If you feel like reading about the legal drama between Mötley Crüe and former guitarist Mick Mars has taken years off your life, you're not alone. Mars, who recently turned 72, is convinced that he's "probably just going to live another seven or eight years."
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the musician opened up about his retirement from touring due to the progression of his Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), which turned into what he claimed was his "unilateral" removal from the band's lineup in a lawsuit filed against his former bandmates in April.
The Crüe denied the allegations, alleging that Mars elected to remove himself and adding salt to the wound by complaining that their live show had suffered from his "performance issues." Their manager also accused Mars's legal team of elder abuse — claims bassist Nikki Sixx doubled down on.
Mars told journalist Andy Greene that he just sold his publishing catalogue. "Now I can relax and don't have to worry about anything," the musician explained, "I'm probably just going to live another seven or eight years."
"I'm old enough, man," Mars elaborated, adamant when the writer pointed out that there's no way of knowing. "I'm not going to live to be 85 or 90, I just have a feeling. I don't want to, either."
He continued, "My brain doesn't want this ugly-ass body that's all fucked up to keep going," referring to his AS — a degenerative diagnosis he received at age 27, but says he started experiencing pain from when he was about 14. "I wish I could just take the information out of my brain, put it on a chip and into somebody else, or a robot. There's still a lot of stuff going on up there."
The inflammatory condition has now progressed to the point where the guitarist can't move his head from side to side and is permanently hunched over to a height at least three inches shorter than he was in high school.
"My spine is now one solid bone," Mars described. "It feels like there's a 40-pound cinder block tied to my forehead with string at all times, pulling it down." By his final tour with the band, he was apparently in a state of near-constant agony, his spine having essentially been ground into the shape of a question mark — and he hated seeing videos of himself in that shape.
"I look like a skeleton," the musician reflected. "I hate seeing that on video. But I refuse to use a cane. I refuse to use a wheelchair."
He added, "If I can't get up there myself, I'm not doing it. I don't like the way I look, and I feel very awkward seeing myself onstage like that," explaining his decision to retire last October. He told the Crüe prior to rehearsals that it would be his last tour, but he still expected to be involved in band activity. "I said, 'You guys, I'm not retiring,'" the guitarist told Greene. "'Do you want to do a Vegas residency or record new music? I'm there. You want to do a one-off? I'm there. I just can't do the world anymore.'"
In their legal battle, Mötley Crüe have described Mars as senile and confused. The journalist claims to have seen very little evidence of this in his interview, writing: "There were brief struggles to remember a word or song title, but Mars was sharp, funny, and focused, telling stories from decades past in vivid detail."
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, the musician opened up about his retirement from touring due to the progression of his Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS), which turned into what he claimed was his "unilateral" removal from the band's lineup in a lawsuit filed against his former bandmates in April.
The Crüe denied the allegations, alleging that Mars elected to remove himself and adding salt to the wound by complaining that their live show had suffered from his "performance issues." Their manager also accused Mars's legal team of elder abuse — claims bassist Nikki Sixx doubled down on.
Mars told journalist Andy Greene that he just sold his publishing catalogue. "Now I can relax and don't have to worry about anything," the musician explained, "I'm probably just going to live another seven or eight years."
"I'm old enough, man," Mars elaborated, adamant when the writer pointed out that there's no way of knowing. "I'm not going to live to be 85 or 90, I just have a feeling. I don't want to, either."
He continued, "My brain doesn't want this ugly-ass body that's all fucked up to keep going," referring to his AS — a degenerative diagnosis he received at age 27, but says he started experiencing pain from when he was about 14. "I wish I could just take the information out of my brain, put it on a chip and into somebody else, or a robot. There's still a lot of stuff going on up there."
The inflammatory condition has now progressed to the point where the guitarist can't move his head from side to side and is permanently hunched over to a height at least three inches shorter than he was in high school.
"My spine is now one solid bone," Mars described. "It feels like there's a 40-pound cinder block tied to my forehead with string at all times, pulling it down." By his final tour with the band, he was apparently in a state of near-constant agony, his spine having essentially been ground into the shape of a question mark — and he hated seeing videos of himself in that shape.
"I look like a skeleton," the musician reflected. "I hate seeing that on video. But I refuse to use a cane. I refuse to use a wheelchair."
He added, "If I can't get up there myself, I'm not doing it. I don't like the way I look, and I feel very awkward seeing myself onstage like that," explaining his decision to retire last October. He told the Crüe prior to rehearsals that it would be his last tour, but he still expected to be involved in band activity. "I said, 'You guys, I'm not retiring,'" the guitarist told Greene. "'Do you want to do a Vegas residency or record new music? I'm there. You want to do a one-off? I'm there. I just can't do the world anymore.'"
In their legal battle, Mötley Crüe have described Mars as senile and confused. The journalist claims to have seen very little evidence of this in his interview, writing: "There were brief struggles to remember a word or song title, but Mars was sharp, funny, and focused, telling stories from decades past in vivid detail."
