In early May, Rolling Stone travelled to Nashville to spend a couple of days with Mick Mars and hear about his bitter departure from Mötley Crüe.

Mars stepped away from the touring unit in late 2022 after 41 years in the group he co-founded. He’d been suffering from the debilitating bone disease ankylosing spondylitis for decades, and life on the road simply became too painful to endure. In his telling, they used this as an excuse to violate legal agreements and deny him his share of band proceeds. The matter is currently working its way through the legal system.

Rolling Stone's feature article dives deep into this morass, and contains perspectives from attorneys on both sides, Mötley Crüe’s manager Allen Kovac, former Crüe’ singer John Corabi, and members of Mars’ pre-fame band White Horse.

But there was a ton they simply didn’t have room to run. Today, Rolling Stone reveals 15 things they learned from their time with Mick Mars. A couple of excerpts follow...

He only tried heroin once. “It wasn’t on purpose,” Mars says. “We were debuting Theatre Of Pain on one of those old radio stations. I was so hungover and I went, ‘I don’t know if I can do this. You got a bump?’ That’s because we did coke. Nikki goes, ‘Yeah’ and he gives me a guitar pick with this white horse heroin on it. I went, ‘What did you give me?’ He goes, ‘Smack.’ I hated it. I never did it again.”

He’s never read the band’s 2001 group memoir The Dirt. “Maybe that sound weird or something,” he says, “but there’s parts I didn’t want to re-live or hear.”

Ozzy Osbourne approached him soon after The Dirt movie came out. “I can’t remember where we were,” he says. “I think we were playing somewhere near Bakersfield. Ozzy came running into my dressing room. He goes, ‘Mick! Mick! Did I really snort ants?’ I said, ‘Yes you did.'”

Read more at RollingStone.com.