Motley Crue, one of the biggest bands of the 1980’s, and the band that defines the term “Sex, drugs and rock n’ roll.”
Motley Crue emerged in the early 80’s and exploded, selling over a thousand copies of their first record,
Too Fast For Love before they even had a record deal, in 1982 they signed to Elektra records and re-released
Too fast For Love. In 1983, the band released
Shout At The Devil, and opened for
Ozzy Osbourne on tour, this only added to their popularity. The band only sank deeper into drug and alcohol abuse as they moved through the ‘80’s, releasing two albums that
Nikki Sixx has been quoted saying he doesn’t even remember making, those were the absolutely horrid
Theater of Pain, and the almost as bad
Girls, Girls, Girls. In 1988 the band sobered up and recorded
Dr. Feelgood, which was released in 1989. The album was a huge hit, and the band toured, sober, for over two years. It wasn’t long after the band re entered the studio, to record the follow up to the hugely successful
Dr. Feelgood, that singer
Vince Neil was removed from the band. Whether he quit, or was fired is still and always will be in dispute, but that decision was the reason why we have the album, which you are currently looking at.
Motley Crue’s self-titled album featured a different singer. That singer was
John Corabi. The self-titled is the only album that was released with Corabi in the band. As a follow up to one of the biggest albums of the ‘80’s, the Crue’s 1994 release bombed, they went from stadium tours with a personal jet and truckloads of gear, to playing clubs every night. It seemed like the only place the Crue was still huge was Japan, but then again, everything is huge in Japan.
Anyways, enough background, now I’ll get to talking about the album itself. I like to think of this album as a completely different entity to Motley’s other records, because it’s impossible to compare the two. The sound on this record is definitely still Motley, it still has the same swagger that the Crue always possessed, but that’s where the similarities end. Corabi’s voice is nothing like Vince’s. Whereas Vince’s voice was high pitched and squeaky, Corabi’s voice is gravely and coarse. With a different voice, and also a second guitar player, Corabi played guitar too, the sound of the band changed completely. It went from the squeaky clean, glam metal sound to something heavier, and based more in classic rock and metal than anything.
The second you hear the first riff of
Power To The Music, the first track on the album, you can tell that this is going to be something completely different. The pop influence that Motley always had disappeared on this album, and it is straight up rock and roll, no frills and no gimmicks. The riffs are heavy, the bass is pounding, and the drums are thumping. Once the album starts, it’s off and running, first with
Power To The Music, then with
Uncle Jack. These two songs aren’t anything stand out; there are just fantastic rock songs. The third track is also the lead single from the album,
Hooligan’s Holiday. The song features some fantastic vocals from Corabi, and the playing is great from the entire band, the intro itself is particularly kicking, when the band cuts out and it’s just Corabi, singing some very memorable lyrics,
“Drop Dead Beauty, stomping up a storm, lines of hell on her face” then the band comes back in, and once again, we’re off to the races.
The album slows down with the next track,
Misunderstood, which starts off with just an acoustic guitar and Corabi’s rough voice, which I find to be somewhat soothing. Then the drums come in, just a tambourine, and Tommy hammering on a big bass drum with a mallet. The song continues like this through the chorus, then the drums kick in, and I mean really kick in, and the song gets heavy. This song was the second single from this album, and is definitely one of the best on it, it’s a little long, but because of it’s dynamics, it doesn’t really get boring or drag on.
Misunderstood moves nicely into the next track,
Loveshine, which is just a quick acoustic song, but it gives the listener a nice break, the riffs are very “pretty” sounding, it’s a fairly light hearted song, and adds a nice dynamic to the album. The intro of
Poison Apples starts off quiet, but the whole band kicks in at once, and the album is off and running again. This song drips with sleaze, every thing from the guitars, to Corabi’s gravely voice, to his lyrics. It’s very Motley, just not in the same way as the old (and current)
Motley Crue. The next track,
Hammered, is in the same vein as
Power To The Music, and there isn’t much to say about it.
‘Til Death Do Us Part however is a very cool track, it starts off fairly mellow, with a great groove from Tommy, which really drives the song. The guitar riff in the intro and verse is very eerie and adds a cool flavour to the song.
Welcome To The Numb is yet another great rock song, but there isn’t much else to say about it, it’s very bluesy, and the guitar solo is pretty cool.
Smoke The Sky is the heaviest song on the album, Corabi’s voice is harsh, the riffs are heavy and the song doesn’t let up, it’s a very rhythmic track.
Droppin’ Like Flies is one of the slower songs on the album, and it’s fairly long, it drags on a bit too much for my tastes, and doesn’t particularly stand out. The closing track on the album,
Driftaway/, starts off with just an acoustic guitar, and Corabi crooning. The man can croon with the best of them, which is surprising after hearing the first eleven tracks on this album. The song is slow and mellow, and the guitar solo is fairly decent, it really fits the song.
Driftaway does a great job of closing this album.
Even though this album didn’t sell well, it’s still a great rock record. As I said before, you can’t really compare it to anything else
Motley Crue has done, because it is a completely different sounding band. After the album bombed, they kicked Corabi out, and Vince rejoined the band, but this album is definitely a great album, and deserves more praise than it ever received. Overall I’d say this album deserves a
4/5, because it is a great rock record. It isn’t anything spectacular, and not much stands out, but the musicianship, and the song writing are both top notch, it just wasn’t designed for mainstream rock radio, unlike the band’s works prior to this album.
Recommended tracks:
Hooligan’s Holiday
Misunderstood
Loveshine
Welcome To The Numb
My rating:
4/5
