Nikki Sixx, the mastermind behind Mötley Crüe, shared our article from his official account. Global rock stars frequently share our news, but Sixx is a different kind of character. I have an interesting story about this — I once wrote about it on my blog, so let me share it here as well.
In 2019, when The Dirt was released on Netflix, Mötley Crüe became a global phenomenon again. There’s no need to explain their lifestyle — they lived the “rockstar” life to the absolute extreme. Each one of them is an intense, larger-than-life character.
With the hype around the film at its peak, we were publishing a lot of content about them. One day, we received an email from Mötley Crüe’s team. It was a soft warning, saying that our coverage was becoming too sensational and that we should tone it down a bit.
Nikki Sixx is a pure rockstar — he doesn’t care much about emails. Around the same time, he posted on social media targeting websites that were publishing sensational headlines about them, including heavyweights like Loudwire.
My reply to the email was roughly this: you are a massive band; the whole world is talking about you. Fans want to know everything you do. Even if we tone it down, you will still be news. There’s no real way to stop that. And considering a reunion tour was potentially on the table, keeping the hype alive is practically free PR for you.
After that, there was no response — and no further warnings either. Over time, Sixx and the other members moved away from their critical stance toward the media coverage.
Fast forward to today: no tension, no resentment, no dramatic reconciliation either. They simply started sharing the news themselves.
My theory is that at some point they realized this: instead of trying to control the narrative around a reputation that was never exactly “clean” to begin with, it was more beneficial to let it flow. The result? The reunion tour sold out entirely.
The takeaway is simple: instead of trimming your identity just to please others, owning it tends to resonate far better with your audience.
PS: Nikki Sixx’s book is phenomenal, by the way. If you’re curious about how a brand survives despite all the absurdity, it offers some very interesting insights. =D
