This page also available in the book: Chronological Crue Vol.2 - The Nineties

12/1/98
Tommy Lee pleads no contest to misdemeanour battery at the Beverly Hills Municipal Court over the Viper Room nightclub incident on September 29, 1996. Henry Trappler’s lawyer, high-profile feminist attorney Gloria Allred, pushes for a jail term. The case is settled when Judge Elden Fox orders Tommy to pay $17,500 in restitution to Trappler, who was said to have been hospitalised for four days. He also supposedly had to use a cane for two months and was unable to return to his paparazzi job because of post-traumatic stress disorder after the incident. Tommy must also perform more than two hundred and fifty hours of community service or pay about $5,000 in fines by March 11. He is placed on probation for two years. A civil lawsuit also litigated by Gloria Allred could get under way by April.

18/1/98
Tommy says Mötley Crüe is working on an album of cover tunes to be released mid-year. The proposed live album discussed at last year’s listening party shows is disregarded, since bootlegging was allowed on the Mötley Crüe Vs The Earth tour so fans could make their own live album. Tommy is also writing songs for a forthcoming solo album, due to be recorded in April for release next year.

25/1/98
Nikki Sixx continues work on new music at his home studio Butt Cheese West with Goonsquad and Automatic being the titles of some new songs.

26/1/98
The debut Union album makes its world premiere on HardRadio. Fans worldwide are able to listen to all the tracks on demand over the Internet.

1/2/98
At the annual NAMM Convention in Los Angeles, John Corabi talks with fans and signs autographs as the first Union single Old Man Wise is prepared for release to radio the next day. John plays an acoustic set at the Hard Rock Café with Bruce Kulick. Nikki also visits the convention and spends a lot of time talking with software vendors.

5/2/98
Tommy enters a plea of not guilty to his misdemeanour assault charge, stemming from the Mötley Crüe show in Phoenix on December 11 last year. The judge presiding over the case allows Tommy to fax his plea in, instead of attending the Arizona court in person. Nikki also faxes his plea four days later.

9/2/98
Mötley Crüe enters the studio to begin recording an album of cover songs. The working title is A Record to Crash Your Car To.

The two-week Union Stateside Promo Tour begins and includes visits to eleven cities.

10/2/98
John and Bruce Kulick perform an acoustic set on air from Rebel Radio in Chicago, consisting of tracks from their forthcoming Union album, as well as The Beatles’ song Hide Your Love Away and the Kiss classic Beth.

12/2/98
The Second Annual Skylar Neil Memorial Golf Tournament is held at Malibu Country Club, raising $65,000 for sick children in hospital.

The guitar work of Mick Mars features on the Carmine Appice project titled Guitar Zeus. Appice has drummed for some of the most internationally-renowned rock bands in history, beginning with Vanilla Fudge, while his writing credentials include two of Rod Stewart’s major hits. Other guest artists on the CD include Paul Gilbert, Brian May, Slash, Yngwie Malmsteen, Neal Schon, Bob Daisley, Steve Morse and Ted Nugent.

14/2/98
The owner of the Hard Rock Café chain, Peter Morton, invites Tommy and Pam to stay in Las Vegas to celebrate Valentines Day and attend the final show of The Rolling Stones tour the following night. For Valentines Day, Tommy has a florist plaster the room full of rose petals for Pam and orders Dom Perignon champagne to the room. Later in the night, a tipsy Pamela gets upset about her state and being away from baby son Dylan, who is no longer being breast fed. Tommy hits Pamela for the first time, as he gets mad with her not spending enough time with him, choosing to instead spend it with their kids and her parents, who Pamela recently flew in from Canada to help out with the children. He questions her love for him.

15/2/98
Tommy and Pam sit front row at the Hard Rock Hotel in Las Vegas for the final show of The Rolling Stones tour. As they sit with Brad Pitt, Chris O’Donnell, Leonardo DeCaprio and David Spade, Rolling Stones band members Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards drink champagne from Tommy and Pam’s glasses while they rock on stage. After the concert, Pam hits Tommy when she finds him talking to a stripper. Tommy responds by pushing Pam against a wall before forcing her into their hotel room and out of public view. Pam leaves Las Vegas in their car and heads back to Malibu.

24/2/98
At their Mulholland Highway residence in Malibu, California, Tommy cooks a stir fry meal for his family but gets annoyed when he can’t find the pan he wants to use, as their housekeeper did not have it where it should be. When Pamela tells him to calm down as it’s just a pan, he feels it’s just another demonstration that she doesn’t care about his feelings. Highly strung from recent events, Tommy throws all the pots and pans in a drawer before yelling at Pam and kicking the drawer shut with his slippers, which escalates their arguing and makes their children start to cry from their bedrooms.
Pamela picks up baby Dylan and starts to phone her mum to ask her to come over but Tommy hangs it up, wanting to resolve the issue without the intervention of her parents. Pam’s therapist has previously told her to ignore Tommy when he’s angry or looking for attention because he gets enough attention being a rock star; so she does. She continues to try and call her parents but Tommy keeps hanging up the phone. Pamela then punches Tommy with a clenched fist that connects on his jaw and throat. He grabs her firmly by the shoulders as an attempt to calm her down but she calls him every name under the sun before going to get Brandon from his room, who is crying. As she storms past, Tommy swings his leg and kicks her rear with his slipper before following her into their son’s room. Tommy tries to take Brandon out to see the frogs in their backyard pond to calm him down and defuse the situation but Pamela refuses to let the child go. As Tommy wrestles Brandon away, Pam stumbles backwards with Dylan in her arms after Tommy pushes her and she breaks her fingernail on a little blackboard. Dylan bumps his head on the chalkboard too. Tommy goes to the pond at the front of their house to see the frogs with Brandon.

