#2520 - Tommy Lee

The Joe Rogan Experience

Tommy Lee reflects on his legendary rock career, fatherhood, the enduring power of live music, and the challenges of modern entertainment overload. He shares stories from touring with The Rolling Stones, his son's involv

Key takeaways

• Live performances create generational connections

Transcript preview

Joe Rogan, Check it out. The Joe Rogan Experience. Train by day, Joe Rogan Podcast by night, all day. Thanks for the heads up, so I'm not tripping later going. Hey dude. Good to see you man. Good to see too. What's cracking? You got a diamond in your tooth? Is that what's going on? Nice. Nice. Nice. That's fun. My friend, Cam just got a gold tooth. And I was giving him a hard time. Oh yeah you gotta get one dude. I'm thinking he had a gold tooth. I have a cap on one of my I had a root canal I've got a cap out and one of them I think I'm gonna swap it out for a gold tooth. Do it do it. Do it. Fuck yeah I got one of back here somewhere. It's just that little like I don't know that little pirate thing starts to have. I know it's just a little out. I know it's just a little outcasty. I know it's just a little out Stoked to be here, to be here. Yeah, man, I wish I was staying longer now, but we'll make the best of... How long are you staying? How long are you in town for? I'm leaving after... Right after this? Where are you headed? Back home, LA. My son is getting married. Oh, congratulations. Thanks, thanks. Which is such a trip, dude. You know, like he's 29, and he's getting married. and I'm just I've been kind of tripping out on that like dude where the fuck did that time a go right and like I'm so fucking happy for him that he's been seeing this girl for seven years I'm so proud that he did exactly the opposite of his dad you know what I mean like he knows and he knows and they're in like they've been basically they've been married you know And they're just making it official now. And I'm just so happy for him. Like I'm, I tell him all the time, like, so happy for you, dude. Like, you, you know, you use some patience and some love and like mix it all around and put some time in there. And you know, shit's, like your survival rate is going to be way better. And that makes me really happy. And your happiness rate. I think if you're a kid and your dad is Tommy late. You've had such a fucking crazy chaotic life. He's probably like, slow down, give me a fucking yard and a picket fence and whoa. Totally, totally. That's why like, you know, in the drift of everything, yeah, I'm really surprised and I'm really happy he just like pumped the brakes. That's awesome. Make sure that what he's doing is the real shit. Yeah, I mean, especially in LA with a rock star dad. It's like there's so many bad influences. There's so many bad influences. There's so many ways there's so many Well, you could just ruin your fucking life. It's so easy to ruin your life if you're in the wrong circles. Dude. So easy. Right? Because everybody else is doing it too. You're like, hey, I guess we're doing meth. Yeah, I know, fuck. I'm fucking just, I mean, I know people that are good people that have fallen down that rabbit hole. And they're not bad people. They're not even stupid, man. They just made a bad decision for whatever reason. And then next thing, you know, you know, they're all strung out and like LA is the hub of that yeah there's so much of that going on in LA yeah and if you are having any sort of that sort of shit magnet attached to you yeah you know the shady friends and the weird circles you just kind of yeah of course all the sudden you're just fucking oh I mean I don't live in the rock and roll world but I think that's probably the most attractive to like crazy people like that is the world where if you're a fucking kook like you gravitate towards that world you know it's probably so hard to find like sane balanced people that are yeah you know yeah that if there's shit together it's like it's almost impossible so like you're just comparing yourself to the other chaotic people you're around and you're the fucking drummer and Motley crew I mean how are you supposed to be normal what the fuck are you talking about what kind of life is that's life it's the craziest life of all time you're fucking slamming the drums on stage in front of literally a sea of human beings singing along to your music that's nobody can understand that I know man yeah they've and yeah they've seen it all they've seen it all like I put him to work out on tour you know just so you know we could hang out and spend time you're like you know get him a radio one of my sons is part of the lighting crew helping those guys. My other son is like all he's worth all he wants to know about is like dad I want to be in charge of all the after show passes I'll go out while you're playing and I'm gonna hit all the chicks and like my son is out there just just stack of passes come on back you know and then watching him like have just running it right. just like brings a tear to my eye man. That's cool. That's very cool. When you look back, like