TheLastOnes For me, this is top 5 of all time material. If you like heavy metal with a bit of punk thrown in, short songs, catchy choruses, even catchier solos, and helium laced vocals, then you will dig this. Motley before the fame, before pressure to write a certain way, and without extensive production. This is really just bass, drums, guitar, vocals and a healthy dose of cowbell. Nothing fancy going on which is a good thing. You can hear each instrument clearly and everything just seems to work. If I had to pick, I’d say Mick is the real star here. The interesting spin he puts on his riffs and the way he always seems to play solos to serve the song really ups the enjoyment level. If you haven’t heard it and avoid it because of the name Motley, then give it a try anyway. It isn’t what you expect.

Vim Fuego OK, so Motley Crüe never pretended to be anything more than a cock rock band. They didn’t pander to commercial interests like Bon Jovi. They didn’t try to validate themselves as musicians like Queensryche. They didn’t go grunge like Bang Tango. Their egos didn’t explode like Guns ‘n’ Roses (well, not quite as much). And they never, ever toned down their behaviour like Skid Row. Through it all, they remained the quintessential glam band, always setting the standards for others to follow.

With a title like ‘Girls Girls Girls’ this was never likely to be a serious album, and it’s not. However, it is vintage L.A. glam rock, unapologetically sleazy and ultimately disposable. The band had spent months in the studio on their previous album, and were unhappy with the over-polished result. For this album, they hit the studio and did the lot within weeks. It brought back their edge, smudged their make-up and dirtied up the sound well and truly. It also meant ‘Girls Girls Girls’ sounds a little underdone in places.

First track “Walk On The Wild Side” rocks like a bastard, in the best traditions of Van Halen and Aerosmith. Mick Mars’ guitar swaggers through the song, with probably the most metal sound he’d pulled from six strings and an amplifier in many a year. Vince Neil is his streetwise best with this glimpse of the seedy side of Los Angeles life, with lines like “East L.A., midnight/Papa won’t be home tonight/Found dead with his best friend’s wife”. It’s probably about as real as Motley Crüe ever get.

Then it’s back to the teen fantasy these grown men were living with “Girls Girls Girls”. Basically, it’s big dumb rock with hairspray and copious sex thrown in. The dumbfuck obvious chorus shout of “Girls girls girls” will still have you singing it too, despite the utter cliché of it all. It’s sexist but sexy escapism. “Bad Boy Boogie” is just what it says, grooving in a way AC/DC might have done had they been born and raised in Los Angeles. “All In The Name Of Rock” isn’t what it seems. It’s about underage sex and groupies. It has a bouncy rock and roll feel to it, and despite the sleazy subject matter, it’s delightfully catchy. If you enjoy it, you need to say ten Hail Marys and a couple of How’s Yer Fathers and subject yourself to hours of self-flagellation for punishment.

The Crüe were quite keen on chemical stimulants at the time this was recorded. “Something For Nothing” touched on the subject, along with prostitution and more groupies. It also has one of the best riffs Mick Mars ever played on it. Life must be so tough for a rock star...

“You’re All I Need” is the compulsory Power Ballad. It’s a sad account of teen love ending in murder due to the cheesy old “if I can’t have you, no one will” line. Oddly, it almost seems like Vince Neil was feeling what he was singing. It has all the right ingredients for an 80s weepie- piano, acoustic guitar, big power chords and a wailing solo, soaring vocals, and the quiet/loud/quiet dynamic. It sounds strangely similar to Twisted Sister’s version of “Leader Of The Pack”.

If you want filler, you’ve got it. “Nona”, a song about Nikki Sixx’s grandmother, is pretty dumb. The entire lyrical content of the song is “Nona, I’m out of my head without you”. Repeat ad nauseam over a cello and acoustic guitar. “Five Years Dead”, a song about being in prison, isn’t terribly bad, it’s just not very good either. There’s a live version of “Jailhouse Rock” tacked on the end of the album for no good reason other than to pad the album out. It’s revved up a bit more than the original, but it’s ultimately pointless.

‘Girls Girls Girls’ is probably three songs short of an amazing album, but the highlights here put to shame just about every other band of the glam genre short of Guns ‘n’ Roses. This album’s quick recording session helped the ‘Crüe regain their streetwise edge, and restored some of their earlier fire. It didn’t turn out quite how the band had expected, but it set them up perfectly to record ‘Dr Feelgood’ two years down the track, the last great album of the glam era.

