Tommy Lee gets embarrassed by Third Eye Blind in Pam & Tommy episode 5, "Uncle Jim and Aunt Susie in Duluth," but Mötley Crüe got beaten by the band even worse than that in real life. The episode shows Tommy start to spiral after the fallout from his and Pamela Anderson's stolen sex tape starts to weigh on him. One blow to his ego is his band getting bumped from their usual studio space by Third Eye Blind, an up-and-coming band. It's a brief scene but it's one that definitely has an impact on Tommy Lee, portrayed in the show by Sebastian Stan.
Pam & Tommy portrays Tommy Lee in all of his rock and roll glory. He enjoyed success drumming for the band Mötley Crüe, one of the most well-known heavy metal bands of the 80s. Multiple Mötley Crüe albums went platinum or multi-platinum, as well as hitting Top 10 on the Billboard 200 multiple times, with 1989's Dr. Feelgood hitting #1. Lee comes off as a cocky, overly confident guy in Pam & Tommy, and there's no doubt that the band's great success contributed to that.
However, by the 90s, when Pam & Tommy is set, the band had declined in popularity. Metal was waning in relevance as grunge, indie rock, and alternative bands became more popular. In episode 3, Tommy flips through the TV channels and lands on a VH1 Behind the Music episode about Mötley Crüe. Though this detail is anachronistic (that episode about the band didn't air until 1998), it sends a clear message about how Mötley Crüe is losing popularity, and is an interesting parallel to a scene in Pam & Tommy episode 5 where Tommy is looking at a wall of plaques boasting of the millions of records sold by his band. The times are changing, whether Tommy likes it or not, and the seeming slight from Third Eye Blind is proof of that.
Did Third Eye Blind Really Bump Mötley Crüe From The Studio?
Though Pam & Tommy has been fairly accurate in its retelling of events, it does take creative liberties, and this studio scene is something that was made up for the show. According to Third Eye Blind guitarist and co-founder Kevin Cadogan (via Ultimate Classic Rock), there weren't any studio issues with Mötley Crüe. Another reason why this interaction was very unlikely to have happened is because the two bands recorded their albums in separate locations. The liner notes for Third Eye Blind's debut album state that it was "recorded in and around San Francisco at Toast Studios, Skywalker Ranch and H.O.S.” Meanwhile, Mötley Crüe recorded their seventh album in various locations around Los Angeles, including the Enterprise in Burbank and Conway Recording Studios in Hollywood.
How Third Eye Blind Beat Mötley Crüe (What Pam & Tommy Doesn't Show)
In 1997, Mötley Crüe released Generation Swine while Third Eye Blind released their self-titled debut, which included the hit song "Semi-Charmed Life," used as Pam & Tommy episode 5's ending song. Though Generation Swine charted higher on release, it only sold a few hundred thousand copies, while Third Eye Blind has sold over 6 million albums in the U.S. to date. Generation Swine ended up being Mötley Crüe's last album with Elektra and before Tommy quit the band, confirming the end of Crüe's glory days.
Pam & Tommy shows an interesting contrast when it comes to the careers of Pamela Anderson and Tommy Lee. Mötley Crüe's stock is fading due to hair metal waning in popularity during the '90s, while Pamela is on the rise because of Baywatch. The scene between Tommy Lee and Third Eye Blind shows how irrelevant Mötley Crüe has become by 1996, and Tommy Lee's resentment over this fact leads to tensions with Pamela, though her star power is now in jeopardy because of the widespread availability of the sex tape.
New episodes of the Pam & Tommy miniseries are released Wednesdays on Hulu.