how much of a dream does it feel? I mean it's got to feel very bizarre that you, you know, every young guy who plays music wants to be in a gigantic band. They all want to be rock stars and when it actually happens for you and then you're looking back on it like how fucking surreal does it all feel. It's dude. I pinched myself still daily. literally and I'm just fucking I don't know man I'm just lucky to be here I'm lucky I get to do this I always say to people like there's a couple of things that are involved with that whole thing there's some luck some talent timing of things that and those things kind of all line up and it happens for you and it just happens it supersonic speeds where like a lot of it's a fucking blur like a ton of it's a blur where you have to have somebody else like remind you you're like oh shit that's right I totally forgot we did that you know like about crazy times yeah yeah it's a trip dude I spend a lot of time like hanging on right Does anybody give you advice on how to handle things? Like how weird it's gonna be? No. I'm trying to think of any sort of a mentor kind of dude on like how to survive the shit. Like pull Keith Richards aside and say, hey man, how about a few tips? How'd you do this? You're still here. Bro, I saw them at Koda at the Circuit of the Americas a couple years back. They were fucking incredible, man. Incredible. Keith. Dude, are they like 80? He's gotta be. Mick is like 80? Yeah. Mick is moving around and dancing and singing. Insane. Dude, and let me tell you a fun, quick little story here. Molly crew gets to open up for the Rolling Stones. This was on Halloween, I forget what fucking year. But some stadium, I think it was Toronto, we got to open for them. And we were so fucking pumped. We're like, Are you kidding me? We get the fucking do this? Anyway we play our show back in the in a dressing room after we're done The Stones tour manager comes into the dressing room and goes Tommy I was like yeah he goes he goes make a running key for like to see you And I was like Brad. I was like 20 minutes before to go on, I go into their world and they bring a bartender around with them. So there's a guy set up, just slinging fucking drinks. Mick isn't hammered, but fucking Keith and Ronnie, dude, they were fucking walking on their lips. I'm talking shitty, like, eh, fucking, right. guitars. 20 minutes before they go on stage. I'm like, how are these guys gonna fuck? There's no way they're playing. I'm sorry. There's no way. No fucking way. And all the sudden, we took a couple of photos and it was like, let's go to the stage and I'm like, oh, I gotta see this. I'm walking with them right. They get up there a fucking lights go out. Boom, they fucking, I think they started with start me up. And it was like a switch flipped. All of a sudden those guys were fucking money, like 100% fucking rocking out. I was like, how did they just go? They're doing it for so long that they just, they're masters of the controls. They're like, okay, I guess we can get this amount of fucked up and then we can go. Like it's okay. I think some guys just was a crazy level like, I wish I saw that. We could barely talk. And then they went up there and fucking brift it. I just want to be fucked up to just feel the experience, just to just ride it like a wild bull. You know? Just wherever you land. Yeah, that's where some guys like to do it. I mean, and rock, I don't have to tell you, rock and roll music is the heart of that. That's where it really goes down. Or a lot of guys like to get fucked up before they play. You know? You want to see something fucking inspirational? I'm going to show you something crazy. I'm going to you. Have you seen, Jamie, have you seen Rick Springfield lately? I did just see him and I was like, whoa, I'm gonna send you a video and it's gonna blow you away. This is literally bananas. This is Rick Springfield. If you're all fucking like 76 years old, okay? 76. 76. 76. And he's singing Jesse's girl like he just wrote it. And he's fucking. Yeah. Probably started for the, put the headphones on. back this up from the beginning. Well I just sent it to you on Instagram. He's ripped. Click on the other link then, the one that I send you on Instagram. Because you can't, first of all, he looks fucking incredible, like he's working out every day or something. I mean I don't even understand it. He looks like a 30 year old guy. Yeah. And he's singing the song like he just wrote it. 76. Amazing man amazing that amazing that's fucking inspirational like inspiration bro 76 years old and passion and enthusiasm is what kills me this is not a guy who's like just going out there and going through the motions he's singing that song he just wrote yeah totally yeah Rick Springfield yeah good job bro yeah that's amazing yeah I've been sending that to everybody I'm like fuck yeah that is I saw that I saw that when they're 76 are basically waiting to die. This dude's on stage with no shirt on, fucking crushing life. I love it. I love it. That's gonna be me still 10 years from now. Oh yeah. Rock and shit. Well