Thursday, 3 July 2014

That's Entertainment : Motley Crue


In 1991 when Motley Crue decided to release a sort of 'greatest hits', they titled it Decade of Decadence.  And it literally was.  The sleaziest, grimiest, rockiest band of the decade, Motley Crue had survived heroin overdoses, car crashes, punch ups and global world tours to finish the the 1980's on an absolute high with the multi-platinum Dr Feelgood album.  Taking their glam and punk roots, these snot nosed lads - bassist Nikki Sixx, tub-thumper Tommy Lee and bleached bombshell vocalist Vince Neil - and their older bluesier guitarist - Mick Mars - crawled out of the LA bars and clubs and created some of the most explosive, anthem ridden rock music ever.  

Albums called Too Fast For Love, Shout At The Devil, Theatre of Pain, Girls, Girls, Girls and Dr Feelgood sold by the truck load, spawning countless imitators, claiming a legion of party mad fans whilst infuriating parental groups.  They hogged the MTV spotlight with numerous videos taking their brand of good time snot nosed revelry to the airwaves and shoving it up authority figures.  And whilst they owed much to KISS, the Sex Pistols, Slade and Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue took the baton and ran with it, making glam/hair metal one of the big genres of the mid to late 1980's.  Their power ballad Home Sweet Home was pretty much the template for other rock bands to win over their 'chick' fans and melt hearts.  Their big, dumb and loud live shows ushered in bigger and brasher arena shows.  The sleaze of Girls, Girls, Girls and Wild Side and Same Ol' Situation was every teenage boys fantasy; the machoism of Piece Of Your Action and Kickstart Your Heart a call to arms.  And Shout At The Devil was just baiting.  Myself, attending at a stern boarding school, this was my way to say "F U" and put myself at the front of the line for the daily caning.

Later, they would release the band's biography - The Dirt - all tales of debauched tours, tattoos, strung out recording sessions and sin aplenty - which helped sell concert tickets, LPs and tabloids on the back of their extraordinary rock n roll deeds.  And despite the clownish glam trappings, teased hair and MTV-era excesses, Motley Crue delivered on so many fronts.  As a young teenager, no one seemed more 'rock and roll' than these guys - so much so, my entire boarding school cubicle was decorated top to toe in hundreds of posters gleaned from fanzines and plastered on every conceivable space…a living, breathing scrap book if you please.  My boom-box blasted their sickly treats and I wore their t-shirts with pride and raised the eyebrows of the boarding school masters who wondered what my obsession was.  There was a point when I drove everyone insane with endless repeats of Nona - one minute and twenty-six seconds of pure pop bliss (with orchestration) - a song I would many years later discover was about Nikki Sixx's nan!  Oh, and did I tell you I could air guitar ALL the licks and riffs?!?

With a back catalogue brimming with thrills and spills and numerous pills, Decade Of Decadence (the CD and the Video compilation) hit late 1991.  The single, Primal Scream (one of my all time rock out faves!!!) dropped at about the same time Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit was beginning to munch up the airwaves.  You can tell me who was the ultimate winner.  Seismic change was already coming and the over-bloated, long haired hair metal scene was hit a telling blow.  Nikki Sixx saw it coming and at the peak of their powers, on Valentine's Day 1992, he decided to split with Vince Neil the vocalist, and thereby broke my heart (I'm serious…it really, really hurt) and destroyed my youth.  Grunge was it and hair metal was left to RIP.  Things would never be the same.  These days, sure, I rock out.  But I'm pretending I'm fifteen again.  The music is as catchy as the many VDs they probably caught over the years and I can prance about pretending my bald pate is a flowing mane of teased hair and I'm shredding frets.  

And sure, after a self-titled, ego trip of an album with another singer in 1994 trying to get on the 'grunge' bandwagon, Tommy Lee became Pamela Anderson's handbag and Vince Neil finally returned in 1997, but it wasn't the same.  They became caricatures of themselves trashing their legacy and ended up in that cycle of tour/greatest hits package that befalls so many long-term bands where the lawyers keep everyone at bay.  And sure, they lived off their legacy of being 'rock gods', remastering all their great stuff and sure, they dropped the odd piece of pop/rock greatness (2009's Saints of Los Angeles was a stunning return to form) and continued to rub authority the wrong way, but nobody wants to see fifty year old guys acting like teenagers getting their teenage kicks.  

So recently, Motley Crue signed a legal pact amongst the band members that when the current Farewell World Tour was completed, that was it.  It's legally binding - apparently - and quite a stunt.  

I still have the scrap book full of magazine, newspaper cuts, cloth patches and single covers.  I still have the Decade of Decadence laminated promo poster that I had blu tacked on so many walls.  I still have those days when I whack on a Motley-Mix and throw reckless abandon to the wind.  I'm a Rock N Roll Junkie and I once loved Motley Crue more than anything.  But unlike the band, I eventually grew up.

Still…there's a twinkle in me…that snot nosed, authority loathing, sneering punk ar$e teenager buried deep inside that beckons me over to the jukebox.  I toggle the volume and turn the stereo up that little bit too loud and drive along screeching the lyrics to Kickstart My Heart.  I wear my Decade of Decadence t-shirt - now a fetid rag (which I will never, ever allow to be chucked in the bin) and wonder if I should blu tack the promo poster on the lounge room wall.  And I wish I had my long hair.  

Rock on!!!

[Language Warning on some of these clips too]




















And later …






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