Methods of Mayhem released A Public Disservice Announcement in the United States on September 21, 2010. The second album from Tommy Lee’s project followed its 1999 debut with an invitation for listeners to participate in the recording. Alongside songs such as “Time Bomb,” the finished release contained performances submitted by musicians who had downloaded the band’s tracks and recorded their own additions.
Lee had already decided that returning to Methods of Mayhem meant reconsidering its musical direction. In an October 2009 interview with Noisecreep, he described the first album as a chance to explore interests outside Mötley Crüe. Working with TiLo had combined their tastes in rock and hip-hop, while collaborations with artists including Snoop Dogg and George Clinton had offered further possibilities. TiLo was absent from the follow-up, and Lee was approaching the project with a different combination of influences and collaborators.
Producer Scott Humphrey and singer-guitarist J3 worked with Lee on the songs before the public became involved. They established the material, recorded it, then made its component tracks available through The Public Record. Participants could download those files, record an instrument or another musical idea against them, and upload the result for consideration. The process gave contributors something specific to respond to: a song already taking shape, with room for another player to hear an opening the original musicians had missed.
The project launched in October 2009, with submissions continuing into February 2010. It accommodated several recording programs, including Pro Tools, Logic and GarageBand, while a free RiffWorks option gave people another way to participate. Access to those files let musicians work from their own setups without traveling to Lee’s studio. More than 10,000 submissions arrived, leaving Lee and the production team to listen, select and integrate individual recordings into the album.
That selection process could change more than a guitar part or a drum sound. In the album announcement published by Blabbermouth, Lee explained that “Back to Before” had begun as a rock song. A contributor from France returned a dance version that persuaded him to reconsider its direction. The outside interpretation prompted the team to start over, making the submission part of the decision about what the song should become.
The resulting album moved between rock songs, ballads and electronic material. Its eleven-track sequence included “Fight Song,” “Time Bomb” and “Back to Before,” placing that public collaboration inside a conventional album release. The selected recordings were incorporated into the final tracks listeners could buy.
Lee also distinguished participation from songwriting credit, explaining that the songs had existed before the submissions opened. Every musician whose recording was used received an acknowledgment on the album. Having worked for recognition himself, he wanted those contributions named: “Credit lasts forever, money doesn’t,” he said in the announcement.