At 7:45pm Pamela makes a two-minute emergency call to 911, telling them Tommy has attacked her while she was holding their baby son, Dylan and in the presence of son Brandon. Tommy and Brandon make their way inside from the pond and as he settles Brandon down in his playroom, two police officers enter the room, without him even hearing them come in. Tommy is handcuffed and placed in the squad car, telling them that Pamela should also be arrested too since she hit him as well. In the squad car and wondering why the officers won’t listen to his side of the story, Tommy is told that Californian law dictates that it’s whoever calls first and if he had of called then the whole situation would have been reversed. The arresting Sheriff’s Deputy Angie Prewett later says to press that Pam sustained “a very minor hand injury and some redness on her back.” Her hand injury is the broken fingernail that had drawn a small amount of blood.
From the car, Tommy sees the officers carrying an antique Civil War-era pistol that hung on their wall as a decoration and he knows they will deem it to be a firearm possession. Pamela leads the officers to their gun safe where they find Tommy’s collection of mostly-illegal guns including .38 Specials, Uzis, Mack 10s, shotguns, riot guns, .44 Magnums, Beretta, Glocks and FNC Assault rifles. Tommy is taken to Malibu’s Sheriff’s Station at 10pm where bail is set at $1 million, double the standard amount as police feel the guns violate his current probation. He is scheduled to be arraigned at the Malibu Municipal Courthouse in two days. The future of Mötley Crüe is once again in jeopardy, as are the negotiations with Elektra Records as the band tries to get released from their contract.

The debut album from former Mötley Crüe vocalist John Corabi and his new band Union is released on both CD and vinyl formats. The first twenty-thousand-or-so CDs have Old Man Wise missing from the track listing on the back of the packaging. The album ranks number one in the day’s sales nationwide in the U.S.A.

25/2/98
Pamela releases a statement saying she will vigorously cooperate in prosecuting husband Tommy to the full extent of the law. Pamela asks for and is granted an emergency protective order against Tommy that prohibits him from contacting her. The Los Angeles District Attorney’s office files a criminal case against Tommy, charging him with one count of spousal abuse, one count of child abuse, and one count of illegal firearms possession.

26/2/98
News crews eager to get the scoop on Tommy stake out the jail, the court, and his Malibu home. At the Malibu Municipal Courthouse, Tommy attends his arraignment but doesn’t make a plea as his lawyer is involved in another case at the time. Local newspapers feel Tommy is now facing a four-year jail term just for probation violation. Pamela files for divorce in the Los Angeles County Superior Court citing irreconcilable differences. She also asks for legal custody of their two children and wants her maiden name of Pamela Denise Anderson restored. She instructs Tommy’s lawyers to move his possessions out of their home today.

27/2/98
Internet Entertainment Group President Seth Warshavsky announces his company has obtained a sixty-minute lusty Hawaiian Love Trio video from an undisclosed source that features Vince in 1993. He says Vince has signed an agreement giving permission to put the video on the web and to distribute it worldwide as a retail video. IEG and Vivid Video, one of the leading adult film production companies, have formed a joint venture to create an Internet/video package of the video that shows Vince having boisterous sex with two girls: Janine Lindemulder, a triple-X film star who is also one of America’s top adult models and featured in Vince’s Sister Of Pain video clip, plus a mysterious third party identified only as voluptuous adult magazine supermodel whose name cannot be disclosed. It is later revealed to be Brandy Sanders, who leaked the tape to the distributors.

At his formal arraignment before Malibu Municipal Court Judge Lawrence J. Mira, Tommy pleads not guilty to charges of spousal abuse, child abuse, and illegal firearms possession. A prosecutor alleges that Tommy attacked Pam three times on the day she called 911 and each time she was holding their baby Dylan. She also says Tommy kicked Pam once in the back and once in the buttocks. The judge orders Tommy to have no contact, in person, by telephone, or in writing, with Pamela Lee, their sons and Pam’s parents. He also orders Tommy to stay away from drugs and alcohol, to enroll immediately in an anger management program, to turn in his passport, to stay in Los Angeles County, and not to possess a firearm. Judge Mira halves the bail to $500,000 after stating he did not want to set bail, but he was constitutionally required to do so. One of Pamela’s attorneys Stephen Kahn says Pamela “is in fear of her life and the life of her children.” Tommy pays his required bail money and is released and he heads back to his Malibu home. Pamela has taken the kids and left in the meantime.

2/3/98
Tommy releases a statement through his spokeswoman Hayley Sumner saying he has no plans to contest the divorce and that his paramount concern is the happiness and well-being of his two sons. He also says, “My attorney Charles English has forbidden me to discuss with anyone the details and precise nature of the case and I will abide by any orders that the courts may make. I’m asking everyone to please not judge me or the situation until you have heard all the facts.”

With the media circus set up outside his home, Tommy is tired of being tailed by a convoy of cars and a helicopter every time he needs to go out. A plan is hatched by his engineer Frank Gryner and producer friend Scott Humphrey. Tommy escapes by driving to a location in the middle of the night and jumping on a mountain bike, riding through dirt fire roads in the canyon with a flashlight until they end up at Scott’s home. Here he is set up with a room and music instruments to play, as he has a recording studio downstairs dubbed The Chop Shop. Tommy lives here for a few months and works on his new music.

5/3/98
John meets Layla Dawn at The Key Club on Sunset Strip when he goes there with Brent Fitz and Eric Singer to talk to the promoter about Union playing a show at the club. Layla is in attendance to see Circus Of Power play and she and John instantly become a couple. Layla moved to Los Angeles just over two years ago after attending the Art Institute of Atlanta, being enrolled in Music Business Management.

6/3/98
Nikki and his wife Donna return from a vacation at Telluride where they relax away from their kids and go snowboarding. He reminds us that “Nothing is as it appears from the outside” in regard to Tommy. He plays Tommy some of the new Mötley Crüe songs he has been working on.

8/3/98
Some more working titles of new Crüe demo songs are Bloodsucker, Erotic and Americoma. Nikki has performed all the vocals, guitar and bass lines, as well as the programming of drum tracks on these songs, ready for the other band members to add their replacement parts.

10/3/98
Just prior to cancelling his America Online account, Nikki makes it known that his new record label for exploring fresh music and other projects is called Americoma Records. The name is taken from a painting that Nikki and Donna created and now hangs in their home.

A ten-minute excerpt from the seventy-five-minute Vince Neil Love Trio video with Janine Lindemulder begins airing free of charge on the Internet.