UMUR "Dr. Feelgood" is the 5th full-length studio album by US hard rock/glam metal act Mötley Crüe. The album was released through Elektra Records in September 1989. After releasing a couple of commercially very well received albums in "Theatre of Pain (1985)" and "Girls, Girls, Girls (1987)", the members of Mötley Crüe had been touring hard and also build on their reputation as the most hard partying band in the business. Drugs, alcohol, groupies and fatal car accidents, the Mötley Crüe story features them all. However by the time they entered Little Mountain Sound Studios in Vancouver, Canada with producer Bob Rock, they were clean, sober and dedicated to the project of making the album (according to the liner notes in the booklet of the remaster/re-release). "Dr. Feelgood" is the band´s best selling album to date selling 6 million copies in the US alone.

The music is hard rock/glam metal with loads of commercial mainstream appeal (well...in those days at least). The sound production is powerful and polished. Other than the title track, which features a killer riff and some good hooks, I think the album features few really standout tracks though, but fortunately there´s nothing really bad on the album either. Even a sucker coated ballad like "Without You" is alright. "Dr. Feelgood" is certainly a step up in quality compared to it´s predecessor. The musicianship is generally pretty good, but Vince Neil´s vocals are a bit of an aquired taste. Sometimes his thin voice drowns in the soundscape. But then again he brings the right amount of charm and "fuck you" attitude to the sound too.

Overall "Dr. Feelgood" is another polished and mainstream oriented Mötley Crüe album. It´s one of their better IMO and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is warranted.

UMUR "Girls, Girls, Girls" is the 4th full-length studio album by US hard rock/glam metal act Mötley Crüe. The album was released through Elektra Records in May 1987.

After the generally softer "Theater of Pain (1985)" (compared to the first two more raw sounding albums), Mötley Crüe returned to a harder edged sound on "Girls, Girls, Girls". Well...relatively. The music on the album is still polished heavy rock/glam metal featuring simple vers/chorus structures and memorable hooklines. Among the standout tracks are the three single tracks "Wild Side", "Girls, Girls, Girls" and "You're All I Need". The latter is a power ballad type track. I can picture how this song was probably accompanied by a sea of lighters when it was played live, even though the lyrics actually tell the tale of a murder. Most of the lyrics deal with the hard party life of the bandmembers though, which songtitles like "Bad Boy Boogie" and "Girls, Girls, Girls" give a hint to. Already at this point, Mötley Crüe were legendary for their excessive drug and alcohol abuse as well as the ridiculous amount of groupies chasing them around.

Overall the material sound a bit shallow to my ears and the sound production is a bit thin too. The latter isn´t unusual for a release from 1987 though, so it´s a minor issue. Most of the tracks on the album are forgotten as soon as they are over (memorable hooklines or not) and that´s of course a slightly bigger issue. There´s nothing really bad on the album though so I guess a 3 star (60%) rating is warranted. Judging from this album alone, Mötley Crüe seem to be the kind of band that are mostly famous as a result of their wild party life style than because of the actual quality of their music.

UMUR "Too Fast For Love" is the debut full-length studio album by US hard rock/glam metal act Mötley Crüe. The album was originally released through Leathür Records in November 1981. Only 900 copies were pressed of the original version (Leathür Records which was the band´s own label, released two more pressings before Mötley Crüe signed with Elektra Records), so it´s the 1982 Elektra Records re-release that are usually considered the "standard" version of "Too Fast For Love". The Elektra Records version omits the track "Stick to Your Guns", which was included on the original Leathür Records version.

The music on the album is simple, raw and at times rather charming hard rock/glam metal. It´s guitar, bass, drums and vocals rock´n´roll and that´s basically it. There´s nothing too flashy about it and at times I even detect a punky edge. The lyrical themes are also pretty basic sex, drugs and rock´n´roll stuff. I guess songtitles like "Piece of Your Action" and "Too Fast for Love" say it better than words. The songs are pretty straight forward vers/chorus structured and usually rock hard, but both "Merry-Go-Round" and "On With the Show" feature more dynamic and mellower parts. Power ballad stuff.

The sound production is raw and unpolished which suits the music well.

Overall "Too Fast For Love" is a pretty enjoyable album by Mötley Crüe, but the songwriting is a bit imature, and while there are certainly a couple of really strong tracks on the album, not enough stand out as really great. A 3 star (60%) rating is deserved.