BACK ‘HOME’
MOTLEY Crue lead singer Vince Neil is used to women wanting to come backstage to meet him — but usually they’re offering more than a handshake and a barely audible “Hi, Mr. Neil.”
But that’s how a sheepish Carrie Underwood greeted Neil when she asked to meet him backstage at a concert in Nashville.
The introduction of the Season 3 “Idol” winner and the road-weary rocker ended up with Underwood making a hit out of her twanged-up cover of Motley’s biggest hit, “Home Sweet Home.”
More good fortune smiled on this unlikely coupling when “American Idol” chose it as the anthem this season for departing contestants.
It can be heard every Wednesday night, as the latest “Idol” kid is sent off the show with a video montage and Underwood’s version as the soundtrack.
“I remember like it was yesterday,” said Neil about writing the song, “sitting in the recording studio when Tommy [Lee, Motley’s drummer] came up with the piano chords and I almost immediately started humming.”
Meeting Underwood helped Neil cope with letting someone makeover Motley’s signature song.
“Knowing that she was a fan made it a lot easier,” said Neil, who will be sitting in the audience of “Idol” tonight during the live broadcast for the first time.
Not surprisingly, Underwood’s “Home Sweet Home” cover is outselling the original — 211,000 digital copies to 181,000, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
And it has occasioned a change of heart in Neil, who says he used to regard the show as little more than karaoke.
Now that he’s started watching, he is preaching the gospel of conversion.
Frankly, he’s hoping “Home Sweet Home” opens the door to a Crue-themed night.
“That would really shake them up wouldn’t it,” Neil laughed. “Might be good for the show.”
