Mötley Crüe was the epitome of rock/metal in the 80’s. They had the music, they had MTV, but most of all they had the lifestyle: sex, drugs, rock-and-roll, wine, women, and song.  I’d swear you heard more about The Crüe’s off-stage exploits than their on-stage: Vince’s car wreck, Tommy Lee’s string of Hollywood wives, Nikki’s drug use, and Mick… well Mick was the recluse. Every album told a different story because of whatever their latest exploits were. You loved this band not just because of their music, but because of all they did in the name of rock. It was pure rebellion and disgusted off your parents… what more could you ask for.

I know my first exposure was during the Shout at the Devil album, but not sure if it was first via MTV or via a class party. I know I was in elementary school and I think it was an end of the year class party. Teacher said you could bring your favorite music albums to play during the party. I remember seeing it… some kid brought it, an LP (you kids go ask your parents what that is), big as day, of an all black album with nothing but an upside-down pentagram on it. How awesome could you get? 🙂 And so it went. I’ve gotten to see them live a few times and they know how to put on a show.

YouTube won’t let me embed the music video to Wild Side (one of my favorites), so instead here they are performing it live back in ’87:

As an added bonus, a recent side-project of bassist and chief songwriter is Sixx: A.M.. Their first single is “Life is Beautiful”, written about Nikki’s past heroin addiction. I really like this song.