Rocktober Album #18: Mötley Crüe – Theatre of Pain (1985)

Theatre of Pain is Mötley Crüe's third studio album, and frankly, probably the worst of their classic albums (i.e., Too Fast For Love through Dr. Feelgood).  The band admitted in their Behind the Music that they were kind of going through the motions on this one.  Nonetheless, it's still a pretty good album.  I remember seeing the album cover when I was 7 or 8 and thinking that the band was obviously full of Satanists because one of the masks has a pentagram on it.

The album got as high as #6 on the Billboard charts, their first Top 10 album, and their first of five Top 10 albums in a row.  It is dedicated to Hanoi Rocks drummer Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley, who died as a passenger in Vince Neil's car while Neil was driving drunk to go get more booze.  I have the 2003 remastered version of the album, which also includes some demos and alternate versions of "Home Sweet Home," "City Boy Blues," "Smokin' in the Boys Room," and "Keep Your Eye on the Money."  I'm not going to discuss the demos or the alternates, since the final versions are better.

1. "City Boy Blues"

I'm not a huge fan of this song.  The first song on an album should be one of the best two or three songs on the album, and I like this one the least.  It's an average song, with a medium tempo, but it just doesn't have much grit or passion to it.  I don't know.  It just doesn't do it for me, especially given the many other Mötley Crüe songs that I love.

2. "Smokin' in the Boys Room"

This was the band's first Top 40 hit, reaching #16.  It is a cover of a 1973 song by Brownsville Station.  The video is a classic (and it often shown on VH1 Classic's Metal Mania), featuring Michael Berryman as the high school principal who doesn't quite believe some dude's story that a dog ate his homework, even though it's true.

3. "Louder Than Hell"

This song appears as a demo (with a different title, "Hotter Than Hell") on the remastered version of the Shout at the Devil album I have.  Perhaps the band changed the name so that it wouldn't be confused with the Kiss song "Hotter Than Hell."  Regardless, it's a good, gritty song.

4. "Keep Your Eye on the Money"

This is a pretty good song.  Perhaps this is what the band was doing with this album instead of keeping their eye on the music.

5. "Home Sweet Home"

For all intents and purposes, this was the first power ballad.  For better or worse, after this song, every hair band had to have a power ballad on their album.  Bands like Mr. Big or Extreme probably owe a large part of their popularity to this song.  The song itself is pretty good.  It has one of the most recognizable piano intros (courtesy of Tommy Lee).  You can't help but sing along to the chorus.  I was surprised to see that the song only got up to #89 on the Billboard charts (although the remixed version in 1991 got up to #37).  Maybe it was just a much bigger video hit than a radio hit.

6. "Tonight (We Need a Lover)"

This is not to be confused with the band's cover of The Raspberries' "Tonight" on the Too Fast For Love album.  This song is another pretty good song.  It rocks, I suppose.  At the end, it continually increases in tempo, which I like.

7. "Use It or Lose It"

This is probably my favorite song on the album.  It is the song on the album that has the most soul and umph to it.  It has a great riff and a frantic feel to it.  Mick Mars has an awesome solo in the middle.  The song almost feels like it should have been on one of the band's first two albums – not that I'm complaining about its inclusion here.

8. "Save Our Souls"

This one starts off with promise with a quick drum intro by Lee, then the tempo slows and the song kind of grinds along.  The chorus requests "Save our souls for the heavens."  I've read The Dirt.  No chance on that request.

9. "Raise Your Hands to Rock"

This is an interesting song.  It has both acoustic and electric guitars near the beginning, and it's very catchy.  It seems like it could have been released as a single and done decently.  It almost foreshadows Firehouse or bands like that that came along a few years later, towards the end of the Hair Band Era, who were a little more pop than metal.  I'm not trying to bash this song, because it is rock through and through, with a great guitar solo and a party chorus.  It's just the interplay near the start with the acoustic and electric may have planted some seeds for other bands to go less electric.

10. "Fight for Your Rights" 

 The album ends with a decent song.  It has a good, hard repeating riff, and a positive message.