Glam-rock act Motley Crue to stop at Verizon on final tour

Motley Crue perform at 7 p.m. Thursday at Verizon Arena on The All Bad Things Must Come To An End Tour.
Motley Crue perform at 7 p.m. Thursday at Verizon Arena on The All Bad Things Must Come To An End Tour.

It’s a good time for classic-rock fans in the Little Rock metro this week.

Not only are rock legends Eddie Money and Styx performing at the Arkansas State Fair, but also Motley Crue, one of the premier glam-rock bands of the 1980s, will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday at Verizon Arena in what is guaranteed to be a show that cannot be missed.

The All Bad Things Must Come to an End Tour is the band’s final trip across the world and also features glam-rock legend — and master of horror theatrics — Alice Cooper as the opening performer.

After forming in Los Angeles in the early ’80s and landing a record deal with label Elektra Records, Motley Crue released their debut album, Too Fast for Love, in 1981. Their first hit single, “Live Wire,” came from this release and helped their second album, Shout at the Devil, become the breakthrough record the band needed. From there, the group released multiple platinum-selling albums, including Theatre of Pain; Girls, Girls, Girls; and Dr. Feelgood.

Motley Crue embodied every single rock-band stereotype — or perhaps they’re the ones who started them. They are the “sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll” lifestyle personified, complete with alcoholism, cocaine and heroin addictions, jail time, constant run-ins with the law and, yep, even a very famous and heavily pirated sex tape.

Thankfully, members Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, Mick Mars and Vince Neil are known for more than just their hedonistic antics. They are most notably credited with ushering in the first wave of what would become known as glam metal in the mid-1980s, along with artists Alice Cooper, Twisted Sister, Ratt, Van Halen and Quiet Riot. At the time, many in the rock scene rejected glam metal because of its cross-dressing practices of its members, complete with eye shadow, lipstick, painted nails, bedazzled clothing, leather and massively over-teased hair that put the hairdos of most women during that time to shame.

Over the 30-plus years the band members have been around in the music scene, they’ve sold more than 80 million records, had seven Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, gained three Grammy nominations, received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and toured across the world for countless sold-out shows.

Originally, the band’s touring cycle was set to end much earlier than December 2015, but due to an overwhelming cry from loyal fans to play more shows, Motley Crue added the North Little Rock date, along with other stops in the U.S., Canada and Europe.“We want to say goodbye to as many fans as possible, so we added these shows around the holidays. No better way to spend them than with the people who have supported us over all these years,” bassist Sixx says in a news release.

Maybe because the touring life has finally caught up to these rock gods or maybe because they’re tired of hearing their grandkids complain about embarrassing them all the time, but the band members are wrapping it up for good on this final tour. Whatever the case is, the music the four dudes in the Crue made are timeless rock anthems that are sure to be remembered for years to come.

For more information, visit livenation.com or verizonarena.com.

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