should just marry Meg White. Still, the title track rekindles Shout at the Devil-era evil, and the album's boozy memories of girls, girls, girls do sound genuine—if not downright wistful. Cheer up, fellas, there's always the chance of starring in VH1's Rock of Love 3. " [Washington Post]

• "From front to back, Saints of Los Angeles is the sound of a band unabashedly wallowing in its old hair-sprayed heyday, no longer sweating concerns about keeping up. It's as if the group has realized that modern rock—with its fragmented appeal and diminished cultural cachet—is no longer the threat it might have once appeared. And in its own little defiant way, it's a move that makes old Mötley Crüe seem more relevant than ever." [Detroit Free Press]

• "There is some of the old energy here, thanks in part to the presence of drummer Tommy Lee, who drives 'Down at the Whisky' and 'Chicks=Trouble' like somebody with a head full of stimulants. Yet the album lacks the tune-craft that once made vintage Crüe such hits as 'Dr. Feelgood' and 'Kickstart My Heart' so appealing." [LA Times]

1. Unrest, "Make Out Club"

(It's not just a pop gem, it's also the inspiration for the name of one of the first indie-rock social networks.)

2. Paula Abdul, "Straight Up"

(This was on VH1 Classic during my red-eye back from California Monday night. Idol looniness aside, this song is still terrific.)

3. Motley Crue - Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)

(I always felt like this song never got its due, in part because it was always overshadowed by the way inferior "Sam Ol' Situation." Pro: the rolling bass line in its intro. Con: The dumb "Too Young To Fall In Love" reference. Actually most of the lyrics are not that great.)

4. Expose - Let Me Be The One

(This may be one of my all-time summer jams. I always take it out of storage when the temperature creeps over 65.)

5. Ida Maria, "Oh My God"

(Right, I know, I'm cheating because I posted this already. But this song is worth checking out if you missed it the first time. And for those of you who want to hear a different version of it, here's the band on Later With Jools Holland.)

6. Toto, "Hold The Line"

(Blame the ad buyer at the Mets' TV network who sold a package that included lots of Mohegan Sun ads soundtracked to this song.)

7. Cyndi Lauper, "She Bop"

(This video's coyness makes me lament the days before MTV's standards and practices department allowed overly blatant masturbation references to sluice through every programming hour.)

THE RUMOR: Motley Crue's "big announcement" today will break the news that the Sunset Strip lifers have signed with touring megaglomerate Live Nation, and that its first tour under the deal will be the traveling hard-rock circus Cruefest, also featuring Buckcherry, Papa Roach, and Sixx A.M.

TRUTH THRESHOLD: 80%.

LIKELY TRUTHS: Blabbermouth has a fairly detailed itinerary for Cruefest, so that's probably going off—although what happened to the initial reports that Drowning Pool would be on the tour? (And does this mean that the name-drop of Belle & Sebastian was a ruse to get indie-kid bloggers all het up?)

LIKELY FALSEHOODS: The rumor that the Crue had signed to a three-album, three-tour 360 deal with Live Nation has been floating around since February, and early reports had Vince, Nikki, Mick, and Tommy netting $100 million for their services. In anticipation of today's press conference, that story popped up again yesterday via the concert-news site Pollstar, but since its initial posting the site has pulled the story. Commenters at Blabbermouth are taking this little bit of Internet censorship as incontrovertible proof that the story is, in fact, true, because "Motley Crue can't grasp the concept of information leaking at such a rapid rate due to the internet... they seem to have to do damage control only because they were not the source of the news."

If it is true, it may represent the first major misstep for Live Nation—or the first move of theirs that looks like a misstep out of the gate, anyway. Three albums and three years adds up to a lot of time for a band that actually works well together, and given that all the members of Motley Crue are around the "around 50" mark age-wise, the band hasn't made a decent album in nearly 20 years, and Vince Neil isn't exactly known for remembering the words to his songs these days, Live Nation's "get 'em while they're old" strategy may finally be showing its first cracks.

