In a new interview with Bass Player, Nikki Sixx reflected on Mötley Crüe’s fifth studio album, ‘Dr. Feelgood.’
“I’ve never been one that talks about my bass playing because I’m a band member,” the musician said when asked what he is most proud of in his bass playing in ‘Dr. Feelgood.’ “I’m a team guy.”
He added, “Everything’s a football analogy with me; I’m not the running back or the quarterback – I’m a f*cking lineman. People don’t talk about the lineman a lot unless he goes out and crushes people. I probably should a little bit more!”
“But I love the ‘Dr. Feelgood’ album. It was the first time I was sober. I really am proud of my bass playing; I’m proud of the albums we’ve made; I’m proud of the tones,” Sixx also added. “I’m proud of the fact that I wrote those songs, and I was able to go, ‘What does this song need?’ Not, ‘What do I need?’ but ‘What does the song need?’”
Mötley Crüe released ‘Dr. Feelgood’ on August 28, 1989, after the band members completed rehab for addiction. This album became their best-selling and most popular record, with songs like ‘Dr. Feelgood,’ ‘Kickstart My Heart,’ and ‘Without You.’
Despite the success, there were rumors about its originality. Doug Goldstein, a former manager of Guns N’ Roses, claimed that Sixx stole riffs from Guns N’ Roses. He said Sixx recorded their rehearsals to copy their music. However, Steven Adler defended Sixx, calling him a genius who didn’t steal anything.
“‘Dr. Feelgood,’ the Mötley Crüe song, that’s a Guns N’ Roses song. Slash and Duff McKagan wrote that riff,” Goldstein said. “They wrote it down in Redondo Beach when I was with them. Guns N’ Roses were rehearsing, and Steven Adler would come down once a week, and Duff would come down five days a week, and they were jamming, and they came up with that riff.”
He continued, “Nikki Sixx is famous for taking a recorder to a club and stealing songs from bands. They got it because they recorded the recording before we did. Slash did drugs with him, eh. They’re friends. I never pushed it. I brought it up, ‘Guys, hello, it’s that song.’ ‘Oh it’s Nikki, don’t worry about it.’”
“Nikki is a genius. He is one step ahead of everybody, but he didn’t steal anything from nobody. He’s a freaking genius,” Adler responded.
‘Dr. Feelgood’ was the band’s final album recorded with lead singer Vince Neil until the 1997 album ‘Generation Swine.’