When you're playing upside down, it takes twice the strength.
Tommy Lee
I was always impressed by some of the progressive styles of guys like Neil Peart.
You never know what's going to happen sometimes, or what you think's going to happen never happens, or when you least expect it, the Santana record comes along and just blows up.
The older I get, the more I don't care what people think or what people say. I just do what moves me.
The best thing about being rich is the freedom; freedom to do whatever you want whenever you want. It doesn't suck.
Being a drummer, I'm always like, 'Oh, that's got a funky beat. That's cool,' and I like to dance.
I've always loved the mixture of crushing live drums with a programmed groove, that really cool blend, like in the verse there's a really funky drum beat that is programmed then it comes in to the chorus; you've got that enormous human feel where the band kicks in.
The crowd is a pretty good indicator when it's good, because it's kind of a universal energy that gets passed around.
I'm driven by music. It's in my blood, and I've never been able to stay away from it for too long.
Phil Rudd from AC/DC was someone I really liked a lot... Not because I was dazzled by his playing ability - he was just a rock, y'know?
One of my favorite things in the world is to be seeing two people that are really old, still holding hands, still kissing.
I threw my son, Brandon, a rave for his birthday and I fully set it up like a crazy rave with lights and sound, me and my partner DJ'd - I got Mix Master Mike from the Beastie Boys to come DJ for a bit.
If Trent Reznor calls and says he needs a drummer for his tour... I'm there.
Every tour we do, everybody's always wondering, 'What's Tommy Lee going to do next? What new, wild and crazy thing is he going to come up with?'
I'm really a cool, mellow guy. I'm not as crazy as everybody thinks.
The horses forced into the chuckwagon races die of heart attacks, broken necks, broken legs, and other injuries. It'd be easy to get off on western tradition without this bloody spectacle. Dude, it's the Old West, not ancient Rome!
My oldest boy is 14, and he's not in that kind of awkward stage where, when we talk about girls, or there's a hot girl walking by - they're just so shy; it's weird.
Playing upside down is insane. It's two or three times more difficult than what's normal. Your feet want to come off the pedals, your arms want to drop down - all of your body is fighting gravity.
The Radiohead record, The Bends is my all-time favorite record on the planet.
No one really buys records anymore. You can look at sales and do that math real quick. Unfortunately, it's fast food in the music industry. People don't ingest full records anymore.
Single's fun - you don't have to check in with your girl, but it's not easy. I do get lonely.
I'm always getting injuries like bruised and bloody knuckles from catching a cymbal or the edge of a drum.
Of course drums weren't meant to be played other than sitting on the ground. When you're upside-down, your feet don't want to sit on the pedals.
There are things you do that just come natural, and sometimes those are amazingly in synch, and sometimes they're horribly out of synch, and you're like, 'Ooo! That wasn't very good tonight.' Most of the time, it's just on.
A lot of hip-hop artists wear fur, and they think it's a status symbol. That doesn't register for me; I just see dead animals.
I don't listen to anybody's full record anymore and when I did, I don't think I listened to the whole record. I'm sorry, and I don't care who it is, if it's the Beatles, I can't listen to an hour and a half of anybody straight so I guess that's just my personal preference.
I really wanna get my paws on scoring a film.
The New York Dolls are the only band that we grew up on that we haven't played with.
I don't need material things like gold and platinum records on my wall, Grammys or Hall Of Fame nods.
Drums isn't my one thing anymore. I love to produce. I love to make tracks, write tracks, produce tracks, and I can't just sit back as a drummer anymore.
I'll never forget when I was, like, 17, and 'Highway to Hell' came on the radio, and I was like, 'Dude, listen to that guy's voice!'
I didn't have the opportunity to go to college. I was busy touring since the age of 17.
I got really frustrated in jail, and I was like, 'Man, I love what I've done, and I love the mark I've made on rock n' roll history'... and I sat there, and I got really depressed, thinking, 'I gotta make a move... do something fresh and new.'
There was a time when cowboys respected their horses instead of riding them to death just to show off for a crowd.
I don't specifically sit down to write a Motley Crue song, so for me, that's how it works. The things that sound like they might be Crue, I put aside on my hard drive and keep them in that pile.
Whether I'm writing solo stuff, electronic stuff, or material for Motley, I just write to write. I come up with it and put things in different piles.
At 17, I signed a recording contract right out of high school, so I started touring and traveling the world. I sort of missed out on the college experience.
My father lived by the philosophy, 'Be yourself, because everyone else is taken,' and he made sure I did, too. Whatever I wanted to do, he supported me. I don't mean that I was spoilt - he didn't believe in material gifts - but he watched my back while I worked to achieve things.
It's been a while since I've studied: since high school. It's a lot of work, a lot of work.
Why is it that the hot chicks never can sing?
Drumming's pretty physical. We sit at the back of the stage getting beat up like a workhorse.
One day I would love to do rock a gig on the moon - how rad would that be? Isn't Richard Branson flying planes to outer space? Motley Crue could be the first band to play on the moon.
I've always been kind of a - you know, I have my moments, where I can be Tommy, and then I flip a switch; when you're on stage, you turn into this other personality.
Our music will continue to have an impact in people's lives long after we finally call it quits.
I don't think anybody should ever touch anybody in anger, ever.
Too many drummers sit at the back covered in drums, and you never see them.
I've loved roller coasters since I was a kid.
Nikki lives around the corner from me and I see him all the time. We talk a lot, and of course we're still friends. That was our baby, Motley Crue, we put that band together.
My house is really clean. It's a really big house so I have three ladies who come in and clean it twice a week, but let's just say that, in between times, maybe it's not quite so clean.
I'm still that rowdy dude who has after-parties in his dressing room with a concert-sized PA system blasting away.