MOTLEY CRUE & LIVE NATION? [Blabbermouth]
MÖTLEY CRÜE's 'Cruefest' With BUCKCHERRY, PAPA ROACH: More Tour Dates Revealed [Blabbermouth]

MÖTLEY CRÜE
ATREYU
SAVING ABEL
SHINEDOWN
CHEVELLE
APOCALYPTICA
THE EXIES
PUDDLE OF MUDD
STAIND
GODSMACK
DROWNING POOL
THEORY OF DEADMAN
THREE DAYS GRACE
AVENGED SEVENFOLD
SIXX: A.M.
TRAPT
SEETHER
FLYLEAF
BUCKCHERRY
BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE
RED
BELLE & SEBASTIAN
PETE YORN
THE WALLFLOWERS
3 DOORS DOWN

I know, I know, Belle & Sebastian are probably an "inside joke" of some sort, but who among us wouldn't love to see Stuart Murdoch and company take on a crowd of beered-up Buckcherry acolytes? At the very least it would give the band a chance to dust off its cover of "Jump."

MÖTLEY CRÜE's Management Dismisses 'False' Rumors, Offers More Info On Upcoming Announcement [Blabbermouth]
Earlier: Motley Crue's "Colossal" Announcement May Be Just As Much Of A Letdown As We Thought

Buckcherry
Papa Roach
Drowning Pool

OK, OK, so it's not as bad as having Static-X headline, and one of the bands does have a song that recently went top 10 on the Hot 100, which should surely sell at least a few extra tickets. But really... Papa Roach? I'd make a "Last Resort" joke, but I'm worried that not enough people will get it. And that was their hit.

MÖTLEY CRÜE To Hit The Road With BUCKCHERRY, PAPA ROACH? [Blabbermouth]

The four Crue lifers will "fly out one lucky grand prize winner from each major city across the country for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to cover this announcement." These future unpaid journos/bloggers-in-training will also get "the chance to interview the band and have it broadcast live." The chances of this not being a tour announcement related to the $100 mil. deal the band was reportedly hacking out with concert megalith Live Nation are slim to nil, but ridiculous speculation/Methods of Mayhem reunion album rumors encouraged, if only to get DJ Aero's hopes up. [Blabbermouth]

For those of you who read Blabbermouth and saw the posting which claims Mötley Crüe has signed a deal with Live Nation, it is incorrect. Please read the official statement below.


MOTLEY CRUE HAS NOT SIGNED ANY DEALS TO TOUR OR RECORD WHATSOEVER. ANY INFORMATION TO THE CONTRARY IS 100 PERCENT INCORRECT.


- NIKKI SIXX

Ah, all-caps. The last refuge of the peevish bass player who's had it up to here with his lead singer's antics. But if Vince wasn't just having some sort of birthday-celebration-induced fever dream... could the 360 deal actually be for him solo, with Live Nation sharing in the profits from his alcohol-making endeavors? After all, Sammy Hagar is much richer from his tequila empire than he ever dreamed he'd be from singing "Poundcake" night after night.

NIKKI SIXX: 'MÖTLEY CRÜE Has Not Signed Any Deals' [Blabbermouth]
VINCE NEIL'S MULTI MILLION-DOLLAR BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION [Robin Leach's Vegas Luxe Life]

"The barriers are changing and we as artists are making less and less money, and we have to get creative," notes Mr. McKagan, whose new band has licensed its music to a Victoria's Secret commercial and movie soundtracks, formed partnerships with entities like the music video simulation game Guitar Hero, and appeared in ads for the clothing designer John Varvatos. "Fifteen years ago, it would have been totally not cool. You would have been selling out."

But isn't it still the fans who were buying the band's records 15 years ago, the all-important touring audience, that are the only ones still hung up on the idea of "selling out," especially since these stories are often at pains to point out that the kids don't really think much of a younger band mass-merchandising itself into oblivion in 2007? The small irony for musicians like McKagan and especially contemporaries like Motley Crue, suvivors from a genre that flaunted fusty ideas of "legitimacy," is that they've been forced to do the tricky anti-sellout dance. You'd think Nikki Sixx would be downright impossible to embarrass, but it seems classic rock status makes everyone self-conscious.

The branding wave makes some rockers wince. Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe recalls feeling let down as a teenager when he saw Kiss on a lunchbox. "I was devastated because all of a sudden they were like Shaun Cassidy and the Partridge Family," he says. Even though it might be hard to distinguish branded lunchboxes from Mötley Brüe, Nikki Sixx rolls his eyes when he sees some of the products that musicians are endorsing. He says he drew the line at baby bottles, even after his advisers pointed out that his fans were becoming parents.
"I think you can go too far," he says.

