Tommy Lee is a household word, there’s just no doubt about it. Well, actually two words. But he's in your household just the same. Like soap, paper towels, and Pepsi One. Be it through his drumming in Motley Crue, his forays into pop and hip hop with his solo work and Methods of Mayhem, his marriage to Pamela Anderson, or the porn tape that showed the two of them cavorting on their honeymoon, everyone knows who Tommy Lee is. And if you have been living under a rock and still don’t know him by now, you will by year’s end due to his brand new reality show Tommy Lee Goes To College, his sold out arena reunion tour with Motley Crue or his new solo album and book, both titled Tommyland.

G4 had a chance to chat with Mr. Lee about video games, rock ‘n’ roll vs. pop, and the world of the Crue, and found him to be a bright, funny, personable dude. So take it away, Tommy!

G4: What video games are you playin’ these days?

TOMMY LEE: SoCom: U.S. Navy Seals is pretty dope. I like baseball games and shoot ‘em up games. Grand Theft Auto rules. I dig some of the old school games too, like Galaga and Hot Shots Golf. I play a lot of games with my kids.

G4: Did you rock the Atari as a kid?

TL: Oh yeah. I had Pong. Defender was one of my favorites.

G4: Do you play games on the tour bus?

TL: I have a PS2 backstage in my dressing room and on my bus. I have a couple of those handheld PSPs. Those are rad.

G4: Do you watch movies on your PSP or just play games?

TL: I just picked up a couple movies for it, but haven’t watched them yet. One is a Marilyn Manson thing.

G4: Does Motley Crue play video games?

TL: Mick used to play video games a lot but he doesn’t really play anymore. Vince and Nikki aren’t really into it. I’m probably the only guy flying the video game flag in the Crue.

G4: Do you get into the multiplayer tournaments?

TL: Yeah, at my house I have it hooked up online and play SoCom against other people. You can hear them and sh*t, it’s pretty wild. You can make teams. It’s rad.

G4: Was there ever a video game character you really dug?

TL: MTV released a Celebrity Deathmatch game and I was a character in it. It’s pretty rad to play yourself in a game. I was like, “Wow! This is crazy!”

G4: I’d like to see a Motley Crue game! You know, where you guys are all dressed up in the Shout At The Devil costumes and it’s some sort of apocalyptic wasteland where you guys have to fight the undead and bang chicks? When can we see that? Maybe you fight…the devil?

TL: That’d be f*ckin’ rad! You know what? I’ll mention that to Nikki [Sixx]. I don’t think we’d ever even thought of that before. I’ll work on it, my man.

G4: Your new solo record, Tommyland: The Ride, is quite a departure from the metal of the Crue and the hip hop of Methods of Mayhem. How are people reacting to it?

TL: It really reminds a lot like my last record, Never a Dull Moment. It’s not really a big departure. It’s got some beautiful songs, some heavy stuff, and some pop. And when I say the word pop I mean good songs, real catchy.

G4: Pop gets a bad rap these days, but that’ just because of all the crappy pop divas and teen superstars who cal themselves pop. But The Beatles and Elvis were pop and there was nothing wrong with them!

TL: Yeah, I mean Cheap Trick is power pop, and I love them. It doesn’t mean it's light music by any means, it’s just means really good songs.

G4: Will you be doing a solo tour to support Tommyland, in addition to the Crue tour?

TL: Yeah, in January. Motley is gonna take a break in December and go home for the holidays. Then in January I’ll put a band together and go rip it.

G4: So are we gonna see a new Crue album out sometime next year?

TL: Yeah, probably late next year. We just started writing. Nikki and I were just working on a song on the bus. I have a recording studio on my bus. So we’re just now starting to get it together on our days off. So I’d say it’d be way late next year.

G4: Can’t wait. Thanks for chatting with G4, Tommy.

TL: Thank you, dude. Have a killer weekend.