“The producer of that record went, ‘That sounds too much like a guitar’ and I’m going, ‘It is a guitar’” Mick Mars says he almost quit Mötley Crüe over Generation Swine

Mick Mars has named Mötley Crüe’s 1997 album Generation Swine as his least favourite, saying the record’s making was “really hard” on him at the time.

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The former Crüe guitarist was speaking on the latest episode of Sirius XM’s Eddie Trunk Podcast, where he revealed that Generation Swine is the only Mötley Crüe album he doesn’t like. Mars also said that the record was the closest he ever came to quitting the band.

“That era right there of Generation Swine was a bit difficult for me,” he says. “And it was difficult for me because the band was really trying to reinvent itself when it really didn’t.”

“It was really hard for me to come up with stuff… The producer of that record [Scott Humphrey], to make it short, [said] ‘that sounds too much like a guitar’ and I’m going ‘it is a guitar’.

Mars continues: “That [album] was a little rough on me, but we got through it. Just like we’re supposed to do, as a band. But yeah, it was hard and there was a lot of stress.”

In other news, Mars recently showed off some pretty impressive guitar chops in his new single, Loyal To The Lie. As adept as he might be at shredding, though, the guitarist said that he has no interest in being a “shredder” and that he’ll much rather fans remember his solos instead.

“Tone is the biggest part for me. I could play slower or whatever the heck, but it was always tone,” Mars said. “Did I want to be a shredder? Not really. I mean, I’d like to have people humming my solos when they leave a show. And remembering them.”

Listen to the full interview below.