Review MÖTLEY CRÜE ‘Crücial Crüe’

Maybe the guys from the Cause Of Deaf Podcast (in German only) had seen it coming when they dedicated a few weeks ago an entire episode to the work of Mötley Crüe. With attention to detail, the entire career of the band was discussed and probably it was just a coincidence that now in February a collection of the first five albums of L.A.’s glam rock veterans comes on the market.

The quartet from California began in 1980 and since then shaped glam rock and hard rock. Already the debut album achieved considerable popularity and made it into the U.S. charts. ‘Too Fast for Love’ was released in 1981 and laid the foundation for a super successful career in which only the four guys themselves stood in their own way from time to time. With ‘Live Wire’ the debut album has a milestone song in pole position and also ‘Merry-Go-Round’ shows a musical diversity that was already evident on the first album. Not to forget, of course, ‘Piece of the Action’; another timeless rocker that can be found in the bottom half of the track list.

After a quite successful debut, it was the ‘Shout at the Devil’ album that provided the band’s breakthrough. Pentagram and make-up made the band seem more devilish than the music finally was. Still, the outfit was a factor of attraction. With ‘Shout at the Devil’, ‘Looks That Kill’ and the frantic ‘Red Hot’, the sophomore effort has killer songs to offer that solidified Mötley Crüe’s position. However, ‘Shout at the Devil’ also started the tradition of a cover version per album. Here it’s a not really satisfying version of The Beatles’ ‘Helter Skelter’, which, as well as the covers of the following albums, don’t belong to the highlights.

My first Mötley Crüe album was ‘Theatre of Pain’, the third work of the glam rockers. ‘Tonight’, ‘Louder Than Hell’ and ‘Use It or Lose It’, these were the hymns of my youth and are still among the highlights of the quartet. Even the ballad ‘Home Sweet Home’ had class at that time and maybe it was because of my heartbreak that I liked the song.

Mötley Crüe have excellent tunes on their albums, but none of the longplayers is a hit from start to finish. Dokken for example have ‘Under Lock and Keys’, an album without a weak point. Mötley Crüe don’t manage this trick – not even on ‘Girls, Girls Girls’. Maybe it was due to the excessive life of the four that each album also had weaker tracks. On ‘Girls , Girls, Girls’, however, Mötley Crüe have with the title track, but also ‘Wild Side’ and ‘All In the Name Of…’ great anthems, the latter track, however, with very questionable lyrics.

‘Dr. Feelgood’ is the most commercially successful album of the Californians and contains with tracks like ‘Rattlesnake Shake’, ‘Kickstart My Heart’ and ‘Same Ol’ Situation’ excellent songs while ‘Without You’ was made for the charts.

Unfortunately, Mötley Crüe lost themselves after the first five album. Drugs and excesses took over and the band never managed to match the achievements of the 80s albums. In addition, there were line-up changes, which also did not help the spirit and vibe. For this reason it is not surprising that this collection is limited to only these records and if you look at the current setlists of the band, more or less all songs are from this era.

Mötley Crüe are without a doubt one of the most influential bands in rock history. Many of their songs are timeless and have not lost any of their relevancy even in today’s time. One wonders what the band could have achieved if not extroverted escapades and excesses caused harm for the band.

Anyway, these first five releases have made rock history and should be part of every decent record collection.

Too Fast For Love