Mötley Crüe drummer Tommy Lee opened up about the real reason he left the band for a period in 1999, sharing his thoughts in an interview on the Zach Sang Show.
Lee spoke candidly about feeling creatively stifled within the band’s format and explained how that frustration ultimately pushed him to step away and pursue other musical outlets.
“I actually did quit Mötley Crüe for a couple years,” Lee said. “I was creatively dying slowly as just my personal, you know, musicianship and craft and stuff and I was getting. I just I needed an outlet.”
“So, I actually quit for a couple years and that’s when I started Methods of Mayhem and started doing some solo stuff,” he continued. “Because I had to like switch gears. I wasn’t able to creatively do anything outside of the, you know, sort of the Mötley format.”
Lee went on to describe the freedom he found in his solo work, and also revealed a pivotal moment of self-reflection that came during a period of personal hardship.
“And with my own stuff, it was a place for me. I call it the adult sandbox,” he said. “Like literally anything goes. No genres, no style, no doesn’t matter. We’re doing whatever what I want to do, you know, and just have fun with it. Creatively, I needed that because I was at a kind of a bad place in my life. And I realized it sitting in jail.”
“I was like, I gotta change something because obviously I’m here and this is, you know, I gotta switch it up because I got to get happy and get out of here,” Lee added. “It was linked to creativity. It’s such a big part of me. If you’re not happy creatively and you don’t feel like you’re able to constantly evolve and create and do and do that stuff, that’s dangerous.”
Lee’s comments shed light on the personal and creative pressures that led to his temporary departure from one of rock’s most iconic bands.
His latest remarks also line up with earlier accounts of that period, when his frustration with Mötley Crüe had been building for some time and eventually pushed him toward other projects.
According to The World of AF Grant, Lee said the urge to move beyond Mötley Crüe had been building for about three years before he left in 1999. The same report said he also wanted to spend more time with his family while focusing on new musical ideas outside the band.
Methods of Mayhem quickly became the main outlet for that shift. According to The World of AF Grant, Lee launched the project in 1999 after stepping away from Mötley Crüe and used it to pursue a different creative direction.
That project gave him room to move into a hybrid sound that blended hard rock with rap and industrial elements. According to Tommy Lee Left Motley Crue FOR THIS??, Methods of Mayhem was built as a freer musical platform than the structure Lee had worked within in Mötley Crüe.
Lee also made clear that his personal struggles were tied closely to the decision. According to Tommy Lee Left Motley Crue FOR THIS??, he described his jail time as a turning point and said he realized he needed to change his life and “switch it up.”
His comments now present that chapter as more than a temporary band split. They show how burnout, family priorities, and a need for creative freedom all played a role in his decision to walk away for a time.
