- Review by Steven I. Berdecia
After watching "The Dirt" on Netflix last month, I got fascinated with the band Mötley Crüe. I’ve heard of Mötley Crüe before but never took the time to actually listen to them, not until after "The Dirt" of course. I was instantly obsessed with every single one of their songs. One of my favorite artists named Machine Gun Kelly just so happened to be playing the role of Tommy Lee, that led me to watch the movie even more when it released on Netflix on March 22nd. Mötley Crüe is a heavy metal / hard rock band that was formed in Los Angeles, California back in 1981. The group was founded by bassist Nikki Sixx (who was a former member of a band named London) and drummer Tommy Lee. Guitarist Mick Mars auditioned for Sixx and Lee after he put out an advertisement on the local newspaper, The Recycler, Mars' ad read: "Loud, rude and aggressive guitar player available". After playing a sample for them, he was basically hired on the spot. Singer Vince Neil was recruited to join the band by Lee whom he had attended the same high school with. Neil was already the front-man of a band called "Rock Candy" but decided to join Nikki and Tommy when his band members began to work on other projects.
Upon the members joining the band, the final thing they needed before booking shows was a band name. Nikki had suggested that the band be called “Christmas”, but the other members weren't really fond of it. Mick had recalled an incident when he was playing with a former band (White Horse) and another band member had called them "a motley looking crew". With that in mind he took the words from the phrase and came up with the band name “Motley Crew”. Neil has suggested they tweak the letters and add the two sets of metal umlauts. Supposedly, this was inspired by the German beer Löwenbräu, which the members had been drinking at the time of naming their band. This finalized the name of the band to be known as Mötley Crüe.
"The Dirt Soundtrack" was released on March 22nd, it is composed of 18 songs and runs for about an hour and 10 minutes. The opening track named “The Dirt (Est. 1981) (featuring Machine Gun Kelly” is one of the newer songs on the track and introduces to listeners some of the things the band has experienced throughout the years which include sex, money and fame. The song also features some rap/rock from Machine Gun Kelly which provides rhythmical lyrics that anyone can rap to. The Dirt Soundtrack also features fan favorite songs like “Live Wire”, “Take Me to the Top”, “Kick-start my Heart”, and “Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S.)”. These songs will keep you rocking all night long and make you feel like you’re back in the 80's. Mötley Crüe also recorded four new songs due to the inspiration of having their movie being filmed. Those four songs being “The Dirt (Est. 1981) (featuring Machine Gun Kelly)”, “Ride with the Devil”, “Crash and Burn”, and a cover of Madonna’s “Like a Virgin”. The rest of the songs on the track that have been around for years and have impacted listeners ever since they were released. Song #8 “Shout at the Devil” had conservative groups believe the band was encouraging devil worshiping. Song #12 "Girls, Girls, Girls" is the first single from the album of the same name and was released back in May 11th, 1987. Song #14 “Kick-start my Heart” supposedly refers to Sixx's overdose incident where a paramedic injected his heart with adrenaline and brought him back to life. Song #15 “Dr. Feelgood” released back in 1989 as the album's first single. "Dr. Feelgood" became Mötley Crüe's first American Top Ten hit, peaking at #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 back in October 28th, 1989. It is their highest ranked single to this day and also the name of their fifth studio album.
Mötley Crüe has sold over 100 million albums worldwide, making them one of the best-selling bands of all time. Literally all of the songs on the album were written by Nikki Sixx. This goes to show you how talented Nikki was not only as a bassist but as a songwriter as well. He had a vision to make a great band and did it with Mötley Crüe. One of my favorite lines from The Dirt is when the band is about to play for a stadium full of people and Douglas Booth (who plays Nikki Sixx in the movie) says, “Look where we are. We’ve got an old man, a kid drummer, a cover band singer and a fucking runaway. No one would’ve thought we would make it here, so fuck them. Win it all or lose it all, we’re Mötley fucking Crüe.” Those words helped to pump up his band mates before their live show and gave them the confidence they needed to perform at their best as Mötley Crüe. They also helped me realize that it doesn’t matter where you come from that you too can make it and become successful in life. My personal favorites on the album are “Live Wire”, “Dr. Feelgood”, and “Take Me to the Top”. I listen to the album at least once a day whether it's driving to work or at home doing chores. This album is definitely my favorite release in the past few months and I look forward to learning more about Mötley Crüe and listening to their older albums. I highly recommend to anyone to either watch the movie "The Dirt" or listen to the soundtrack to get a full feeling of what Mötley Crüe and music was like in the 80's.