11/3/98
Bruce Kulick masters a bonus track titled For You that is to be included on the Japanese version of Union’s self-titled debut album due for Japanese release next month.

13/3/98
Tommy appears at Malibu Municipal Court in California in the morning for a preliminary hearing into charges of spousal and child abuse. Proceedings are postponed as expected. Outside the court, Tommy spots photographer Henry Trappler and walks over to him to apologise for his previous run-in with him but is stopped by Trappler’s attorney Gloria Allred, who has launched a civil suit against him for her client.

At 6pm this Friday the Thirteenth, Mötley Crüe’s contractual ties with Elektra Records are no more, putting them in total control of the band’s future. The Crüe has all their album masters as part of their deal and can now proceed with major plans for the future now they’re free from Elektra and own the rights to their music catalog in full. Nikki says a major party is planned to rejoice our freedom, while Tommy acknowledges that Mötley Records just became a reality. In announcing the end of its relationship with Elektra Records, Mötley Crüe becomes one of the few groups in history to own and control its publishing and catalogue of recorded masters. The band and management are legally bound from discussing the circumstances that led to this coup and the terms of the deal, but it is generally accepted that Elektra surrendered control of the masters in exchange for Mötley waiving royalty earnings that were due to them. Ten later years, Mick says in an interview that Elektra "owed us a lot of money, in the eight-digit area. It was like, 'We'll forget this, we'll take our masters, we'll take seven figures instead of eight and give us our masters.' So it was done like that, which was really good for us. You won't hear our songs on K-tel or anything." Many years later, band manager Allen Kovac tells Forbes magazine in an interview that they traded a contractual advance, negotiating for Elektra to keep $10 million, but give them $2 million and their masters and copyrights.

2/4/98
It seems that Pamela may subpoena Tommy’s former wife Heather Locklear to testify in divorce proceedings against him that he is a wife beater. Pamela has reportedly fled her former Crüe husband to start another relationship with Hollywood producer Jon Peters.
Court documents show Tommy’s lawyers are requesting that any information regarding a Nazi SS tattoo he bore on his arm during his altercation with Jewish cameraman Henry Trappler in 1996, be kept from the jury when he goes to court in a week, defending a civil suit brought against him by Trappler. Tommy faces a lawsuit from Trappler for assault and battery, negligence and interference with his civil rights, of which no dollar amount has been specified. Tommy’s lawyer puts forward that it was “simply a stupid tattoo”. It was never a reflection of Lee’s views and to include its existence would “needlessly inflame the passions of the jury” against him. Trappler’s lawyer is opposing the motion. Tommy had the German military eagle tattoo covered up with a new tattoo last year in Japan.

5/4/98
As Nikki works on releasing his 1958 project through his new label Americoma Records later this year, he says Mötley is no longer making a CD of cover tunes. He also says he’s sure that some day his book of poetry will be published, which has been on the back burner for many years now. A warehouse full of paintings is also destined to see the light of day one year. One of Nikki’s pop art paintings recently raised $10,000 in an auction benefiting AIDS.

7/4/98
Tommy appears at the Malibu Municipal Court to plea bargain with prosecutors over charges. An agreement is made that Tommy will plead no contest on the spousal abuse charge, which has the same effect as a guilty plea, and the prosecutor will drop the charges of child abuse and illegal possession of a firearm. Judge Mira could have remanded Tommy to jail on the spot but releases him on $750,000 bail before sentencing on May 20. Under the conditions of the three-year probation imposed, Tommy will have to spend between six to twelve months in County Jail, pay Pam’s legal fees, consume no alcohol or drugs, attend his anger management classes now once a week, perform community service and make a monetary contribution to a battered women’s program. He is delighted that he is allowed weekly two-hour supervised visits with his two children. Tommy could face up to four years imprisonment if he violates these terms of probation.

9/4/98
Tommy attends court with his lawyer for a civil suit brought against him by photographer Henry Trappler for assault and battery, negligence and interference with his civil rights. An undisclosed settlement is made that settles the suit before the civil case goes to trial.
John and Bruce Kulick wind-up their European trip to promote their Union debut CD.

Nikki says it looks like he might be scoring his first movie, as well as putting together the soundtrack for it. He continues to write lots of songs and looks to become involved with a new skate, surf and snowboard wear clothing line called Outlaw. His wife Donna will be doing all the ads for Outlaw in the next few months.

15/4/98
At his home, Nikki plays Vince a new song about Elektra called Bloodsuckers. They work together on some songs before burning them on CD and cranking them in Vince’s Ferrari parked in Nikki’s driveway. The Crüe will enter the studio next month with producer Bob Rock to record new material.

19/4/98
As Nikki prepares to fly out to Georgia the next morning to meet his wife Donna at the bedside of her sick Grandma in hospital, he says he’s putting the 1958 songs Heroes (a homage of sorts to David Bowie) and Don’t Laugh You Might Be Next into the movie he’s scoring. The heroin movie titled The Empty Space is due for release next year. It’s being directed by Jane Seymour and James Keach, who previously acted in a 1982 TV show called Till Death Do Us Part. Nikki also says he has been in the studio ten hours a day for three months now, as Mötley Crüe prepares to record before Tommy goes to jail. A tour is a strong possibility after he gets out, which Nikki says is likely to be after four months. They have promoters write the presiding judge letters to highlight the financial straits they would be in if Mötley’s tour does not proceed if Tommy is in jail for a full six months. Nikki says he is getting into old rock ‘n’ roll again, like Sweet, Slade, old David Bowie and T-Rex. Tommy also recently wrote a song that sounds like T-Rex.

30/4/98
Union plays their first live concert at Brick by Brick in San Diego. The set includes Power To The Music from Mötley’s 1994 self-titled album, Man In The Moon from The Scream’s debut album, and Bruce Kulick’s first live lead vocal on I Walk Alone.

1/5/98
Tommy and Pam emerge victorious in the latest round of legalities stemming from their infamous home sex video. The National Enquirer settles a libel lawsuit, originally filed by Tommy and Pam after the tabloid reported the couple had a secret deal with the Internet Entertainment Group that would pay them $8 million for the sex tape. Details of the settlement are not released. Tommy and Pam still have their litigation pending against IEG in the Federal Court.

