In 1989, a unique set of circumstances led Jack Blades to work with Motley Crue.
Blades’ own band, Night Ranger, had enjoyed massive success earlier in the decade with hits like “Sister Christian” and “Sentimental Street.” At the same time, Motley Crue had established itself as one of the most dangerous – and exciting – bands in the world.
The two groups became friendly, regularly partying on and around Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip.
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“We’d all go up to the Rainbow until like 12 or 1, and then at like 1 o’clock in the morning we’d bring everybody, like 20 people from the Rainbow, down to the recording studio. There’s a hot tub in the studio. And we’d just have this massive party,” Blades recalled during a recent conversation with Sirius XM’s Eddie Trunk. “All the guys in Motley, the guys, once Ratt came out. Just everybody, they’d all come down.”
Still, the fun wouldn’t last forever, and in 1989 Night Ranger called it quits. “We all kind of went our separate ways,” Blades explained. “I said, ‘I’m out. I don’t want to do this anymore.’”
Jack Blades Reached Out to Vince Neil After Night Ranger’s Breakup
The singer soon reached out to his close friend Vince Neil to share the news.
“I called Vince and I said, ‘Dude, I just left my band. I don’t have a band.’ And he’s like, ‘Wow. Are you kidding?’ He said, ‘Well, we’re cutting our album up in Vancouver at Little Mountain Studios with Bob Rock,’ of course. And so he said, ‘What are you doing? Why don’t you come up and hang with me?’”
Blades accepted the offer and met with Motley Crue in Canada.
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“We just hung out for about seven, eight, nine days. And all those guys were sober at that time,” Blades recalled. “Everybody was completely clean. Motley was completely clean and sober. So Vince and I just stayed up all night talking about life and everything like that. And I’d just hang out and go down to the studio.”
As luck would have it, Blades wasn’t the only rock star in Vancouver at the time. Aerosmith was also in town recording their own album, Pump. When it came time to record “Same Ol’ Situation,” Blades was one of a few guests joining Motley Crue in the studio.
Watch Motley Crue’s ‘Same Ol’ Situation’ Video
“Around the microphone in Little Mountain Studios up in Vancouver singing on that song, ‘Same Ol’ Situation’ on the chorus, was Steven Tyler, me, Vince and Bryan Adams,” Blades remembered. The same singers also provided background vocals on the album cut “Sticky Sweet.”
“Same Ol’ Situation’ would eventually be released as the fifth and final single from Motley Crue’s hugely successful Dr. Feelgood album. Meanwhile, Blades went on to form Damn Yankees in the early ‘90s alongside Ted Nugent and Tommy Shaw.
Motley Crue Albums Ranked
We look back at everything from Too Fast for Love to Saints of Los Angeles to see which albums hold up best all these years later.
Gallery Credit: Ultimate Classic Rock Staff
