John 5 Officially Named Touring Guitarist for Motley Crue

Motley Crue has announced that John 5 will be filling in for guitarist Mick Mars on the band's upcoming tour dates.

This news comes shortly after it was announced Mars was retiring from touring due to the effects of Ankylosing Spondylitis (A.S.), a degenerative disease that causes the spine to curve.

Vince Neil, Tommy Lee and Nikki Sixx shared the news of John 5 in a joint statement and touched on their admiration of Mars.

"While change is never easy, we accept Mick's decision to retire from the band due to the challenges with his health," begins the statement. "We have watched Mick manage his Ankylosing Spondylitis for decades and he has always managed it with utmost courage and grace."

They continued, "To say 'enough is enough' is the ultimate act of courage. Mick's sound helped define Motley Crue from the minute he plugged in his guitar at our very first rehearsal together. The rest, as they say, is history. We'll continue to honor his musical legacy."

The Crue concluded, "We will carry out Mick's wish and continue to tour the world as planned in 2023. No doubt will it take an absolutely outstanding musician to fill Mick's shoes so we are grateful that our good friend, John 5, has agreed to come on board and join us moving forward. We'll see all you Crueheads out on the road!"

John 5 has previously played for the likes of David Lee Roth, Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie. He issued his own brief statement on him filling in for Mars saying, "I'm honored to carry on Mick's legacy and am looking forward to playing these songs."

Motley Crue, through all of the obstacles (and there have been plenty), has managed to survive for four decades. It's an overwhelming thought when you think about it.

Just reading or watching The Dirt gave fans an idea of the absolutely insane things the band has gone through. From drugs to horrific tragedies and everywhere in between, The Crue has seemingly seen or done it all.

The latest chapter in the band involves the exit of Mick Mars. The guitarist retiring from touring with Mötley Crüe in October 2022 seemed to come out of nowhere. Apparently, the band thought the same.

Nikki Sixx told Guitar World, "We never saw it coming that Mick wasn’t going to be able to tour and was going to have to quit the band."

At the time, Mötley Crüe was about to hit the road again with Def Leppard following the success of The Stadium Tour. Sixx expressed that after Mars' retirement, the band didn't want to let fans, Def Leppard or tour promoter Live Nation down. This then led them to bring in guitarist John 5 to fill in for Mars. Sixx referred to the substitution as "a no-brainer in a horrible situation -- something we did not ask for or want.

Of course, a lot has played out in the press in the aftermath of Mars' retirement. To begin with, Mars filed a lawsuit against Mötley Crüe alleging his percentage of band profits was cut from 25 percent to 5 percent.

He claimed in his lawsuit the band held a meeting to "unilaterally" remove him from Mötley Crüe. He was also allegedly removed from many of the band's various corporations and LLCs. Additionally, Mars claims bassist Nikki Sixx repeatedly "gaslighted" the guitarist. Sixx told Mars he consistently forgot chords and fans were complaining about his playing. (Mars claimed in the lawsuit Sixx "did not play a single note on bass during the entire U.S. tour" and accused him of using backing tracks and pantomiming.)

While this issue is still ongoing, let us not forget they've provided rock fans with quite the catalog of songs, with a number of those tunes now considered rock/metal classics.

From the classics to the deeper cuts, here are the 40 best songs of Motley Crue, ranked.