4/5/98
It is announced that Pamela will be named Best Female Actress in an Adult Feature for Pam & Tommy Lee: Hardcore & Uncensored at the Hot d’Or Film Awards for erotic videos and film stars to be held in Cannes, France on May 18. The video has now become the highest-selling adult video of all time.

7/5/98
A new television series is being pitched to the MTV network by Nikki and wife Donna D’Errico, as work continues on new Mötley Crüe songs, including tracks titled Slave and Bitter Pills. Nikki says rap artist Coolio is coming over to his home studio to write some metal songs with him for another artist. In return, Nikki says he wants to get some slow, grinding, trip hop with ambient background happening, as he enjoys writing other styles of music.

Vince and fiancée Heidi Mark say they have set a date for their wedding. They also express their disapproval of the Vince sex video being distributed by IEG and say their legal representation could not find a way to stop it.

8/5/98
On radio with Howard Stern, punk band Green Day mentions they may be touring with Mötley Crüe in the near future, but Tommy’s jail term may hold things up for a while.

11/5/98
The second Union single October Morning Wind gets added to U.S. radio.

12/5/98
Mötley Crüe hits the studio in Los Angeles with Bob Rock producing as they begin recording the next album before Tommy goes to jail next week. In preparation for his plight, Tommy has been physically working out for the last month.

15/5/98
After four days of recording with Bob Rock, Mötley Crüe has all the drum and bass tracks completed for the new album. Some of Mick’s guitar parts have also been recorded, which will be finished in a few weeks when Bob returns to Los Angeles. Vince’s vocals will also be completed at this time prior to mixing of the album. The U.S. release is scheduled for the first day of October.

20/5/98
Tommy is sentenced to six months in county jail for pleading no contest to a charge of spousal abuse against his now-estranged wife Pamela Anderson almost three months ago. Malibu Municipal Court Judge Lawrence Mira tells Tommy that it’s time to be punished for a pattern of behaviour the system has longed failed to halt, after noting he has been repeatedly placed on probation for a series of assaults, dating back to 1983. The judge’s sentence includes a provision that will land Tommy in state prison for three years, should he violate any of the terms of his three-year probation, once he is released from jail. Immediately after the sentencing, Tommy is handcuffed and taken away to begin serving his time. As a convicted felon, Tommy is now barred from possessing a gun or any other dangerous weapon for the rest of his life.

Tommy still faces a lawsuit filed by photographer Henry Trappler. His plea in the spousal abuse case amounts to a violation of his probation for a criminal conviction stemming from the Trappler case, meaning he could face up to a further one hundred and eighty days in jail. He could also receive a thirty-day term if found guilty of a misdemeanour assault charge for allegedly knocking over a security guard at a Phoenix concert last December.

At 8pm, Tommy is checked into Men’s Central Jail in Los Angeles. He is undressed before having his nipple rings and his nose ring cut off with wire cutters, and reluctantly allowed to leave his earrings in, as they are made of surgical steel and too tough for the cutters. He is then placed in a single-person cell separated from the rest of the inmates, primarily due to his celebrity status and concerns for his safety. He will be escorted by a sergeant whenever he is removed from his cell.

Mötley Crüe prepares to finish the two new tracks titled Bitter Pill and Slave for the forthcoming album that will be a greatest hits package, which Nikki says will include some live and remixed goodies. A DVD version is set to also contain all sorts of rare video footage.

21/5/98
Union cancels the remainder of their club tour dates and they play their seventeenth and last show of the tour in Columbia. They decide it’s best to regroup, while letting the radio adds and support for October Morning Wind continue to build, before they hit the road again stronger in a month or two. John also wants to explore the possibility of lining up an opening slot with another act for a summer tour or setting up another tour of their own. Being a new band on an independent label, Union has found itself in the challenging position of hitting the road without major tour support and needing to sustain itself financially week to week.

26/5/98
Mick works on some music at Nikki’s house as they prepare the guitar work for completion next week on Bob Rock’s return. Nikki and Vince will then fly to Bob’s house in Hawaii to complete the vocals and mixing. Nikki says the album cover is likely to be an image of a pill bottle with little pills all over the place that have the song titles on them. He asks fans on AOL which album title is best out of Crucial Crüe, Bitter Pills or Psychopharm, of which he leans towards the latter. He also says the album will not include any leftover tracks from the 1994 self-titled album with John.

Nikki speaks with an upset Tommy in jail everyday, who is in a 6x11-foot white cell with only bright white lights, a metal sink, a metal bed, a little toilet and no windows except for a small 12x12-inch one on the door, through which he can see a little way down the hall. The cell was formerly occupied by one of the Menendez brothers. Not knowing if it’s day or night, he’s fed runny eggs for breakfast at 7am, a jam sandwich for lunch at noon and a bolognaise sandwich for dinner. He reads little religious pamphlets called Our Daily Bread before writing on them with a small pencil to kill the boredom and psychological challenge of being in jail. He is soon initiated to one of the rituals in the jail: the inmates banging on metal to create a tribal rhythm to vent their frustrations. When Tommy gets out of jail he will have a week of sunshine before Mötley Crüe tours Japan and then America.

30/5/98
Nikki arrives back in Los Angeles from a trip to New Jersey with wife Donna D’Errico where she was filming some new MTV shows. Nikki spent time with Skid Row guitarist Dave ‘Snake’ Sabo and wrote a song together at Snake’s house, which may be used by Snake’s new band Ozone Monday. Nikki also says the new hits album is tentatively titled Bitter Pills, being the voted choice of online fans. The album is currently about eighteen songs in length that spans the Crüe’s career and includes some remixes of stuff that hasn’t been heard before. He is also finishing two extra songs for his 1958 project before it’s to be released.

