(Credits: Far Out / Spotify)
Sat 18 April 2026 20:31, UK
Nikki Sixx always seemed destined to play rock and roll. After leaving his life in America’s breadbasket, a young Frank Ferrana changed his name and sought to change the world with songs. Although his life was made on the Sunset Strip, one of Sixx’s primary influences came from across the pond.
When talking about his favourite albums, Sixx singled out Paul McCartney’s Band on the Run as one of his favourites, telling Spin, “I think it’s, top to bottom, one of the best-written albums of all time, considering that Paul came from the Beatles. How do you even top, or look eye to eye with the Beatles? I think Paul came into a new version of himself at that top and catapulted ideas of songwriting to a whole new level”. Free from his Beatles days, this was the first triumph for McCartney’s outfit with Wings, leaving his old band’s legacy behind with his tale of escape.
Part of what made Band on the Run so striking was its sense of reinvention. Rather than trying to recreate the sound of The Beatles, McCartney used the album to prove he could thrive outside of the band that had defined the previous decade. The record jumps between styles, from the cinematic title track to the punchy swagger of ‘Jet’, showing how songwriting could be both adventurous and accessible at the same time.
The album also had many parallels to what Sixx was going through then. Coming from the middle of nowhere, the odds were stacked against Sixx much like they were for McCartney in the late ‘70s. After becoming one of the only Beatles not to have a solo hit, McCartney planned to go to Nigeria to record an album when half of his band quit. To show them what he could do, McCartney sculpted one classic after another, penning songs like the episodic title track and the hard-rocking soul of ‘Jet’.
In fact, most of the early British bands greatly influenced Sixx’s life. When being interviewed for the show Rock Icons, Sixx also mentioned David Bowie having a huge impact on him, saying, “I so connected to Bowie. The moment that I heard ‘Changes’, I was like ‘that’s what I’m going through’”.
As Sixx found himself in the seedy sides of Los Angeles, he became enamoured with the fashion and excesses of the time. On the heels of glam was the punk movement, and Sixx wanted to use both elements to create one of the biggest bands he could bring together. After drafting Tommy Lee on the drums, Sixx had the backbone of Mötley Crüe, eventually bringing in Lee’s high school buddy Vince Neil on vocal duties and scouting out Mick Mars on guitar.
Even when they were starting out, Sixx was still returning to the mindset that The Beatles had worked with. As he sculpted the band’s image, Sixx went on: “My idea for the perfect band was four superstars. My belief was not to create characters like Kiss but to be more like The Beatles where they just were”.
That philosophy would later become central to Mötley Crüe’s identity. While the band thrived on chaos and spectacle, Sixx always approached songwriting with a pop sensibility beneath the distortion, making sure every song still had a memorable hook. Much like the Beatles, the goal wasn’t just to shock audiences but to create songs that stuck with them long after the noise faded.
That influence also carried over into Sixx’s songwriting, pulling equally from Lennon and McCartney as he did from John Lydon and Joey Ramone. Sixx even offered a thank-you to the band that helped shape him on the album Shout at the Devil, covering the song ‘Helter Skelter’. McCartney might have been known as the pop-friendly Beatle, but his influence is at the core of one of the most notorious bands from the hair metal scene.
