On May 29th, 2021, Vince Neil performed his first solo show post-pandemic. The performance didn’t go ignored as news outlets reported that Vince Neil ended the show abruptly during the Motley Crue song “Girls Girls Girls” announcing that his voice was shot. THIS was news after all these years? Let’s go back and trace the lineage of Vince Neil’s shitty voice.
When Motley Crue formed in 1981, they brought something different to the Los Angeles music scene. They had a crazy look that appeared to be somewhat of a Satanic-looking New York Dolls. The music was raw, gritty, and very “street” sounding, which was a sound that would spawn many bands such as Ratt and Guns N’ Roses and a stage show that made a club stage look like an arena.
Of course, none of this was original. Motley Crue bassist/founder Nikki Sixx had this way of stealing aspects of many bands and creating characters of those aspects to make them look something new. Nikki Sixx played in a band with W.A.S.P founder Blackie Lawless called Sister. Nikki stole the Satanic concept image from his time in that band. The stage show was a poor man’s KISS show, but they did it well in all due respect and created a huge performance in small places. Musically, Motley Crue was limited in their playing abilities. Mick Mars was an average guitarist at best, and drummer Tommy Lee was the only notable musician in the band. Then we have vocalist, Vince Neil.
Vince Neil. Oh, Vinnie. It was established very early on that Vince Neil was hired for the band because he had “the look.” He was thin, good-looking, had great hair, and had a stage presence. He knew how to command an audience, but there was one thing missing: the voice. The boy couldn’t sing his way out of a fucking wet paper bag.
If you look up the live history of Motley Crue on, say, YouTube, you can find a plethora of live footage spanning Motley Crue’s career from 1981 to now. From the ear-wrecking cover of the Beatles “Paperback Writer” in 1981 to a train wreck lasting nearly 40 years, Vince Neil was easily one of the worst singers in hard rock/metal. Of course, I don’t say that this is my opinion because, goddamn it, it’s my article, and I stand by this as fact.
In doing my research, I’m not going to lie. Over a two-year span (1983-1985), there were moments where I felt that Vince did a good job. Not great, but good in comparison to his usual performances. Catching a Vince Neil on a good night was similar to playing Russian Roulette with a 40 shooter gun. In other words, you had a 1 out of 50 chance you’d hear Vince sing decently enough for you actually to think he was a good singer. The other 49 shows, well, that’s a whole different story.
In my youth, I did fall for the smoke and mirrors of Motley Crue. Too Fast for Love and Shout at the Devil were great albums in my eyes. They were so edgy and loud, and that resonated with me. However, it wasn’t until I saw them live for the first time in 1987 that I was asking myself, “How is this the same guy who sings on the albums?” His voice was atrocious, and it was painful. Even at 14 years old, I could see that they were putting on an incredible show but goddamn, what a horrible vocalist.
When Crue released the Dr. Feelgood album, I bought it just like every dumb hard rock/metal kid did. The title track hooked me in, but upon listening, I was so let down by it. The number of shit songs on that album was staggering. I somewhat continued the trend of Motley Crue having no more than 3-5 good songs on each album. However, Vince did sound really good on the album, so I figured that he would be performing better since they were supposedly clean and sober.
When Crue rolled into Atlanta in 1990, I had to go because hell, it was Motley Crue, and I had to see it. The moment Vince Neil opened his piehole to sing “Kickstart My Heart,” my buddy and I looked at each other and made that face. You know the one I’m talking about—the “cringe” face. I wanted to assume that he would get better and that it was just a rough start, but it just got worse as the night went on. I looked around at the sold-out Omni Arena here in Atlanta, and I was astounded to see that nobody else seemed to be bothered by this. People were cheering, pumping their fists, and singing along. I wanted to yell, “Do you people not hear him? How can you not hear this horrible crap?” This was when I gave up on Vince Neil and never looked back or regretted it since.
The one time Motley Crue sounded truly great, driven, and on fire was in 1994 when Vince Neil left to pursue his solo career and was replaced by The Scream’s vocalist/guitarist John Corabi. The band had put out the best album of their career (past and future) and, due to the change, suffered as they lost success. Since success seemed to matter most to them as opposed to making great music which they proved they could do, they went crawling back to Vince Neil and from there released a string of terrible albums.
Starting sometime around 2015, Vince Neil became the subject of jokes, memes, and Photoshops. His physical appearance had changed a great deal. He gained a lot of weight, played just about every show fucked up beyond belief, and sang worse than ever. The lyrics were unintelligible and became the source of ridicule via “misheard lyrics” videos on YouTube, t-shirts, and stickers. Vince Neil was a joke, and people were getting in on the joke, but why and how was Motley Crue still performing in huge arenas? Once again, smoke and mirrors.
Motley Crue puts on a fantastic performance in the same way that KISS does. Lots of lights, smoke, pyrotechnics, and ear-piercing volume. I chalk it all up to nostalgia. The fans really don’t care that Vince Neil can’t sing. They want to go because it’s a night out away from the kids. It’s a way to try with all of their might to cram everything into the spandex that they once wore with ease in the ‘80s. It’s also a connection to their past, a time before kids, marriage, and a steady job full of basement parties, living like trash, and just being young. Maybe that is enough for them not to give a fuck about the fact that Vince can’t sing and that the rest of the band are miming to pre-recorded vocals being pumped through the P.A.
Recently, for some odd fucking reason, it became news when Vince Neil had to cut one of his solo performances off early, announcing to the crowd that his voice was shot and that he was leaving. This left his band (Slaughter members Dana Strum (bass) and Jeff Bland (guitar))on stage confused as they confusingly continued to mime to pre-recorded backing vocals until they were turned off. Yeah, THIS is now news. Why is this news now? The way news outlets reported this performance made it look like the world was shocked over the fact that Vince Neil can’t sing. This is something that anyone with ears has known for decades.
In 2022 Motley Crue will embark on a full-scale stadium tour with Def Leppard and Poison. It was being reported that Vince Neil was getting in shape and working on himself to be at the top of his game for this massive tour. However, if this most recent solo performance indicates what will happen on this stadium tour, it won’t matter. People will still flood the stadiums to see the Motley Crue freak show, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they have Vince Neil lip-syncing to vocals that are in tune and not skipping every two words because he’s too winded to sing a song in full.
So there you have it. Vince Neil is a shitty vocalist… and in other news, ice is cold.
Shitty Vince Neil Performances Over the Years:
1983: Take Me to the Top
1987 – Shout at the Devil
2005 – Kickstart My Heart
2017 – Dr. Feelgood
The National Anthem
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