I remember in the 80s there were no old rock stars. Like no one was out there touring that was an old rock star. You're right. And then the Stones released the new album I think it was like 88 or 89 and everybody was like, wow, going to tour again? It was almost like, aren't they done with this? Like they're older now. And then it started being a thing where a bunch of older guys would like go out on tour that hadn't been on tour in a while. And now it's not, and people like, why are we retiring? Like why would I stop doing the most amazing thing that a human being ever gets to do? Yeah that you love to do? Yeah. No, let me stop doing that. It was like a thing with hip art, hip-hop artists too. They would get to an older age, they would get to an older age, and appreciate them anymore. It's like it was like a young guys game. But now a lot of those older guys are going on tour too and people were like, oh these guys are fucking dope. Like I saw Run DMC went on or excuse me public enemy went on with I think it was Bruce Springsteen. I think Bruce Springsteen had them go up on one of his concerts. I'm like, yeah, look at these dudes. They're killing it. They're still getting after it. That's the best man. You got to love that. And I think that. I don't know if you call it a resurgence or just that that style of like there's certain things that were that were really great that have stood the test of time and I and I really think that the way shit is now man there is too fucking much like there's too much music like Spotify releases like 300 fucking thousand songs a day Who the fuck is listening to all this music dude? I'm in the business and if I can't keep up how can a fan of music keep up? So I just I think that the the excess of it's just static and it's really blown a whole through for you know original stuff you know really good stuff because a lot of the stuff is all kind of sounding the same now and that it's been a cool progression that's that sort of fueled that I don't know if I'm making sense I'm kind of no you're making sense you know what I'm trying to say there's so much static now that the the sort of the something has to be undeniable to break through the authentic still fucking pulls water big time and you know the sudden resonates and just goes super viral because people listen to it like a holy shit yeah there's always gonna be something that's exceptional but I do agree it's impossible there's a lot of great music that I don't know anything about and then someone turns me on to it and I'm like how the fuck that I not know this guy yeah yeah and had your friend not turned you on to that you would you never fucking know well there's no real radio anymore right so how do you find out when I was a kid when I was in high school with a new motley crew song came out it was on the fucking radio yeah right you knew all right the new album's out let's go get the new album yeah and that was with every major band it was like then you got mtv mtv mtv came along oh the music videos out the album's out but now it's like anyone can just put stuff up you know which is great yeah which is also it's cool look it's all it's all overall positive because you have more artists and more people people that are making music which is awesome but like it's the same thing with movies can imagine you know how to watch every movie ever made you you have to be a million years old still we'd never finish exactly it's not of hours in the day yeah it's the same it's the same musically what's happening musically it's happening with everything entertainment I mean people got these you know you know you know TV packages where they've got subscriptions 4,000 different places and you still can't find anything to watch you're like what the what the fuck is happening here everybody we gotta like peel it back a little bit make it a little easier here well there's so many options it's almost like dating apps right like if someone if some chick is chewing her food with their mouth up being like swipe Who's next? Yeah. Like people get they don't get a chance to know anybody and I think that's all the same thing with movies and TV shows because if you're watching Netflix if you get bored for three seconds you're like fuck this movie what else is on bip bip bip bip you know okay try this one and you watch that for ten minutes not buck this I would like to see their numbers of like how long people actually watch a show or a movie on Netflix before they shut it off I bet it's way different Oh dude if that I'll bet yeah I'm gonna say a little bit more if that yeah everybody it's short attention span life right now it's very very bad for you yeah sometimes you got to just take something in and that and that affects the people who create the stuff because you you realize I'm dealing with a bunch of fucking six year olds here and if my shit isn't banging within the first whether it's a movie or a song or whatever it is art is if it's not fucking ripping your face off and grabbing your attention within three or four seconds you're next. Right, exactly. When