4/6/98
Mick finishes recording all the guitar parts for the new greatest hits album with Bob Rock and Nikki. Mick is currently living with his girlfriend Robbie Lauren Mantooth, who is a documentary film-maker and underwater photographer, as well as having been a former Guess jeanswear and Sports Illustrated swimsuit model. Mick met her as she worked in the production office on one of the Crüe’s recent tours and was captivated by her intelligence and wit. After the tour he called her, before flying to see her in Tennessee and returning to Los Angeles with her. Robbie has her own company called Nature Films that supplies photos and footage to Discovery and National Geographic channels.

7/6/98
Vince records his vocals with Bob Rock for the new Crüe album. Nikki apologises to Vince for not visiting him in jail back in 1986, like he has visited Tommy during his current time inside. Mick visits Tommy in jail once but is annoyed by the guards being mean to him. Unsurprisingly to Tommy, Vince doesn’t visit him in jail.

9/6/98
Dave Darling and Nikki finish a couple more songs for their 1958 CD to be released on Americoma Records. Meanwhile in jail, Tommy searches inside himself for answers as to why he is in there, as he has the time to analyse his life and recent events. Through his lawyer, he orders three books every ten days on relationships, parenting and spirituality via Amazon.com to keep his mind positively active. He also begins to work on new songs for a solo project and calls his home answering machine to record melodies and lyrics for his later use.

25/6/98
The Union CD is released in Japan through East West Records, featuring a different cover from all other releases and a bonus track titled For You. The song was originally written for a TV music cue and marks Bruce Kulick’s second-ever lead vocal performance. It also includes some synth pulse keyboards played by Mini Mark.

30/6/98
Nikki says a remix of Glitter by German remixer David Roth will be included on the forthcoming Mötley greatest hits album. The track was remixed at Abracadabra in Hamburg, Germany. It seems likely that the title track Bitter Pills will be the first single from the album, as was the case with their two most successful records to date in Girls, Girls, Girls and Dr. Feelgood.

8/7/98
Nikki says there’ll be no live songs on the forthcoming greatest hits album. Previously unreleased songs like Rodeo and Monsterous will appear when Mötley Crüe re-releases the masters of their back catalogue starting next year. He also decides to sign Moonshine as the first band on his new label Americoma Records and plans to take them into the studio next month.

Tommy has a payphone installed in his jail cell and even though his judge ordered him not to speak with Pamela, he tries to make contact with her to try and resolve the issues in their relationship. They argue together in three-way conversations with their lawyers and therapists, which soon prompts Crüe management to hire a PhD intermediary named Gerald Wil Rafferty who helps Tommy with common sense guidance, effectively becoming his life coach. He also buys children’s books for Tommy and sends the same book to his home, so Tommy can read bedtime stories to his children. His telephone acts as his gateway to the outside, often calling friends to play him music over the phone. Gerald sets his answering machine to accept collect calls so he can call at any time and speak his mind.

11/7/98
Mötley Crüe makes front-page news in Florida as thirty-three-year-old Josephine Allen of Port Richey files a lawsuit after an incident at last year’s Livestock concert. When Nikki smashed his bass then threw it into the audience, she was looking the other way and it hit her on her forehead, knocking her to the ground. Her Palm Harbour lawyer Michael Reeser says she was taken to hospital by ambulance and diagnosed with a head injury that left her with trouble concentrating and other permanent afflictions. The four-page lawsuit says that as “a direct and proximate result of the negligence of the defendants, plaintiff Josephine Allen has suffered bodily injury resulting in pain and suffering, disability, mental anguish, loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life, expense of hospitalisation, medical and nursing care and treatment, loss of earnings and loss of ability to earn money.” Her husband Garnet, also thirty three, is suing as well, claiming for “the loss of the care, companionship, society and comfort of his spouse.” Allen is suing Mötley Crüe Touring Inc. and Nikki Sixx for the minimum $15,000 required to put the case in the Circuit Court, but Reeser declines to say how high the amount could go. They are demanding a jury trial.

14/7/98
Nikki spends time on a song with Moonshine as they get ready for pre-production next week, prior to hitting the studio. He is also ready to record two new songs with 1958 in a few weeks; one of them called Kill Your TV.

After losing the payphone in his cell and his phone privileges, Tommy writes poetry and letters about Pamela to pass the time. Inspired by the innovative inventions he is shown by other inmates, he makes his own drumsticks with pencils, razors, food trays and plumbing. He uses them to play on his bowl, as he used to do on kitchenware when he was a young boy. Tommy befriends some cockroaches in his cell, naming them Manny, Mo and Jack, and talks to them while watching them walk around. Every Thursday towards the end of the day, Tommy is allowed to spend fifteen minutes alone in a steel cage on the roof of the jail where he can only see a piece of sky and some sun. Tommy sits there with tears rolling down his face, thinking about freedom and how much he has had and taken for granted, and wanting to be somewhere else. Some weeks he passes on his cage time as it’s too difficult for him to handle. One day Tommy is pulled aside by the chief warden who says a couple of the inmates want to poison him and he just wanted to let him know.

22/7/98
The Sixx family attends the opening night of the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus.

26/7/98
John makes an appearance at the Detroit Kiss Expo with Bruce Kulick, having also appeared at the Pittsburgh Kiss Expo the previous day. John has been recently working with former Kiss drummer Eric Singer on a recording project of some of Eric’s favourite ‘70s cover material, like old Deep Purple, Aerosmith, Humble Pie, and Jimi Hendrix. Titled the Eric Singer Project (ESP), the CD will have Eric Singer on drums and vocals; Bruce Kulick on guitar and bass; John on vocals, guitars and bass; and Karl Cochran on vocals, guitars and bass. John’s new girlfriend Layla Dawn creates the artwork inside the album.

31/7/98
After Tommy tells Nikki that Pamela has left a message on his answering machine saying she loves him, Nikki advises him that she is now dating pro-surfer Kelly Slater while Tommy is in jail; the guy she dumped when she married Tommy in Mexico.

4/8/98
Nikki says the forthcoming album Bitter Pills will now be called Mötley Crüe’s Greatest Hits and will include Without You, Home Sweet Home, Too Fast For Love and Don’t Go Away Mad amongst the selected songs.

