Mötley Crüe have been in the news lately, you might have seen them. You know that band that could never, ever tour again because they’d signed a ‘cessation of touring agreement’ saying just that. The band who categorically stated that they would never again hit the road…
But they are, it seems, about to do just that (is that ink dry yet?). Whilst some love it and some hate it, others are quite rightly a little pissed off that they paid rather good money to witness the end of the band only to find out… it wasn’t. Mick Mars even said if the band did indeed tour again that people could come for free – he claims he was joking. So it seems that they were joking about never touring too. If only they’d told us about the joke at the time of making those statements we’d all be happy, but of course then the band might just have missed out on a few extra dollars. It is after all, we all know, just about the money. Another payoff until the next time, not that the band will admit even that – according to the press it’s all about the ‘whole new generation of fans’ who have materialised in the last four years. Long term fans didn’t get a mention. It says a lot about, not just the scruples of Mötley Crüe, but the modern day ‘do anything for the money’ view of the world. There are of course many who just blandly state “You’d do it too” maybe yes, but I probably wouldn’t have made that commitment in the first place just to to boost ticket sales and guarantee a bigger paycheck last time round. If I had then this time I would probably have just owned up that I got an offer too good to refuse rather than state it’s all about those ‘new’ fans – I mean are we really expected to believe it’s these new guys who will be buying up all those new tickets?
Mötley of course already had form for pissing off fans with ridiculous excuses, cancelling a show at Wembley in the UK in 1988 I had tickets for for fear of “snow on the roof” – snow on the roof of the national stadium that apparently would bring the roof in on them. Wembley had seen 65 previous winters, The Stones, Springsteen, Aerosmith, Guns ‘n’ Roses plenty of others had managed to overcome that fear, even Michael Jackson. Well that’s enough of that, let’s get to what really matters – the music…
When I first heard Mötley back in the day they were a revelation, their first album ‘Too Fast For Love’ was a real breath of fresh air, Glam in the way that 70’s bands like The Sweet had been, but with an Alice Cooper edge and a real rawness that connected when the cranked up guitars cut in. They looked cool too, it was the full package, raw and exciting. And when you heard the songs – wow, teenage rebellion had landed for my generation. The follow up ‘Shout at the Devil’ wasn’t too shabby either even if the look had shifted from street punk to Mad Max with Max Factor. By ‘Theatre of Pain’ the band had gone with another make-over that had them looking like more feminine and less ‘street’ Hanoi Rocks and all of the edge in the music seemed to have gone. Their next had to be something to win me back and indeed ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ did just that..
This year as we’re looking back on the very best albums of 1989 it’s timely to see this last minute (just in time for Christmas) re-release of Mötley‘s 5th album hit the shelves, or whatever the digital equivalent of that may be. Sadly though for fans this appears to be just a rehash of the original album with three added demos (‘Kickstart My Heart’; ‘Dr. Feelgood’ and ‘Without You’) rather than the five live tracks that came with the 20th Anniversary edition, or if you will, the same as the 1999 re-release but incredibly missing one track – the unreleased ‘Get It For Free.’ Oh wait… then there’s the 2008 Japanese re-release which also added a demo of ‘Time For Change’ or even the 2013 Japanese reissue that went one better and also added ‘Get It For Free’… There may be more versions but I lost count at that. It leaves me asking one question. With their masters in their hands now wouldn’t it have been nice to have had all of that on a 2-CD definitive version? I’m sure there’s even more in the vaults.
Pushing that aside though, Dr. Feelgood was Mötley‘s commercial high point and it needed to be with newcomers Guns ‘n’ Roses stealing all the glory in the year that saw its release. It was just the record they needed to make to prove that they were still if not top of the tree, then pretty close.
Opening with the intro track ‘T.n.T. (Terror ‘n Tinseltown)’ you were thrown right into the hard groove of ‘Dr. Feelgood’ a song with one of the best bass sounds the band ever put to vinyl, and hypocritical drug warnings aside, it’s still one of the band’s finest songs. Listening to the album again after many years though there are certainly some weak spots, and whether that was partly due to Bob Rock having each of the member record separately who knows. But after a track like ‘Feelgood’ and the opening acoustic lilt of ‘Slice of Your Pie’ you then get a song that is just simply a swaggering pastiche of Aerosmith replete with its references to ‘Walk this Way’ and even with Steven Tyler on backing vocals – it’s not even as if there’s an attempt to hide it. It’s not a bad song it’s just stunningly unoriginal and one that still sits oddly in the tracklisting.
Thankfully they pull it all back with the next four songs – tracks that make up the real beating heart of the album- staring out with the great big groove of ‘Rattlesnake Shake’ which even sports some horns and keys (and is one of only two songs on the album where Lee and Neil get a writing credit). That is in turn followed by the hard rocking glory of ‘Kickstart My Heart’ one of the a songs which just really captures the spirit of late 80’s Rock for me. And if you like ballads then surely ‘Without You’ is one of Mötley‘s best?
And if you have the vinyl just to get the blood pumping again as you flip over the disc to side B comes that wonderfully melodic but still kick-ass sing-along live staple ‘Same Ol’ Situation.’ And that for me is pretty much where the album ends for me. The remaining tracks might well be star-studded with guest appearances from the likes of Robin Zander and Jack Blades to Skid Row and even Bryan Adams but the songs are pretty lame.
Am I being too harsh? Well if you glance at how many times the band played three of those four those songs live you’d think they must surely agree.First comes ‘Sticky Sweet’ a song that sounds like it inspired Poison during their ‘Unskinny Bop’ phase a year later. The song was played once live in 1990 and never again until the 20th Anniversary tour (which saw the band play the entire album). It’s not that bad a song just one that fails to connect really, especially in this esteemed company.
‘She Goes Down’ that follows was played less than a dozen times back in the day and is the sort of throw-away song that doesn’t bear repeated listens, even if you can forgive the uninspired lyric. It’s almost saved by Mick’s guitar, but not quite. And if you’re still listening ‘Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)’ is the wonderful exception that proves the rule, it’s a great rocker that could have found a place on dozens of great albums of the era, but it really sounds very unlike Mötley Crüe.
They didn’t save the best for last either, just the schmaltziest. Closer, the ballad ‘Time For Change’ got played 3 times live before 2009 and never since. It’s a weak sugary close to a rather great album, but not one without its highs and lows.
Most interesting of the three demos here is ‘Kickstart My Heart’ which is a full minute shorter than the finished version and has a nice rough edge that recalls the early years of the band, sadly it ends abruptly.
Looking back now 30 years on ‘Dr. Feelgood’ was huge – six times platinum in the US and sporting five US Top 40 singles, it never got bigger for the band. As far as where it sits in their catalogue, it’s an entirely personal choice but for me its up there with it’s immediate predecessor ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ and remarkably similar sounding considering this album was created under the cloud of newly found sobriety.