that's just the world we're in so that then that affects people who make the stuff because they really got to put the best shit up front quick or else you're gonna lose everybody. A hundred percent and that's that sucks. Yeah, but they don't have to give into that. for suspense or... Yeah, I fucked out. This summer the cup is taking over the US and only Draft Kings has you covered every step of the way. Follow every group stage upset, every knockout round thriller, every stoppage time moment that flips the whole tournament. Sweat all the big matches you love in real time with a seamless experience built for the world's biggest stage. No matter where you're watching, you're always connected and in the game with one app. New Draft Kings customers sign up with Code Rogan, spend five bucks to get 200 in rewards within 21 days. That's Code Roggan, in partnership with Draft Kings, The Crown is yours. Bet with D.K. Sportsbook. Gambling Problem, call 1-800 Gambler. 1-800 My reset. New York, New York call 877, 8-89-7-7. Or visit C.C.P.G.org. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino in Kansas. Betts Pass Through mail Pline, Illinois. 21 and over. Draft King's predictions involves risk of loss. Sportsbook bonus bets expire in seven days. $50 and predictions dollars issued weekly for three weeks expire in one year. We deem one non-withdrawable reward. Availability varies. Predictions offer Void in New York. And's June 28 terms at DKNG. Co. slash audio. Well think about some of the songs from the past that would never pass mustard today that are just amazing classics, like a whole lot of love. So a whole lot of you have a minute and a half fuck sounds, sounds, Like you like, ah, ah, yeah, it's like the most bizarre song ever. Yeah, kind of drum solo we kind of, yeah. Often to know where I'm, and in classically, Freebird, when Leonard Skinner released Free Bird, they're like, no, no, no, this song takes way too long to get going. It's so long, it's like a seven minute song. You got it. This is never gonna fly. Meanwhile, it's one of the greatest anthems in the history of the world. And perhaps the greatest guitar solo in the history of the history of the history of the history of the history of the history of the history of the history of the Right, right, you know? Yeah, Free Bird, when that dude gets going, and you see it live and everybody's fucking, the whole fucking place is going off. Go and bananas. So the greatest guitar solos in the history of the fucking human race. And their record company was like, it's too long. Yeah. People don't have any attention span for this, guys. God, even back then people were fucking hating. Well, it's always the people that are the money people. And all they give a fuck about is money. And you're in the creative side of it. side of it and they're just trying to get you to suck as many dicks as they can because they want to buy a rolls rice. So like come on, suck that dick, let's go. And they don't give a fuck about you or your reputation because then they got fucking nickel back over here and this guy over there and there's always a new band they can push and pimp. And so they just want to make the maximum amount of money possible. So they always have shitty advice, because their advice is based on making money. Yeah. Yeah. And for that reason for that reason, and for that reason, and for that reason, and for that reason, When we were on Electro Records They were never allowed in the studio no one from the label That's awesome we allowed them once and he came in and started making like Making changes or suggesting edits and stuff were like out Out Yeah, you'll get it when it's done here Oh God so gross yeah, dude. Here's here. Here's some guy making those kind of calls who has no? Yeah, has no idea about what key the fucking songs in. All he knows is it's too long. Yeah. And we got to get to it quicker. Well, it's these people that have ego for no real reason. They're just kind of, they're just involved with other great creative people and that's what they sell. That's their business is a sell stuff that's awesome. And somehow or another they think it makes them awesome. Yeah. It's very weird. Like, you know Zach Brian, he's got a great song called. I think it's damn cold vampires or cold damn vampires it's a great fucking song about a fucking tongue twister it's a great fucking song it's about the music industry and it's about these vampires that are just just sucking blood out of these artists and was a great song the great line the song trying to make an empire of the things that you create they're making an empire from other people's work and that's what they're doing but they're somehow another think that's what they're doing but they're somehow and that they have an insight and they're I'm good at my job Tommy Lee and let me tell you something kid I know music and that drum solo 14 seconds too long I'm gonna tell you why I'm gonna show you these statistics yeah we've got a guy we got statistics we got the best guy the best statistics guy he knows when people are and when they get to