Mötley Crüe is, of course, one of the most successful and notorious bands to come out of the Sunset Strip glam metal scene, or any scene for that matter. If you haven't read their autobiography, The Dirt, it is probably the best rock autobiography you will ever read. From snorting ants on a bet to using a telephone to pleasure a groupie and then call her mom during the act to Nikki Sixx dying from a heroin overdose and then coming back to life to Vince Neil killing Hanoi Rocks's drummer in a drunken car crash to Tommy Lee being Tommy Lee to Mick Mars being an alien, the I'm not sure there's a band that exemplifies the overindulgent spirit of the 1980s better than they do. They did all this while managing to make some pretty damn good rock and roll, combining metal riffs, power pop hooks, punk attitude, and a lot of leather, Aqua Net, and makeup.
Anyway, here are my ten favorite Mötley Crüe songs, with the album and year for each one. The list is heavy on Dr. Feelgood because that's probably their best album, and certainly my favorite.
Honorable Mention: "Too Fast For Love" (Too Fast For Love, 1981); "Bastard" (Shout at the Devil, 1983); "Too Young to Fall in Love" (Shout at the Devil, 1983); "Home Sweet Home" (Theatre of Pain, 1985); "She Goes Down" (Dr. Feelgood, 1989); "Bitter Pill" (Greatest Hits, 1998)
10. "Use It or Lose It" (Theatre of Pain, 1985)
Apologies to "Home Sweet Home," but I think this is the best song on Theatre of Pain, which is an otherwise average album when compared to the band's other albums in the '80s. The song is frenetic, and I'm especially a fan of Tommy Lee's drumming and the riff on this one.
This was kind of the band's last gasp before grunge took over and the band broke up for a few years. It's a great, bombastic song.
8. "Girls, Girls, Girls" (Girls, Girls, Girls, 1987)
This is the first Mötley Crüe song I really remember hearing. Only years later would I realize it was about strip clubs. I just thought it was about girls, girls, and girls.
7. "Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)" (Dr. Feelgood, 1989)
This one is just a catchy, irreverent little ditty about telling a girl not to be mad, but instead be gone. He just want to shoot some pool with his friends. Stop smothering him.
6. "Toast of the Town" (b-side, 1981)
"Toast of the Town" was finally released on an album in 2003 on the Too Fast For Love re-master. It's a catchy song that kind of captures everything Mötley Crüe does well.
5. "Dr. Feelgood" (Dr. Feelgood, 1989)
What a great song. It draws you in with that raunchy riff, and then the drug-dealing story keeps you listening. I remember getting this album when I was a kid and thinking it was crazy, like how did they know about this kind of stuff? Of course, years later when I really learned about the band, I figured it out. Great rock song, though.
4. "Wild Side" (Girls, Girls, Girls, 1987)
This one has a great riff and is just a ballsy, gritty song.
3. "Kickstart My Heart" (Dr. Feelgood, 1989)
I have loved this song since the first time I heard it. "Kickstart My Heart" is one of those great rock and roll stories. Nikki Sixx wrote it after his heroin overdose that killed him for a few minutes, until the paramedics literally kickstarted his heart and saved his life. I love that motorcycle riff that starts the song, and pretty much everything else about the song. This song is pure adrenaline from start to finish.
2. "Live Wire" (Too Fast For Love, 1981)
This is a ball-busting, fast-paced, almost punkish song with a great riff, that kind of ushered in the glam metal era, in my opinion.
1. "Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.)" (Dr. Feelgood, 1989)
I love this song. That's all there is too it.
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