11/8/98
Tommy strikes a tentative deal with prosecutors in Phoenix to plead guilty to his assault charge after the altercation with a security guard during the Crüe concert there last December, receiving an $800 fine and a thirty-day sentence to run concurrently with his time currently being served. The plea bargain will mean there will be no additional time added to his sentence, and he is still expected to serve four months in total with an early release for good behaviour. Nikki’s pending charges are not part of these proceedings.

16/8/98
Nikki announces the first leg of tour dates for the next Mötley Crüe tour. They are no longer touring Japan first as originally planned, since Tommy will not be allowed to leave the country for some time. The mixing of the album was completed by Bob Rock two days ago. Nikki says the final artwork for the album has a funny caricature of the band on the cover, reminiscent of Aerosmith’s Draw The Line, which is something they have wanted to do for a long time but never came across one they loved. It is drawn by Erik C. Casillas, who has also done a lot of the Outlaw clothing designs.

20/8/98
Union commences their second leg of the tour in Dubuque, Iowa.

25/8/98
Rob Zombie’s solo album Hellbilly Deluxe is released. The album is produced by Rob with Scott Humphrey, co-producer of the Crüe’s Generation Swine album, and features Tommy drumming on the tracks Resurrection Joe and Meet the Creeper. The album was recorded at Scott’s home studio The Chop Shop while Tommy stayed there earlier in the year as he faced his spousal abuse charges.

Nikki takes Moonshine, now re-named Laidlaw, into the studio to record an album on his label Americoma Records. Nikki is producing the album with the band, while Brian Dobbs is the engineer. Former Journey front-man Steve Perry contributes vocals to the track Send My Baby Home.

5/9/98
Tommy is released from LA County Jail at 1:40am after completing just over three months of his six-month sentence for spousal abuse. He takes his black jail shoes with him as a reminder of his time. Tommy has spent most of his time inside reading thirty four self-help books, meditating and working out with weights he made by filling rubbish bin liners with water and hiding them under his bed until they were taken away from him. He also did many push-ups and handstands against a wall. He made a flower collage from the small stickers on his daily apple. He feels the strangest part of his experience in jail was giving autographs to other inmates and wardens. He tells Nikki when he visits him in jail one Saturday that he can no longer play in Mötley Crüe. He agrees to do the Greatest Hits tour but says he will bring his portable studio on the road with him to start work on his solo music.

Tommy is picked up from jail by his friend Bob Procop and driven in his Bentley to his waterfront house in Marina del Ray, having a cigarette on the way and closing his eyes to the freeway traffic that he finds too much to bear after his confinement. He has a Jacuzzi for a couple of hours with four women Bob had arranged but it’s all too much too soon for Tommy. Bob drives Tommy to his empty Malibu home with Bob Suhosky, who was minding Tommy’s home while he was in jail.

8/9/98
Nikki finds out that Tommy has been released from jail after a friend says he has seen him shopping. He feels it’s a slap in the face as he did his best to help Tommy while in jail, even starting a letter-writing campaign for his early release.

12/9/98
Nikki announces that Laidlaw will support Mötley Crüe on the forthcoming tour to help set-up the Laidlaw debut CD on Nikki’s label next year. A Battle of the Bands competition in each city called Kickstart Your Career will provide winners with the opportunity to open for Laidlaw and the Crüe. Local winners will become finalists for the grand prize of inclusion on a nationally-released compilation album. The innovation is to be supported by Guitar Centre.

21/9/98
Nikki finishes work on the Laidlaw album, including mixing two songs for a Laidlaw sampler CD that will be available at forthcoming shows when they support Mötley Crüe. Brian Dobbs is set to mix the remaining eight tracks in a few weeks.

23/9/98
With Tommy back from a vacation in Hawaii with his producer friend Scott Humphrey following Tommy’s jail release, and Nikki having completed work on Laidlaw’s album, Mötley Crüe starts rehearsals for their Greatest Hits Tour. Meanwhile the first single from the Greatest Hits album Bitter Pill is U.S.A. rock radio’s number-one most-added track this week.

24/9/98
Tommy’s first interview since his release from prison is aired on the TV show Fox Files. Ticketmaster announces Mötley Crüe is the fourth-best ticket-selling artist for the week, behind Depeche Mode, Aerosmith and Elton John.

26/9/98
On Californian radio, Nikki says rap artist Coolio will contribute vocals to the song Killing Joke on Nikki’s forthcoming 1958 CD release. Coolio is also on the Beyond Records label. The release may also include a contribution by Twiggy from Marilyn Manson.

3/10/98
Some friends throw a birthday party for Tommy, where he acquaints himself with Carmen Electra. She is now separated from her basketball champion husband Dennis Rodman after four months of marriage, and has replaced Pamela Anderson on Baywatch after she left to start her own series V.I.P.

4/10/98
The new Eric Singer Project (ESP) album is to be called Lost & Spaced and will be available via mail-order in two weeks from Rock Hard Records. John contributes vocals to half of the ten cover songs, including Humble Pie’s Four Day Creep, Edgar Winter’s Free Ride, Deep Purple’s Never Before, Aerosmith’s S.O.S. and Jimi Hendrix’s Foxy Lady that also features Ace Frehley on lead guitar. ESP is considering a tour early next year when the CD will be available in retail stores.

5/10/98
Tommy says after the Mötley Crüe tour he’ll be looking for opportunities to sign and produce other artists on his own Yummy Records label. He’s also spending time working on his solo project, which includes songs he wrote while incarcerated. Mick still wants to do a blues-style side project while Nikki has spoken with Vince about doing a project with him on the side. A Mötley Crüe album of new songs is also being planned for a future release.

14/10/98
Mötley Crüe’s Greatest Hits album is released in Japan through Polydor Records. No bonus tracks are included due to space limitations on the CD. The CD cover shows the caricature artwork on a black background.

Kottonmouth Kings band DJ Bobby B is said to be headed into the studio to collaborate with Tommy on his solo album. The band was recently dropped from their support slot on the Insane Clown Posse tour for trading backstage passes for marijuana.