this fucking part of the drum solo they tune out Tommy we got to stop him from tuning out These cunts, they're just, they exist in every walk of life where one person is like, you know, a creative type that's not business oriented and you need a business person. Yes. So the business people come in because they're gonna, someone's gotta sell it, you're not gonna fucking sell it. Yeah, right. You gotta do, you gotta make your own record company, you gotta hire your own executives and to do your own promotion, get the fuck out of here. Yeah. You can't. So they come along and they get involved and they fuck it all up. Yeah, and how many guys. because they listen to him. Oh man. You know the Billy Squire story? So Billy Squire, so Billy Squire, remind me because I think I was... Billy Squire was the shit when I was in high school. He had that song, Lonely as the Night. Oh my God. I love Billy Squire. Dude, the stroke, he was fantastic. And he did one music video where it was like very effeminate. It was like really weird. Oh, was it when it was he was in his pajamas, he was in his pajamas or something, something, something, really weird and everybody was like nope yeah what is he doing yeah it was really weird and to this day I don't know if that was his idea or somebody else's idea they just took a wild chance yeah I don't know no one knows pray to God it was his idea because at least like he's creative you made a creative decision didn't work out whatever yeah fine but if someone tanked his career because they wanted him to act feminine in a song it was like very The reaction was crazy because this guy was like a sex symbol. Yeah He was like you know a shirt down to his you know open up down to his pants Yeah, he was a bad motherfucker on stage sing his ass off Yeah, he's a star One music video tanked him. I think it was my Conda lover I think that was the song where see if you can find what the the video was this is it This is it. Yeah, so it was very weird. Like, what song is it? Can you hear? I will. Yeah, we're gonna have to cut it up though. So, it was somebody else's idea, is that guy with the face? That guy with the face. That guy with the face is the, looks like the guy, looks like the guy would tell you. Totally. Yeah, he's crawling around on his knees and his hands and his hands at his knees. Yeah. It was weird. It was very weird. What what song was weird. What song was this? What song was this? You know, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, he said, like, like, he said, he said, like, he said, like, he said, like, he said, he said, like, he said, like, like, he said, he said, he said skipping around and it was a very odd that guy that would give you the bad advice something me tonight is the name of the song I want fuck I don't know I don't know I look at the so familiar with that title yeah I don't know but I know yeah I get that was in and everybody's like nope yeah that's a rap and that guy should have had like fucking fifty giant albums that guy was amazing yeah 1984. Oh. Oh. Yeah, we'll cut that part up. But you can see him dancing around. Like, look at this. Yeah. Don't do that, buddy. What is this? He's like, yeah. Yeah, what? Don't do that. Yeah, we need you on the ground, swimming around. Hopefully. I, hopefully it was his idea. Yeah, and he was just, my God, if this was somebody else's idea. Like, I want you to be looser. I want you to be more free. I want you to be like, I want to feel like, I want to fill. I want to feel your vulnerable side. I want you on your hands and knees. I want you crawling. This is what I want you to do. I want you to do like this. Like you barely can crawl. Like you're having a hard time crawling. That's what girls like. Girls like a guy who struggles to crawl. Yeah, dude. Oh my God. What did you do to him? I know. I hope it was his idea. Despite its major success, a song is sometimes associated with the end of the end of the end of the end of the end of the end of the end of the end of the end of the end of the end of the song, of his career as a singles musician due to the music video which is described as one of the worst ever in the 2011 book I want my MTV the uncensored story of the music video revolution. A show Squire dancing around to bed with pastel colored satin sheets and wearing a pink tank top Squire's concert ticket sales immediately declined and he later fired his managers. He has accused Ortega of deceiving him and altering his original concept which Ortega denies. while Squire remains steadfast that the video was solely responsible for the initial decline of his popularity. Other commentators are less certain. Well, I'm pretty certain. I remember it. I remember kids in high school going, what the fuck, bro? The fuck is Billy Squire doing, bro? That shit's gay, bro. Because Billy Squire was the man. I mean, yeah. He could have been, he could have been, he could have gone on forever. For sure. Like, what the fuck, dude? music video? Oh, insane. That is really crazy if you think about it. Yeah, it's nuts. It's nuts. Well, that's the craziest thing