Mick Mars, one of the founders of Motley Crüe, is suing his former bandmates because he is upset with them. He is also saying that they fake playing the guitar live. The 71-year-old made these claims in a profits participation lawsuit he filed. In the documents, he says he was forced to take a smaller share of Motley Crüe’s income than he thinks he is owed. “Mars had said that the 12 U.S. stadium dates would be his last shows on tour, but those 12 shows turned into 36 shows, and Mars played at every single one of them, in constant pain,” the lawsuit says, referring to Mars’ decision to stop touring in 2022.

Mars also accuses bassist Nikki Sixx of “gaslighting,” which the guitarist’s legal team says “reached a crescendo during the stadium tour, when he repeatedly told Mars that he was playing the wrong chords and that fans were complaining about his playing, knowing that this was Mars’s last tour because of his increasingly painful and debilitating AS and apparently already planning to force him out of the band and take his shares.” But, according to Deadline, Mars says that it shouldn’t have been his performance that caused people to worry. Surprisingly, Sixx said these things about Mars’s playing even though he didn’t play a single note on bass during the whole U.S. tour. It’s funny that all of Sixx’s bass parts were just recordings.”

“Sixx was seen fist-pumping in the air with his strumming hand while the bass part was playing,” the lawsuit says. In fact, a lot of Neil’s vocals were also recorded ahead of time. Even Lee’s drum parts were sometimes recorded. Some fans saw Lee walking toward his drum set at the same time they heard his drum part.

Since then, Motley Crüe’s lawyer, Sasha Frid, has said to TMZ, “Mick’s lawsuit is unfortunate and completely wrong. Mick voted for and signed an agreement in 2008 that said, “in no case shall any resigning shareholder be entitled to receive any money attributable to live performances (i.e., tours).” She says that Mars quit touring on his own and that the band “offered Mick a generous compensation package to honor his career with the band.” Mick’s manager and lawyer tried to get him to back down, but he refused. Instead, he filed this ugly public lawsuit. Frid added, “Unfortunately, Mick filed this lawsuit because he wanted to say bad things about the band. The band feels sorry for Mick, wants him to do well, and hopes that his greed-driven advisors can give him better advice.