18/10/98
Tommy is one of the guests at a party at Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion to promote the premiere of forthcoming movie Orgazmo. Other guests include Gabriel Byrne, Dwight Yoakam, Robert Duvall, The Crystal Method, Jon Lovitz and Metallica, who play a forty-five-minute live set.

19/10/98
Mötley Crüe members make a short guest appearance on the number-one-rated cable television show Raw Is War. The whole band hangs with their biggest fans in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) including wrestlers Triple H, Road Dog Jesse James, Badd Ass Billy Gunn, X-Pac and Chyna. Fans see Tommy’s new dreadlocks for the first time.

20/10/98
Mötley performs at the WWF event Raw is War in Madison, Wisconsin. They play new song Bitter Pill along with a version of Wild Side with wrestler Road Dog Jesse James. This is the first time Bitter Pill is played live. The performances are scheduled for television airing to an estimated thirty million viewers in a week’s time.

21/10/98
The Mötley Cruue Greatest Hits Tour kicks off in Ames, Iowa with Laidlaw in support. The set features no drum solo, bass solo or guitar solo, but rarely performed songs like Ten Seconds to Love as the band packs in the most amount of tunes possible. The stage is stripped back to just an awesome light show and the use of confetti. The Crüe is also said to be featured on the cover of the March issue of Playgirl magazine but it never eventuates. Crüe security is now handled by Chris ‘Hawk’ Louden, who has previously worked with many bands including Tool. His primary task is to keep Tommy out of any trouble’s way.

26/10/98
A civil lawsuit is filed in the Federal Court in North Carolina’s middle district, stemming from the racial incident at the Crüe concert in Greensboro last October 30. Arrest warrants were later issued to Nikki and Tommy, charging them with disorderly conduct, inciting a riot, and simple assault and battery. Security company Show Pros Entertainment Services of Charlotte and one of its employees John F. Allen allege in the suit that Nikki shouted obscenities at Allen, kicked him in the shoulder, spit at him and then told the lighting directors to shine the spotlight on him while encouraging the audience to participate in the harassment. Allen also says Tommy poured beer on him while Nikki made negative racial slurs. The lawsuit makes six claims, including assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, slander, interference with an economic relationship or prospective advantage, and violation of a federal law that prohibits racially motivated conspiracies. In each of those claims, Allen and Show Pros are asking for damages in excess of $75,000, as well as punitive damages.

27/10/98
Mötley Crüe releases their Greatest Hits album in the United States. The CD kicks off with two new tracks Bitter Pill and Enslaved, followed by a collection of hits spanning their career. Enslaved was written by Tommy and Mick and was initially titled Slave. Tommy wrote the bulk of the song right after his release on bail from imprisonment earlier in the year. Thinking about his relationship with Pamela, he felt in trying to make the other person happy, he sort of lost himself and became somewhat of a slave. The former cover touted for the release is used on the rear. This features a medicine cabinet with pill bottles labeled with all the band’s albums. Information on the forthcoming Mötley Millennium Series is included in the booklet, stating the Crüe’s digitally remastered back-catalogue can be purchased next year as a box set or individually.

After a hectic day of press and promotions, Mötley plays their only date announced outside the U.S.A. for this tour at Massey Hall in Toronto, Canada. Nikki says more dates will be announced next month, which are to include concerts on the U.S. West Coast early in 1999.

Marvelous 3 releases their new CD titled Hey! Album. Their Marvelous Records version, containing some different songs than the standard Elektra release, finishes up with a track Cold as Hell, which makes reference to Nikki in the lyrics and finishes with a taped phone message from Tommy.

28/10/98
Mötley Crüe appears on the U.S. national TV show Late Night with Conan O’ Brien playing Dr. Feelgood and half of Kickstart My Heart. They then go to the Rob Zombie concert at Roseland in New York.

John plans to have a solo album released soon through Rock Hard Records, the label that has recently released the ESP debut CD. An ESP tour of Australia seems very likely in the near future. A live album with John’s band Union is currently being finished up for release.

29/10/98
Mötley Crüe’s scheduled appearance on the Howard Stern show is cancelled after they aren’t allowed into the radio station’s building due to a legal technicality. In the evening, the Crüe plays live in MTV’s New York studio for the taping and subsequent airing of the performance on MTV Rocks Off the following Wednesday. They play Kickstart My Heart and Dr. Feelgood, followed by Live Wire with audience members on stage with them. A question and answer session concludes the event. Audience members were selected from fans entering a competition.

30/10/98
At the Beacon in New York, Mötley is joined on stage by Jesse Camp from MTV, who lends his vocals to Smokin’ In The Boys Room.

31/10/98
Mötley plays their Halloween Show at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston. Nikki wears his old striped makeup from the Shout At The Devil era.

2/11/98
Judge Pregerson throws out Tommy and Pam’s suit in the Federal Court against IEG to prevent their home-video from being sold online. It is thrown out on the grounds that they signed away their rights to claim any damages in a 1997 out-of-court settlement.

4/11/98
U.S. sales figures released by SoundScan confirm that Mötley Crüe’s Greatest Hits will debut on next week’s Billboard chart at number twenty, the second highest debut after REM at number three. Mötley places higher than other new releases from Neil Diamond, Bryan Adams, Divine and the Afghan Whigs.

13/11/98
Limp Bizkit releases a video for their cover version of the George Michael song Faith that mainly presents live footage from their current tour. Tommy is seen in the video clip along with members of Korn, Deftones, Primus and Ice Cube.

A hearing occurs in a Los Angeles court for the lawsuit filed by John against Mötley Crüe.

15/11/98
As Mötley Crüe performs a show in Chicago that is webcast on the Internet, Nikki says the band will be on tour until September next year. A second U.S. leg will take place in February and March followed by a third in the summer. Shows in the rest of the world are also expected to be announced.

The Union live album is being prepared for release early next year and will include their version of Mötley’s Power to the Music amongst other covers by The Scream, Kiss and Cheap Trick. The bonus tracks for the Japanese release will be The Beatles’ Hide Your Love Away and an acoustic version of October Morning Wind.

