Over the next ten days, we’ll be counting down the Top 10 Rock News Artists of the past year.
Finalists for the 11th annual hennemusic Rock News Awards are chosen by readers: the Rock News Story Of The Year is determined by page views, while the Rock News Artist Of The Year is based on the combined total page views of the top 50 hennemusic rock news stories of the past twelve months.
The 2020 hennemusic Rock News Awards winners will be announced on Thursday, December 17.
Rock News Artist of The Year No. 10 – MOTLEY CRUE
Motley Crue began 2020 with plans to reunite for a US stadium tour with Def Leppard, Poison and Joan Jett & The Blackhearts.
The 31-date series – which was scheduled to open in Nashville, TN on June 19 – would mark the return to live action for the Los Angeles outfit just five years after signing an agreement that they would no longer perform together following the end of their official farewell tour in 2015.
Following the huge success of their Netflix biopic “The Dirt”, Motley Crue saw an opportunity to regroup after the project delivered a massive surge in new fans.
When ticket sales began last December, the band added seven new stadium dates after they sold over 700,000 tickets and earned gross box office receipts of over $90 million in the first weekend of sales, and by early February the trek had sold more than 1 million tickets.
Motley Crue remained visible with the release of a new lyric video for their 1989 classic, “Kickstart My Heart”, and then came news of a coronavirus pandemic that would affect people around the globe.
As COVID-19 began to spread and countries went into lockdown, entire regions and business sectors starting shutting down – including the live music industry, which saw tours cancelled or postponed and rescheduled ... sometimes more than once.
In early April, Motley Crue drummer Tommy Lee said the summer stadium tour remained on schedule for its June launch, but by May, the acts advised fans that they would issue an update the following month on their plans given the ongoing spread of the virus.
“We wanted to continue to communicate with our fans and update you with valid information as it becomes available,” said the bands involved in a joint statement on June 1, as promised. “The official decision has been made to move all 2020 North American Stadium Tour dates into the summer of 2021. The new stadium dates are being rescheduled, your tickets will be honored for all postponed shows and refund policy information will be made available shortly.
“Stay tuned, be safe and we will see you next year.”
A few weeks later, rescheduled 2021 dates for the tour were announced
September brought news that the companion soundtrack to “The Dirt” was nominated for a 2020 Billboard Music Award in the “Top Soundtrack” category, where it would lose out to “Frozen II” at the October 14 event.
See also:
Search Motley Crue at hennemusic
2020 hennemusic Rock News Awards announced
The Rolling Stones sweep the 2019 hennemusic Rock News Awards
AC/DC and Pink Floyd win 2018 hennemusic Rock News Awards
The Eagles sweep the 2017 hennemusic Rock News Awards
AC/DC sweep the 2016 hennemusic Rock News Awards
Van Halen and KISS top the 2015 hennemusic Rock News Awards
Van Halen sweep 2014 hennemusic Rock News Awards
