Re: The Official MOTLEY CRUE Thread
Man, Motley Crue. I've never known a band to elicit a more complex set of feelings in me. Seriously...
When my dad brought home "Shout at the Devil" on cassette, these guys scared the shit out of me, hehe. I mean, between that video for Live Wire and "Looks that Kill" and the way Vince sings "that kill!" in that song were just like, whoa, now this is heavy metal. Nobody was doing what they were doing, and to the EXTENT they were doing it. When I later heard Too Fast for Love, I was like, wow, this is weak sauce for their freshman effort, and over the years "Piece of your Action" sounded less impressive each time I heard it. Nevertheless, Take me to the Top (my mom's favorite, along with Piece of your Action) was a very imaginative recording in my opinion. I guess I was spoiled on Shout at the Devil. Even the obligatory 80s rock cover of a classic (Helter Skelter) rocked my world. Ooh, Mick Mars heavy sound on that song was too awesome.
I didn't much care for Girls, Girls, Girls (despite the awesome promotional video they released for the record) but Dr. Feelgood blew me away. I absolutely adore Bob Rock's production style and 75% of that album gets more plays on my MP3 player than any other Motley Crue record.
Sigh. But then there was Tommy Lee's fiasco with that thing from the pages of Playboy magazine, followed by him going to jail and then trying to tour solo... I saw him on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, once, and he is just not a front man. His voice just isn't the business. And then there was Vince Neil's "unintentionally" leaked sex video that Tom Leykis beat up on his nationally syndicated radio program... Apparently he had problems getting up. The late 90s were just a horrible decade for the band. Perhaps the saddest thing of all was learning about Mick Mars depressing health problems.
So, when Kings of Los Angeles came out in 2008, and actually sounded good, I was floored. After all these years, and after all the crap they've been through...that they put themselves through...they still got it. And apart from RATT, I don't think there has ever been a more successful heavy metal band from the EARLY 1980s to come out of Los Angeles. Yes, a lot of "hair" bands came off the Sunset Strip...but they were six years these guys' senior. I mean, don't get me started on Poison. I don't know what it is about the 90s and the 2000s that managed to bring back the WORST of the 80s (Bret Michaels, Bono) but it breaks my heart. There were some TRUE rockers back then that you don't see anybody talking about.
Let's hope the resurgence of guys like RATT and Motley Crue signals the return of Interesting, Imaginative metal and not just that cookie monster System of a Down/Korn nonsense we've been having to put up with on MTV the last 15 years...
Motley Crue forever!