How Mötley Crüe's Biting 'Game' Got the Band Booted from a Hotel — and Into a Fight with Van Halen and AC/DC

Mar. 15, 2025

Mötley Crüe in 1982.Photo:Randy Bachman/Getty

Randy Bachman/Getty

Things could get kind of crazy when the biggest bands in hair metal hit the road.

In the recent documentaryNöthin' But a Good Time: The Uncensored Story of ’80s Hair Metal,photographer Mark Weiss recalled getting on a tour bus withMötley Crüeonce whenNikki Sixxturned around and bit him.

“I’m like, ‘What going on?’ He’s like, ‘Draw blood!’ " he recalled, explaining, “He wanted me to bite him back and I’m like, ‘I’m not doing that.’ "

The band’s manager,Doc McGhee, explained that “the whole Mötley Crüe had this thing called the Dark Angels … They’d bite you right in the middle of the forehead, they’d bite you in the arm.”

“When they bit you, it was like a dog bite,” he added, stating that while others played along, he wasn’t interested.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Van Halen in 1984.David Tan/Shinko Music/Getty

David Tan/Shinko Music/Getty

“Nikki andTommy[Lee] were both trying to bite me. I think Nikki first came, I grabbed him and I pulled him down. Then Tommy jumped on me and I pulled him over my shoulder,” he remembered.

“I had both of them on the ground and I just started punching the s— out of them, and I punched them so many times that I threw up on them,” he laughed.

McGhee then recalled an incident ahead of Monsters of Rock in Stockholm, Sweden, in 1984, when mayhem erupted at the band’s hotel over a biting incident.

“There’s 15,000 people at the ballroom in the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden. We’re doing Monsters of Rock and it’sAC/DC, Van Halen and Mötley Crüe,” McGhee said. “All off a sudden, Nikki gets up and walks over and bitesEddie Van Halenon his shoulder.”

Van Halen wasn’t amused, even less so when Tommy Lee went up and also bit him.

AC/DC in 1984.Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty

Meanwhile, “Tommy andDavid Lee Rothare up on the table, doing some kung fu fighting or some s— like that.”

The incident led to them all getting kicked out of the hotel, something that didn’t bother Mötley Crüe the next day. When McGhee reminded Lee he’d bitten Van Halen, he said, “Dude, we just bit him because we love him.”

McGhee said, “I told him, ‘You’re f—– up. You don’t bite people.”

Nöthin’ But a Good Time: The Uncensored Story of ’80s Hair Metalis now streaming on Paramount+.

source: people.com