Which is called "having it both ways," and a smart way to assure longtime fans while staying paid. But whatever the feelings of musicians about advertising diluting the power of music, there's now a worry among ad people that music, or at least celebrity, may still be more powerful than ads. (I know, right?) An Advertising Age report has agency types fretting that since marquee names, like Bob Dylan, are now beating down their doors, the trend for high-profile pop ads may no longer be mutually beneficial.

Mr. Dylan's appearance "definitely dwarfs the product," said Josh Rabinowitz, senior VP-director of music at WPP Group's Grey Worldwide. Even Cadillac admits Mr. Dylan can be a distraction when paired with certain products, though executives felt the Escalade was its most popular model and could hold its own. Modernista took pains to keep Mr. Dylan from overwhelming the car, avoiding scenarios in which he talked about horsepower or the car's navigation system, said David Weist, a creative director at the agency. Mr. Dylan's management told the agency that the singer didn't want his songs used, as it might be seen as self-indulgent.

Of course, that's Bob Dylan, who's a special case even compared to Behind The Music stars like McKagan and Sixx. But the article does conclude on this depressing note:

As record companies pursue their own agendas, the sound of music may grow less melodious. Such entities are "definitely in it for the exposure," said Mike Boris, senior VP-executive music producer at Interpublic Group's McCann Erickson. Musicians "are thinking about their brand." Which means they don't necessarily care about yours.

'Course that really doesn't take into account where listeners fit in. But we're barely a secondary market these days.

If It's Retail, Is It Still Rock? [New York Times]
The Times Are A-Changin' For Musicians And Marketers [Advertising Age]

In some cases the crowds and revenues have rivaled those of the 1980s. Ratt and Poison just wrapped up a long, large-venue summer tour where they played regularly before 8,000 to10,000 fans. Ratt lead singer Pearcy says he noticed an emerging younger fan base of teenagers and twenty-somethings who were born years after Ratt multi-platinum "Out of the Cellar" album released in 1984. "It has been a gradual build up again. It's rock and roll — colorful, dangerous, exciting," Pearcy said.

Hey, thousands of fans, that's good, right? But those numbers often resulted in half-empty venues, even for tours that had the fortune to be big-upped endlessly on VH1. That's not to say that there isn't a story about the number of hard-rock bands who hit the road this summer—look, it's Exhibit A!—but this one seems like it was tailor-made for one purpose: Getting Osborn some face time with his favorite bands. Even if he can't spell their lead singers' first names.

They Came from the Eighties [Time]
[Photo: AP]

"I am a founding member of MÖTLEY CRÜE," he said. "Based on internal band issues aired publicly, my future with the band is uncertain. I have tried to meet with my bandmates repeatedly without success but have informed them that I'm not walking away from my band of 25 years. It troubles me that the current legal issues which were filed by the corporations against my personal manager are separating us and causing more dysfunction. I hope we can work this out amongst ourselves."

I hope so, too. But I worry that, as per the band's instructions, Tommy will not be able to kick the greatest addiction of all: making a total ass of himself in public.

Tommy Lee: "I'm Not Walking Away" From Motley Crue [Blabbermouth]

The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages of more than $20 million for lost earnings and profits resulting from the defendants' actions. The lawsuit also seeks punitive damages because, as claimed in the amended complaint, the defendants' "despicable" actions were undertaken "fraudulently, maliciously and oppressively."

In CRÜE's original lawsuit, which was filed on June 18 in Los Angeles County Superior Court, three of the group's founding members (Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil and Mick Mars) through Motley Crue Inc., claimed Stubner forced Tommy Lee to "to become engaged in 'reality' projects that were bad career moves for Lee, harming [Sixx, Mars, Neil and Lee], the MÖTLEY CRÜE brand and Lee's own image." The suit called the low-rated NBC show "Tommy Lee Goes to College" a "critical disappointment and a ratings disaster," adding it painted Lee as "incoherent, lazy and incompetent" and made him "look like a laughing stock who could not carry a drum beat." The suit also claims Lee's participation on "Rock Star: Supernova" "diminished the public's interest in Lee and their overall perception of his musical talents."

Because Lee was so busy doing reality TV, the band says he was unavailable to tour with the CRÜE, thus causing the cancellation of several key concert dates. The band claims that they lost $8 million in ticket and merchandise revenue because of Lee's scheduling conflicts. The band claims these conflicts were "both real and concocted" by Stubner to "leverage his control over Lee to his financial advantage and to MÖTLEY CRÜE and Lee's detriment."

