MICK MARS GOES TO WAR WITH MÖTLEY CRÜE

HE LEFT THE BAND HE MORE THAN CO-FOUNDED 40 YEARS AGO AMID A NASTY LEGAL FIGHT. NOW THE 72-YEAR-OLD IS READY TO TELL HIS STORY AND DISH THE REAL DIRT

- ANDY GREENE

Mick mars has spent a great deal of time thinking about his own death, which will happen, he estimates, in about eight years, tops. There won’t be a funeral or memorial service of any kind. Instead, the Mötley Crüe guitarist wants the cremated remains of his body — which has been ravaged for nearly 60 years by the disfiguring bone disease ankylosing spondylitis — packed into a lead urn. “I want them to take it into an airplane and drop it into the center of the Bermuda Triangle,” he says. “I want people to be able to say, ‘Mick Mars is lost in the Bermuda Triangle.’ ”

It’s a morbid conversation any time, but today happens to be Mars’ 72nd birthday. He’s seated on a couch in the living room of his Tennessee mansion, draped head to toe in black, with his thin black hair protruding from the back of a newsboy cap. His skin is so pale it looks almost translucent. About five feet away are 10 enormous Marshall speaker stacks and studio-quality microphones that he’s been using to record his debut solo album. “I don’t feel a day over 71,” he jokes as I greet him.