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We want to go out on top: Motley Crue

Motley Crue calls it quits
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Motley Crue calls it quits

Rock band Motley Crue is calling it quits on Dec. 31, after almost 35 years of performing together, and they're going out on their own terms, singer Vince Neil told CNBC.

"We didn't want to be one of those bands that you go see like your favorite band 10 years later and there's maybe one guy in the band and you're playing clubs and state fairs," Neil said in an interview with "Closing Bell" Wednesday.

"We don't want to be remembered as that. We want to be remembered as going out on top."

In fact, the group signed a contract that they would never perform together again.

"We did that because we knew everybody would go, 'Ah they'll be back in five or six years.' And the truth is we're not," drummer Tommy Lee said.

Nikki Sixx, left, and Vince Neil of the band Motley Crue perform onstage during the 2014 iHeartRadio Music Festival, Sept. 19, 2014, in Las Vegas.
Kevin Mazur | WireImage | Getty Images

The band's "Final Tour" will end with a concert at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on New Year's Eve.

"A lot of people are saying, 'Thank God they're calling it a day,' bass player Nikki Sixx quipped.

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The musicians have branched out from the stage. There is a Motley Crue movie coming out, and they partnered up with Dodge last year, who is sponsoring the tour.

They even did a commercial for Coldwell Banker.

"So many of our fans reached out and was like, 'Man we grew up with you, and now we're buying houses,' " Sixx said. "We went from wrecking houses to buying houses."

When it came to finances, the band followed the early advice of a financial manager and has played it safe.

"The biggest overhead that Motley Crue ever had is really not our houses, our cars or that kind of lifestyle. It's actually been, we've invested in ourselves," Sixx said. "We've spent tens of millions of dollars on our shows where we really didn't have to but it kind of left this legacy of being one of these massive touring bands."

As for their biggest financial mistakes, Neil said, it was getting married.

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While the band may not be performing together anymore, its members are not giving up music.

"You're going to be hearing music from us. Just not together," Neil said.