No, the Mötley Crüe & Third Eye Blind beef in ‘Pam & Tommy’ sadly wasn’t real
This post contains spoilers of Pam & Tommy's fifth episode, 'Uncle Jim and Aunt Susie In Duluth.'
The Pam & Tommy miniseries is underway on Hulu, and continued yesterday (2/16) with its fifth of eight episodes. The Robert Siegel-created show tells the story of Pamela Anderson (played by Lily James) and Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee's (played by Sebastian Stan) leaked sex tape -- and also stars Seth Rogen, Nick Offerman, Taylor Schilling, Jason Mantzoukas (as the voice of Tommy's penis) and more -- and there are a few subplots, including the one about how the Tommy Lee of 1996 was grappling with being a washed-up rockstar.
Earlier in the series, there's a scene where he's watching the VH1 Behind the Music on Mötley Crüe, and smiling until the narrator suggests that hair metal was replaced by Nirvana and grunge. In the new episode, he angrily watches an Alanis Morissette video on TV, then goes to sulk and stare at his framed Mötley Crüe gold records, and then goes to a bar where a visibly pissed off Tommy Lee asks the bartender "what the fuck is this shit?" and the bartender replies "Sleater-Kinney, so fucking good." Later in the episode, he meets up with the rest of Mötley Crüe in the studio, but he's pissed off to realize Elektra assigned them to Studio B, and instead gave Studio A to... Third Eye Blind. The two bands have it out, in what serves as yet another nail in hair metal's coffin. It's a great scene, but -- like other parts of Pam & Tommy -- it was Rob Siegel using a little artistic license. Third Eye Blind frontman Stephan Jenkins confirmed to Variety that the Motley Crue/Third Eye Blind beef never actually happened.
"Mötley Crüe and I’ve never been in the same studio," he said. "I recorded my whole first album in Northern California. So we were across the state from each other at the very least."
"I had never, in fact, listened to Mötley Crüe," he continued. "I never even heard them. I actually saw Tommy Lee’s penis before I ever heard their band. I was like, ‘Well, good on ya, Tommy. Well done, lad.’ I literally had never heard them. But I somehow saw the sex tape. I’d also never seen ‘Baywatch.’ So I had never seen Pam or Tommy. That was my first introduction to them."
He did also add that he came around to Mötley Crüe's music eventually. "Years later I heard this song, maybe when somebody put it on the jukebox or something. But I’m like, oh my god, what is that groove? It’s so nasty like aggressive and heavy. And it was ‘Shout at the Devil.’ And so I got this blind introduction to Mötley Crüe and I was like, this shit is great. And so we never kicked them out of the studio, but my drummer Brad said that what inspired him to play drums when he was a little kid was Mötley Crüe. He loved that metal shit. So there is a part of Third Eye Blind taking some kind of inspiration from Tommy Lee’s drumming."
"I felt like that was the perfect band [for the scene]," Siegel said of Third Eye Blind. "I did a little quick Google search, what label was Mötley Crüe on? Elektra. Who else was on Elektra? Third Eye Blind. The timing was perfect. In 1996 they’re working on their debut album. So the scene is fictional, but I like to think it absolutely could have happened!" Read more here.
Meanwhile, Mötley Crüe just added five new shows to their previously announced tour with Def Leppard, Poison, and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. After being postponed a couple times due to COVID, it's now set to begin this June, and hits stadiums all around North America, including NYC's Citi Field, Chicago's Wrigley Field, Inglewood's SoFi Stadium, two nights at Boston's Fenway Park, and more. Tickets here. All dates are listed below.
Earlier this week, Third Eye Blind announced a tour with Taking Back Sunday, including places that are smaller than stadiums, like Jones Beach. So maybe alt-rock won the battle, but hair metal won the war?
Also related: Nikki Sixx and Eddie Vedder are beefing in real life as we speak. Some things never change.
Def Leppard / Mötley Crüe / Poison / Joan Jett -- 2022 Tour Dates
Thursday, June 16 Atlanta, GA Truist Park
Saturday, June 18 Miami, FL Hard Rock Stadium
Sunday, June 19 Orlando, FL Camping World Stadium
Wednesday, June 22 Washington, DC Nationals Park
Friday, June 24 Queens, NY Citi Field
Saturday, June 25 Philadelphia, PA Citizens Bank Park
Tuesday, June 28 Charlotte, NC Bank of America Stadium
Thursday, June 30 Nashville, TN Nissan Stadium
Saturday, July 2 Jacksonville, FL TIAA Bank Field
Tuesday, July 5 St. Louis, MO Busch Stadium
Friday, July 8 Chicago, IL Wrigley Field
Sunday, July 10 Detroit, MI Comerica Park
Tuesday July 12 Hershey, PA Hersheypark Stadium
Thursday, July 14 Cleveland, OH FirstEnergy Stadium, Home of the Cleveland Browns
Friday, July 15 Cincinnati, OH Great American Ball Park
Sunday, July 17 Milwaukee, WI American Family Field
Tuesday, July 19 Kansas City, MO Kauffman Stadium
Thursday, July 21 Denver, CO Coors Field
Friday, August 5 Boston, MA Fenway Park
Saturday, August 6 Boston, MA Fenway Park
Monday, August 8 Toronto, ON Rogers Centre
Wednesday, August 10 Orchard Park, NY Highmark Stadium
Friday, August 12 Pittsburgh, PA PNC Park
Sunday, August 14 Minneapolis, MN U.S. Bank Stadium
Tuesday, August 16 Indianapolis, IN Lucas Oil Stadium
Friday, August 19 Houston, TX Minute Maid Park
Sunday, August 21 San Antonio, TX Alamodome
Monday, August 22 Arlington, TX Globe Life Field
Thursday, August 25 Glendale, AZ State Farm Stadium
Saturday, August 27 Inglewood, CA SoFi Stadium
Sunday, August 28 San Diego, CA Petco Park
Wednesday, August 31 Seattle, WA T-Mobile Park
Friday, September 2 Vancouver, BC BC Place
Sunday, September 4 Edmonton, AB Commonwealth Stadium /Stade du Commonwealth
Wednesday, September 7 San Francisco, CA Oracle Park
Friday, September 9 Las Vegas, NV Allegiant Stadium