So Motley lays down the ground work with an absolute killer of a debut(Too Fast For Love) and now the big leagues call their name as record labels come sniffing around and smelling $$$$$! The Crue sign with Elektra Records and so it begins!
Myself? Well enough hype was written about the Crue I mean there starting to get mention in all the Rock Mags(Hit Parader,Circus,Kerrang,Creem) so it’s all there in the makings of the Crue going huge…and Yep,huge is where they went!
Iron Maiden with new lead throat Bruce Dickinson release the classic Number Of The Beast and you have Ozzy Osbourne with some people thinking he is the devil with his antics(biting bat heads off,pissing on the Alamo)calling his album Bark At The Moon, so yeah the Crue especially bassist/leader Nikki Sixx sees what’s selling so why not jump aboard the Devils Ship and while you’re at it call your record Shout At The Devil and well let’s cash cow it while we can…..
Following trends which would become a pattern for this band.
Sept 1983 and the Crue having done the legwork like I said earlier on the hype machine(adds in the music magazines ) before SATD is released and when that day comes where all flocking like a bunch of seagulls down to all the record shops to buy it!
The cover is Black with a Pentagram and red lettering. Simple yet effective I’m brainwashed the Album Is a gatefold sleeve with big pics of the guys Sixx/Vince Neil/Tommy Lee and Mick Mars…lyrics and just good all around packaging and of course the Crue is bad ass right? So they tell us for all to see what they recorded the album on and let’s say it’s a hodgepodge of everything to make you ummmmm Feelgood?! Krell anyone?
Crue in Tbay is big news and here we go……
IN THE BEGINNING- Some eerie sounding synth with a spoken word intro sets the pace for this record….’in the beginning’ and wow man they’re preaching some kind of jibber jabber evil and don’t fuck with us cuz we’re the Crue and before Ya know it Stand Up and ….
SHOUT AT THE DEVIL- Wowzers Mars slams his guitar like quick little lightening bolts at the beginning of the song and the MVP from the first record Tommy Lee pounces the drums and here comes the chant SHOUT….SHOUT ….SHOUT…and Vince takes over and man listening back to these records this guy tossed away his own legacy in later years but whatever that’s Vince’s deal but back in 83 he was the deal kinda of. Yep so The Crue are off to the races and when they tell me to SHOUT……I shout and say how loud! Sixx is somewhere at the time counting his cash and snickering how he’s fooling all of us young punks! Guess what? At the time I’m good with that!
LOOKS THAT KILL- Crue borrows all of Kiss’ leftovers from the sets of Kiss’ Lick It Up Videos and you want desolate wasteland/Scantily dressed women and Mick Mars looking sketchy just like Simmoms did in the Lick It Up vids this is your one stop shop for all things Freaky Dekey! Ha….’Now listen up” sez Vince and the boys lead the charge and man its full assault of drums/guitars and bass and with good measure a “Hey” is thrown in to appease the concert goers at future Crue shows!
BASTARD-Ok so here we are by track 3 and were hanging with the Crue and we have gone from Shouting At The Devil to the chicks with the Looks That Kill and now we’re into a knife fight! Like holy shit i don’t know if I can keep up with this pace of hanging with Sixx and Crue! Seriously though this is one of the sleeper tracks on here …I mean I remember awhile back at work my buddy Dabrando walked by me and chirped ‘Out go the lights,in goes my knife,pull out his life consider the Bastard dead!” I howled ,it’s at moments like that when no one else is around at work who knows what the hell were talking about but just the two of us! Hahahaha…..Bastard rocks with Tommy double bassing and Sleazy Vince chasing the lyrics put forth by Sixx! They even throw in some Whoooooah Whoooooooooah Bastard!
GOD BLESS THE CHILDERN OF THE BEAST- Mars Bars puts done a little piece of acoustic and towards of it there’s someone saying and telling us to God Bless The Childern Of The Beast that segues into…..
HELTER SKELTER- Crue shows some real balls by covering the Beatles I mean they get away with it with a pretty decent version! Crue sleazeballs it to the nines and make it their own and hey let’s keep the Dark brooding theme going..and going and the cash registers ringing…ringing ..ringing….
RED HOT- Tommy starts off with his double bass drums going full steam ahead! The sonics of this album and this song is the problem I have with how Tom Werman produced. I mean listen to the drum mix on Too Fast For Love it’s warm aND fuzzy but with always an inch away from kicking you in the ass with Tommys ferocity! This kinda disappeared on Shout At The Devil and man the drum mix on Theatre Of Pain is fuckin awful to my ears, maybe it’s just me? Who knows…but yeah Tommy leads the charge Mick rolls in and Sixx and Neil run and scream thru the night! Love the chorus….Red Hot…Red Hot….to the top we are Red Hot!….hahaha…Brent Jensen you are right! (I’m not telling you what he says..go and buy his great book No Sleep Til Sudbury)
TOO YOUNG TO FALL IN LOVE- Remember the vid..the Crues eating sushi and banging birds! Hahaha….this was the single and yep the Crue are tough guys kicking ass and don’t forget just earlier they were in a knife fight with Bastard! So don’t mess with them! Mars peels off a decent solo and this is a good song. Like many others Tommy drives the bus with his drums……
KNOCK EM DEAD KID- love this track.Sixx nails a winner with this tune with a real catchy verse and chorus! Drums/bass and guitar are top-notch on this tune in a 1983 kinda way!
TEN SECONDS TO LOVE-Sex by Sixx and he tries to be ACDC with the words but these are kinda dumb and then I read in the magazines back than how they had girls in the studio when they were recording this track! Yeah ok sure …but man the lyrics are fuckin funny…”touch my gun but don’t pull my trigger’ hahaha…but man goofball lyrics aside the verse and chorus are real catchy and man the melody sticks in your head like if someone crazy glued your brain to listening to Ten Seconds To Love on a continuous loop! This is just like a Sleazy Simmons Kiss tune! Just big OL dumb Arena Rock!(ha)
DANGER-Nikki Dixx with a synth and out comes Danger to end the album. Crue is telling us that we’re Danger when the boys are in town! Hollywood mafia meet Motley Crüe! This I guess is the song to end the album on a serious note and hell why not! Sixx and his posse knows that even though there will be a car crash that wipes out a great band(Hanoi Rocks) Nikki knows young Deke will be getting on his 10 speed bike and hauling ass 2 years later to buy the Crues next album when it hits the shops and ……he’s right!
IN CONCLUSION – I think for the majority of Crue fans out there they would say this is there best! Fair enough but for me I really like the debut And over time and to be honest SATD has been on iPod and to write this I spun it a few times and man the production is ok not great! But hey at the time I was 16 and who am I to tell how to produce records! Even now 32 years later who am to tell how to produce records? But I can say it cuz I spent the cash on said product. Make sense? But Sixx and Crue deliver it at the time and build an empire that would go for about another 8 years until well…….
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