The band, then officially consisting of vocalist/guitarist John Corabi, bassist Nikki Sixx, drummer Tommy Lee and guitarist Mick Mars, were so frustrated with the failure of the previous album and tour sales that they fired numerous people around the group, including longtime manager Doug Thaler and producer Bob Rock.
The band then hired Allen Kovac as their new manager (given his reputation for restoring the faltering careers of other veteran acts) and started looking for another producer to work with for their next record, which was originally titled Personality #9.
"[4] After Rock was fired for being "too expensive and overproduc[ing] the music",[4] the band eventually chose Scott Humphrey, with Sixx and Lee serving as coproducers.
Mars' role was greatly reduced due to an ongoing feud between him and Humphrey, and Corabi grew increasingly frustrated, as he would learn and write material only to find it completely changed by the time he returned to the studio.
Neil had been busy with his solo career and the untimely death of his daughter Skylar when Kovac approached him with the idea of reuniting with Mötley, which Morris had presented to Sixx and Lee earlier.
Lyrically, Generation Swine ranges from songs about drugs and prostitution such as "Find Myself" and "Beauty", to the anti-suicide stance on "Flush" and familial love on "Rocketship" and "Brandon".
Lee was more involved in the writing for Generation Swine than with previous Mötley Crüe albums, and "Brandon" is described as being a heartfelt tribute to his newborn son.
[10] In a March 1998 interview with Spin, Sixx said that this upset him, commenting "[the critics] love it when Tommy's busted with a gun or having sex in a video, but he's not even human to them.
Rhone denied this claim though, stating that Mötley Crüe was a major priority for Elektra and that the label had spent a large sum of money in order to get the band to perform "Shout at the Devil '97" on the American Music Awards in January 1997.
"[24] Sputnikmusic highlights the experimental nature of the production, which "is devoted to hard rock tracks structurally very similar to their so-called 'classic era' but sonically re-wired and approached from a direction entirely alien to the band" and praises "the vast improvement, or at the very least development, in Nikki Sixx's songwriting", finally declaring Generation Swine "a worthwhile experiment for the band that produced some of their most enduring music.
"[23] David Grad of Entertainment Weekly praises Neil's voice, which lost "none of its hormonal urgency" and describes the music as a display "of highly burnished metal trumpeting the pleasures of drugs and nasty sex.
"[18] In contrast, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic calls the album "nothing short of an embarrassment" and blames the band for "simply recycling old ideas and sounds", not coming up "with any catchy riffs" and making the return of Neil "just a coincidence.
"[17] Jon Wiederhorn of Rolling Stone remarks how the band tried to fuse "cornball glam-metal techniques" with "cutting-edge production and grinding industrial effects", but – instead of a "new direction that would defy expectations" – produced an album "more schizophrenic than Wesley Willis", unwelcome to Mötley fans who "crave consistency".
"[20] In a 2016 Louder Sound article on the ten worst Mötley Crüe songs, they placed "Brandon" fifth, calling it "probably very touching for the people involved, including mum Pamela Anderson.
He said that producer Scott Humphrey and the other band members were "trying to reinvent themselves to be current", adding that it was derivative of contemporary artists of the time, such as Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Rob Zombie, Ministry and Pantera.
[27][28] Corabi was only officially credited for two songs on the original pressing of Generation Swine, "Flush" and "Let Us Prey", but claimed that he was responsible for at least 80% of the material on the album.