Way Back WhensDay: Mötley Crüe

Old school Mötley Crüe

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

On January 28, legendary rock band Mötley Crüe announced its retiring at the end of 2014.  The band has been together for more than 30 years, forming in 1981. Vince Neil, Tommy Lee, Mick Mars, and Nikki Sixx have been the primary members through the decades.

I was ten when their album "Shout at the Devil" was released, and it was really the first time I took notice.  It was hard not to notice the four guys with hair teased up high, makeup, and spandex.  It was the MTV era and their videos were on all the time.  I'll be honest though, I wasn't really into them with that first album.  My brother was a fan and played the music all the time.  Eventually, I got hooked to it too.

Theatre of Pain

In 1985, when I was in middle school, Mötley Crüe released "Theatre of Pain."  My brother owned this album too, and we'd play it often.  Even though I'd never smoked, I always enjoyed the song "Smoking in the Boys Room."  The music video was even more memorable. I remember they stopped playing it at school dances as they were afraid it would encourage some sort of rebellion.  "Home Sweet Home" was another popular hit on that album and one of my favorite songs by the Crüe.

By the time 1987 rolled around, I was in high school and "Girls, Girls, Girls" was released.  This song and music video are burned in my memory and for obvious reasons.  At least the video is.  I'll never forget that song either though, because it was during my freshman year that we had a jukebox in the school cafeteria.  Every day during lunch, a classmate of mine would put his quarter in and he'd play "Girls, Girls, Girls."  I'm not exaggerating, this happened daily for the entire school year.  That was 27 years ago and I can still see him walking up to the jukebox and rocking his way back to his seat at the lunch table.

I think 1989's "Dr. Feelgood" probably produced the most favorites for me.  "Without You" being at the top of the list, not just as one of my favorite Mötley Crüe songs of all time, but one of my favorites in general.  "Kick Start My Heart" and "Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)" are a couple of other great songs from that album.

Mötley Crüe today

Through the years the band has had its up and downs.  Drummer Randy Castillo, who had replaced Lee, died of cancer in 2002.  He was replaced by the band's only female member, Samantha Maloney.  Eventually all the original members would reunite and that brings us to today.  Mötley Crüe has a 72 city farewell tour starting in July. Alice Cooper will be with them as well.  They'll be in St. Louis in July and I am seriously considering going, just for a little nostalgia if nothing else.

Holy cow, I nearly forgot that in 1998, Mötley Crüe performed on Monday Night Raw and introduced the wrestling world to their "roadie" Test.  I can't believe I almost missed an opportunity to connect a blog with wrestling and the WWE.  My bad...