Tommy Lee: I Got So Much Bullsh*t for Making Nu-Metal

When Tommy Lee broke off from Motley Crue to start a nu-metal project, he received a heap of criticism from metal purists, but two decades later, an entire generation of rappers inspired by nu-metal and emo have taken over the charts.

During an exclusive interview with Tommy Lee, we asked him about his experimental genre-mashing with Methods of Mayhem and the hate he received because of it. “I got so much fucking bullshit in 2000,” Lee says. “I needed to do all the shit I had inside of me. It had to come out, like coming out of the closet or something. I had all these ideas and I was just doing Motley and I had to break away from that to go do this. Creatively, I was dying.”

“I took so much flak for that [self-titled] record. ‘What the fuck? Tommy Lee’s a rapper now?’ No, you fucking morons, it has nothing to do with that. I’m a drummer, first of all, everything I do, I do with rhythm. Just because you’re singing a track or screaming a track that feels like it’s rap… No, I never claimed to be a rapper.”

“I took a heap of fucking bullshit for that and I was like, ‘You know what? Whatever. I know what it is; it’s me being rhythmic and this is some brand new shit. You’re gonna take flak any time you push like that from your fans, because they’re used to seeing you do one thing. Anytime you go outside that thing, they’re like, ‘What the fuck is this bullshit?’ I listen to that record now and that record was way ahead of its time.”

Lee says it also warms his heart seeing so many modern artists breaking down genre barriers, like Tommy did once again with his third solo album, Andro. The record has been given an Oct. 16 release date, but you can hear the singles “Knock Me Down” feat. Killvein and "Tops" feat. Push Push here.

Watch our interview with Tommy Lee below, and to pre-order Andro, click here.

Tommy Lee: I Got So Much Bullsh!t for Making Nu-Metal

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