about, we think about like the success of Motley crew and of bands like from your era. The fact that you guys endured for so long, like still to this day, if I'm working out in the gym and kick start my heart comes on, I swear to God, I get stronger. Oh, yeah, like you get pumped man, that's that's that's long's a drug. Yeah, that one man, I can't tell you how fun how how rewarding that is to like sit back and like I don't know the Super Bowls on and the fucking kickoff you go boom. Yeah, we gotta cut it out but I wanna hear it throw kick-start my heart on we'll cut it out for you two other little we'll get docked with the fucking money people come involved. Meanwhile we're just promoting music God damn it with Tommy Lee you motherfucker yeah right this fucking here this fucking song oh is this live don't you a live one give me the actual one bro. That was one of the most American songs has ever been made ever ever That song is fuel. Yeah, that song is fuel if you were running in a race you're thinking about quitting and that song comes on your headphones like let's fucking go Let's fucking go You know like like that they really are like a drug yeah they're definitely they're injected yeah like changes your state you know I love that one isn't that fucking wild the power that music has like the right kind of song you know everybody's different but there's nothing better than like they fucking like I get fucking goose bumps bro if something comes along that just any it gets inside you It's fucking infectious and all of a sudden you're like dude it's taking over my whole body I'm fucking tingling Yeah Hair standing up and you're like what is that? Yeah What the fuck is that like I want to fucking Bottle that up and try to recreate whatever that is yeah, it's just an encapsulation of emotion with sound frequencies that just Changes your physical state it does something to you that's like it's one of the most amazing creations that beings have ever done. One of the most amazing accomplishments that human beings have ever done is it just make incredible music. Because it's one of the things that it affects us in a way that, like nothing else. And you can hear them over and over and over and over again. Like a great joke is awesome the first time, but after you hear it the second time it loses a little its power the third time, it gets a little boring. A great song, I could listen to that how sometimes when I'm working out I just put something on I just want to hear this one song over and over and over again. Wear that fuck around. I don't care. It's so good. I don't give a fuck. I just want to feel, let's let's let's go and every time it comes back on, fuck, yeah. And we're back. You know? It's like, it changes the frequency of your actual soul. Yes. Your body gets moved by it. You feel different. You know? It's, I want to ask you a question because you're into all this fucking crazy shit. I saw somewhere recently and this just goes along with that feeling, euphoric feeling you get when the right notes or frequencies hit you. I saw that through sound, certain frequencies like some dude in China, some doctor in China or is it Japan, is this close to healing fucking cancer through sound, through sound, Really? Have you? No, haven't seen any of this? I haven't seen it, but I wouldn't be surprised. I wouldn't either because, you know, it just fascinates me because there is those frequencies out there that you know about them. 432, 432 hurts. You heard about that stuff. Explain to people so that. Well, it's just, there's some weird, what do you call it, conspiracy theories about, originally. our music like Bach Beethoven back in those days was tuned to 432 hurts and this is the conspiracy bullshit part about it at some point and people say Hitler changed the tuning the pitch of music and now everything was raised to 440 instead of 432 now it's at 440 it's it's up and it's in 440 it's it's up and it's in the frequency is more aggressive and it was said that it was done to give the soldiers more fucking you know angst and crank this music well they were also given a meth excuse me they were also given the meth between meth and kickstart my heart Dude, no, no, no. Kick-stop my heart in German. Yeah, oh my lord. Yeah, that would have been a real problem. Yeah, I'm just curious here, because I know that you're into that kind of stuff. If the, any sound therapy or healing through, through frequencies, if you've heard any of that stuff. Well, I know people do sound baths. Yes. You know, you know, they'll do these meditation experiments where they lie in their back and they have someone like that it's making sounds and there's something to it. Like when you hear a great song it changes the way you feel it changes your feeling it gives you more energy it really does so Obviously sound has a profound effect on the human body and it's not just like you inter There's a lot of there's a lot of aspects to a great song right? It's the sound it's also the messaging that's in the lyrics It's like there's a lot going on the voice of the singer you know