So in the end it wasn't flaming motorcycle death by misadventure, more drugs than a hijacked Rite Aid delivery truck, collectively drinking enough to permanently blind a bar full of bikers, multiple sex tapes of varying quality, Mick Mars' addiction to Nerds candy, or big bad grunge that finally capsized Motley Crue but...reality TV. I just don't know how I'm going to tell my best friend when he gets home tonight.

Tommy Lee Quits Motley Crue [Blabbermouth]

Vince Neil Joined By Carrie Underwood In Nashville [Blabbermouth]

"People die from this shit and record sales go up," Sixx writes. "Oh, wait, there's a good motive. It's a business after all. Cruel, sad and true. I've seen it, I lived it. So why bring it up?...I think we need to stop enabling artists before the blood hits the floor for humans' sake, not for gross ticket sales' sake and not for commissions, but because we care." The new, humanitarian Sixx also has a book about his drinking and drugging misadventures due in a little over a month. Not that one has anything to do with the other.

Nikki Sixx Urges Industry To "Make Music, Not Coffins" [Spinner]

Plaintiffs Lee, Nikki Sixx, Vince Neil and Mick Mars allege that Stubner and his company, Sanctuary Management Group, over-promoted Lee's unsuccessful side projects while dropping the ball with Mötley Crüe, which, per the complaint, grossed more than $30 million on its worldwide Red, White & Crüe tour but sustained damages because Lee was not available at the band's disposal, causing them to perform fewer dates.

Lee's packed schedule also prevented him from promptly joining his band mates in the studio in 2006 to record an album that, per an agreement they had with Wal-Mart, was supposed to be released this year.

Stubner acknowledged during a meeting at his office in December 2005 that Lee was "overexposed," the lawsuit states, and agreed that Lee should be "exclusively available" to record, tour and film a movie supporting the tour.

But, then came Rock Star: Supernova in 2006, and Lee's unavailability supposedly forced Mötley Crüe to cancel 40 shows and lose more than $8 million in ticket and merchandise sales.

The show's lackluster ratings and the so-so success Supernova achieved after the fact "diminished the public's interest in Lee and their overall perception of his musical talents," the lawsuit reads.

The show did that? Because we were pretty sure that the ball started rolling down that particular hill when Generation Swine hit the shelves.

Mötley Crüe Accuses Manager of Dirty Dealings [E! Online]

The cruise: Jam Cruise.
Lineup includes: Derek Trucks Band, Galactic, Burning Spear, and an oddly high number of bands named after various foodstuffs.
Planned events: Yoga, "Tea Time With Gomez" (the band?), Texas Hold 'Em tournament.
Probable amenities: Hacky-sacks, good vibes, endless soloing.
You'll get seasick because: Thinking about all the food shout-outs at once—biscuits, Spam, green tea, bananas—will get your digestive juices pumping.

The cruise: Vince Neil's Motley Cruise.
Lineup includes: Vince Neil's band. (No, not Motley Crue.)
Planned events: "The Hooters Girls Girls Girls Bikini Contest," wine tasting featuring wines from Vince Vineyards, Texas Hold 'Em tournament.
Likely amenities: On-board detox center.
You'll get seasick because: Pounding a bottle of Jack Daniels before the boat hits choppy waters rarely ends well.

The cruise: The Rock Boat.
Lineup includes: Sister Hazel, Better Than Ezra, Collective Soul.
Planned events: Meet and greets, Texas Hold 'Em tournament.
Likely amenities: A 1999 calendar.
You'll get seasick because: Time travel really fucks with your head.

The cruise: Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Gimme Three Days" cruise.
Lineup includes: Lynyrd Skynyrd, Drivin N Cryin.
Planned events: None are announced yet, but something tells us that there will be a Texas Hold 'Em tournament.
Likely amenities: We're really hoping that everyone gets one of these.
You'll get seasick because: People are going to be yelling "Freebird!!!" the entire time.

- Taylor Hicks' "Do I Make You Proud?" debuts at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 100 tomorrow—one day before Hicks himself actually turns 100. [Billboard]

- MTV claims there were "weeks of Internet speculation" regarding Aerosmith and Motley Crue's just-announced joint summer tour. Really? Jessica Hahn and the ghost of Sam Kinison have Internet access? [MTV.com]

- Jay-Z's boycott of Cristal gets more heated. Alas, Billy Crystal continues to get a free ride from the hip-hop community. [New York Post]