19/11/98
After arriving in Los Angeles at 2pm in a red convertible Cadillac, Mötley Crüe holds a two-hour press conference before opening their retail store S’Crüe at 5:30pm. Vince cuts through the front door of the shop at 7201 Melrose Avenue with a chainsaw; the other band members kick in what’s left of the door. In addition to featuring Mötley Crüe tour merchandise, CD’s and their Mötley Brüe drink, S’Crüe stocks clothes from both Nikki and Vince’s clothing lines in Outlaw and Bad Bones respectively. The décor includes zebra-striped floors, Tommy and Nikki’s custom Harley bikes, a drum kit, as well as some of Mötley’s Gold and Platinum records, and Mötley logos adorning the walls. The shop window displays huge sign-written imagery of the band’s Greatest Hits album cover. Tickets for the only Los Angeles show this year go on-sale at the S’Crüe grand opening, with remaining tickets ready to go on sale the following day. The store sits across the street from an antique store and right next door to a General Nutrition Centre. The band says they are trying to get a license to open up a tattoo and piercing service in the shop to make it a cool hang-out for fans.

After the store’s opening, Tommy attends a stage show called the Triple X Fantasy Review at the Riviera Hotel and Casino, where he cheers on adult hardcore superstar Jenna Jameson before joining her backstage and then taking her on a date. The twenty-three-year-old platinum blonde is one of the reigning queens of the adult movie industry, appearing on the cover of fifty men’s magazines and starring in thirty six adult movies in just over four years. Jameson says while she and Tommy are long-time friends, they have never been romantic with each other yet. Although he wants to sleep with her, she’s hesitant because Tommy’s former fiancée Bobbie Brown is a good friend of hers and Bobbie is said to still want Tommy back.

23/11/98
Mötley Crüe’s Greatest Hits CD is released in Australia through EMI Records.

30/11/98
In Austin Texas, Tommy has his tattooed wedding band saying Pamela covered up with more ink. Pamela previously had her wedding ring tattoo changed from reading Tommy to Mommy.

3/12/98
John plays his first gig with ESP in Melbourne, Australia. The band comprises fellow Union member Bruce Kulick along with Eric Singer and Karl Cochran. At an in-store appearance earlier in the day, he is surprised at the large amount of support he receives from Mötley fans on his first trip to Australia.

5/12/98
Dancing girls dubbed Satan’s Cheerleaders join Mötley Crüe on stage during their concert in New Orleans. Complete with costumes emblazoned with 666, the Austin-based troupe dance through Mötley songs Girls, Girls, Girls and Anarchy in the U.K. Towards the end of the night, many fans invade the stage. As one offender tries to punch a security guard, he collects Nikki in the head instead, before being sent flying by a return blow from the Crüe bassist.

7/12/98
Nikki says the Mötley Millennium Series is likely to be released next June, July or August. He also says the band is working on their own book called The Dirt that will air some twisted stuff.

Tommy confirms he will collaborate with The Crystal Method on his forthcoming solo album tentatively titled New School, after he recently met them at a party at the Playboy Mansion. He has also put in calls to The Chemical Brothers and MixMaster Mike from the Beastie Boys to appear on the CD. Nine Inch Nails guitarist Danny Lohner has worked on some of the demos with Tommy. Recording is set to begin in January with Tommy performing the vocal and guitar duties, while a second drummer will assist with the percussion. The flavour is said to be in the vein of his Planet Boom track.

11/12/98
After moping around all week because his wife Donna D’Errico couldn’t join him on the road for his fortieth Birthday, Nikki plays with the Crüe on stage in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Prior to the show, Tommy and Mick give him a bass amp for his road rig, while Vince gives him a knife to add to his weapons collection. At one point during the show as Nikki takes the microphone, two police officers enter the stage and approach him from behind, handcuffing him to a wheelchair. He thinks he is being arrested like on his last birthday, until the police start to dance and strip. Figuring they are male strippers and a payback for all the years of pranks he has pulled, he unsuccessfully tries to exit the stage. He is then joined onstage by Donna, also dressed as a police officer. She tells the crowd he has been a bad husband for being gone too long and that he is in trouble. Donna asks Nikki how old he is to which he replies twenty three. After the crowd boos his response, she says she has it written down somewhere, lifting her top to show off a four on her left breast and a zero on her right. He then has a mess dumped on him from above. After the show, Nikki and Donna go to Miami Beach’s Tantra restaurant where they share the aphrodisiac special of oysters, sea urchin, shrimp and smoked eel.

13/12/98
On arrival back home in Malibu, Nikki gets further birthday treats from his family. His house is lit up with Christmas lights all over it and rose petals lead a trail up the driveway. A solo violinist plays Happy Birthday to him at the top of the stairs and as he enters his home, which is full of five hundred helium balloons. He also sees many candles and further rose petals placed all around. His excited children lead him to the bedroom that is full of drawings from them, along with roses and more balloons. He is then given a 1950s Gretsch Silver Jet guitar with a big red ribbon on it, before dining on his favourite meal: sushi.

Mötley is featured on VH1’s Behind the Music for the first of an unprecedented eight airings running through until Christmas.

15/12/98
Vince files a lawsuit in the Superior Court of the County of Los Angeles against law firm Jeffer, Mangels, Butler & Mamaro LLP for professional negligence. The firm represented Vince in personal bankruptcy through to 16 December 1997 and he claims that prior to then, he discovered various acts of malpractice in the handling of that case including a claim that his bankruptcy statements that were prepared by the firm were inaccurate. Vince also claims that JMBM could’ve corrected the statements but didn’t and allowed him to testify at his meeting of creditors that the statements were correct. Because of the alleged malpractice, Vince says he was sued by a third-party creditor seeking to avoid the discharge, based in part on JMBM’s failure to perform legal services adequately. This resulted in Vince having to pay the trustee a large amount of money in settlement that he otherwise would not have had to pay.

20/12/98
Mötley Crüe plays their final concert for the year at the Phoenix Civic Plaza in Arizona as they wind up the forty-two-date first leg of their Greatest Hits Tour.

31/12/98
Union plays a New Years Eve show at the Coconut Teaszer in Los Angeles.

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