How BOB DAISLEY Saved MICK MARS From Getting Fired By MÖTLEY CRÜE

In a new interview with Canada's The Metal Voice, veteran bassist Bob Daisley (OZZY OSBOURNE, RAINBOW, URIAH HEEP, Gary Moore) recalled how he convinced MÖTLEY CRÜE not to fire guitarist Mick Mars when the CRÜE was on tour in the U.S. as the support act for Ozzy in 1984. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "That night, after the show, Mick went on our [Osbourne's] bus [to be] with Ozzy [and the rest of his band] and I went on on their [CRÜE's] bus, so I was the only one of our lot that went on their bus. And they were having a meeting. What they were planning on doing was getting rid of Mick and getting another guitarist in. And they asked me for my opinion. So I said, 'Well, if you want my opinion, for what it's worth, I would say do not try to fix something that's not broken.' I said, 'I 've seen it before, with Lee Kerslake in the BLIZZARD OF OZZ.' I said, 'You've got a chemistry there, you've got a functioning unit. Mick Mars is part of that. Don't fuck it up. That's my opinion. Just don't do it.' And I think I saved Mick's neck that night 'cause they were getting serious about getting someone else."

Daisley continued: "Mick was good for the band — he was part of the sound, part of the delivery of what they did. It would be like sort of trying to replace Ringo [Starr] in THE BEATLES with John Bonham or Ginger Baker or somebody really, really technically brilliant. But it just wouldn't work. So I said, 'Leave it as it is. It's not broken. Stop trying to fix it.' So they left it alone and it worked out.

"Mick, I think he was a few years older than them," Bob added. "And you wouldn't call Mick a virtuoso, a guitar hero, but he was great for the band."

Three years ago, Mars told Ernie Ball's "String Theory" web series that he originally joined MÖTLEY CRÜE through an ad he placed in the Southern California magazine Recycler, saying "loud, rude, and aggressive guitarist available."

"MÖTLEY started in L.A.," he said. "Nikki [Sixx, bass] and Tommy [Lee, drums] were already playing together. I put an ad in a paper. They were looking for a guitar player and they found my ad. I actually auditioned them; they don't know it. But anyway, we went over there and it clicked."

Mick also said that he started playing guitar at age seven. "[It was] one of those little wind-up Mickey Mouse guitars," he revealed. "I learned how to tune it and started picking out whatever was popular at the time — Frankie Avalon and Elvis Presley."

Daisley previously mentioned the fact that CRÜE had considered firing Mars in his memoir, "For Facts Sake", which came out in 2014.

Back in 2009, Sixx showed his admiration and appreciation for Mars by getting a huge portrait of him tattooed on his leg. The bassist's then-girlfriend Kat Von D did the tattoo, and video footage shot during the process is available on YouTube. At the time, Sixx stated about his decision to get the tattoo: "Mick Mars is my guitar player. I've known him for almost 30 years. We have traveled the world together. We sold millions of records together, me, him, Tommy, and Vince [Neil, vocals]. We have done things as a band that we only dreamed about as kids, and they all came true. Mick is a very special person, and I wanted to honor him with this portrait tattoo. We all look up to him so much, and Mick doesn't get enough credit 'cause he doesn't stand up and say, 'Look at me!' Tommy, Vince, and I, we're big personalities. We're showmen. We're outrageous, loud, getting in trouble. Mick is always the wise one; he's always the one that sits back. Because of that, he sort of stands out for all of us. We sort of look up to him in that way."