ALBUM REVIEW: Crücial Crüe: The Studio Albums 1981-1989 – Mötley Crüe

Despite the saying, there are more than two certainties in life. One of those being boomers proclaiming “MÖTLEY CRÜE were better in the 80s”. While 1994’s self-titled would like a word, we can’t argue that the Los Angeles brood were prolific in the glam metal scene of old. They were also notorious by nature, but more on that in a feature later this year. If it’s the 80s people want, it’s the 80s they’re gonna get at the band’s first five albums have been compiled into what can only be described as an absolute unit of a release: Crücial Crüe: The Studio Albums 1981-1989.

So why the climacteric nature? All five records have been certified platinum at least once and contain MÖTLEY CRÜE’s biggest hits. Fair enough but this is a band who have technically released four Greatest Hits albums if we don’t count the soundtrack for their biopic The Dirt. The fan in us is met by the cynic as this comes hot off the heels of The World Tour with DEF LEPPARD. Capitalisation on an opportunity or not, we’re left with a rather hefty compilation to review. It’s been some 40 years since the release of at least two of these albums so everyone is aware of the material. We won’t be deep diving into what lies beneath on this vinyl boxset, but we will be examining what we’re really getting in something branded as “crucial”.

It’s by no means a limited run with 10,000 units of both vinyl and CD configurations available globally. Though for vinyl collectors, this may be the first time they have access to 1981’s Too Fast For Love. Available on black and white splatter variant, the band’s debut album is still something of a forgotten gem. With live staples such as the title track and Live Wire, there’s still a place in the hearts of the younger generation of fans as can be evidenced in footage from their aforementioned tour which is currently in Mexico. As news of Mick Mars’ (guitar) retirement due to worsening ankylosing spondylitis and the recruitment of John 5 make the rounds, we’re interested to hear what the ROB ZOMBIE guitar slinger brings to the table.

Returning to the moment, Too Fast For Love still has the tinny sound which makes the record somewhat charming. Talk of Vince Neil’s current vocal state aside, we can still hear exactly why he was brought in by Nikki Sixx (bass) to front the band. The squeaks and squeals house the quality of what made glam metal as sleazy as it was. Move over David Coverdale (WHITESNAKE) with the velveteen tones, Vince Neil was a staple of the scene and for good reason. Though part of us is still unable to understand what Neil is singing in the latter half of Come On And Dance as the higher register comes out to play. Should it have been number 22 on Rolling Stone’s Greatest Metal Albums Of All Time? Not when the next effort exists.

1983 brought about moral panic in the shape of Shout At The Devil. Helen Lovejoys across the world just wanted us to think of the children as Crüe Heads donned signs of the occult in everyday outfits and backcombed their hair to within an inch of its life. This Satanic presentation has earned the album four times platinum status as well as mainstream success for the band. As yellow and black splats spin on the turntable, we have a gripe with the colour scheme as it doesn’t match the album’s aesthetic but that’s us being pedantic. The iconic riff of the title track still slips from Mars’ guitar with the greatest of ease. Neil’s vocals across the album definitely show improvement, as he doesn’t sound like a man close to ejaculation and desperate to hold on for just a moment more.

Shout At The Devil offers a vision a young band who have found their sound and forced themselves into a small gap in the market. Looks That Kill has a delicious tone while fan favourite Too Young To Fall In Love’s beat lead by Tommy Lee (drums) has the hips of any listener still shaking. There is a wealth of controversy surrounding this album, including the addition of Helter Skelter originally by THE BEATLES. Again, this is for another feature later in the year when Shout At The Devil celebrates its 40th anniversary, but there is a reason the Helen Lovejoy brigade were so insistent in their backlash against heavy metal.

Any other band may have lent further into that controversy now but the self-proclaimed “kings of sleaze” shied away with Theatre Of Pain. The 1985 effort showed MÖTLEY CRÜE at a time where they were meant to be in their prime, but this is one of the weaker efforts in the catalogue. City Boy Blues feeds into a wealth of hindsight as the slow groove talks about themes of depression and wanting to escape the situation people find themselves in. The band will say this themselves but the price of fame is much higher than many would willingly pay. With Sixx’s depression and growing addiction to heroin after a car accident moving to the forefront, it resulted in an album which should have done a lot more than it did.

It’s never a good sign when a lead single is a cover, though BROWNSVILLE STATION’s Smokin’ In The Boys Room is a firm favourite both at home and within the live arena. The bad boys were still in there, that much was evident, but MÖTLEY CRÜE were determined to show even they had feelings. Boy, did they have some feelings going on. Many will profess Home Sweet Home made power ballads cool again (they always have been). The song exploded when it was released to the masses and now no live show of MÖTLEY CRÜE’s is complete without it and Lee’s glitter ball piano. One thing is for certain as we cycle through these albums again, the nostalgia factor has certainly been played upon, even though the majority of Theatre Of Pain still passes us by in a rather drab manner.

Determined to bounce back, we move into MÖTLEY CRÜE’s most decadent period with the synonymous Girls Girls Girls. 1987 ushered in the dawning of a new age as the colour of a burning spoon above a lighter as addiction and alcoholism ruled the roost across the board. Donning leather jackets, leather pants, and… not much else, we were invited to jump aboard Harley Davidsons and speed through the streets of Los Angeles for a night of debauchery many a time. The crackle of the vinyl before Wild Side fills us with joy and nostalgia of having sung the song with the band more than once. That salacious riff from Mars still ignites that feeling of excitement. “Forward my mail to me in Hell” continues to be a foretelling line of Sixx not having not learned his lesson from the story of Dancing On Glass when he suffered an overdose on a night out with Slash in Hammersmith and was literally thrown in the bin. Though what MÖTLEY CRÜE were good at was having people trip to the light fantastic (almost literally) while spinning the yarn of their lives falling apart. With a touching tribute to Sixx’s grandma Nona and the rather sentimental ode to loving someone so much you want to kill them in You’re All I Need, the fine balance they failed to execute on Theatre Of Pain now earned them four times platinum status.

But the band’s most successful effort came after one of their most traumatic events. Sitting at a staggering six times platinum and having debuted at number one on the album charts, 1989’s Dr. Feelgood is MÖTLEY CRÜE’s most successful album to date. Coming after the near-fatal overdose of Sixx and a kick for the entire band to wean themselves from their crutches, this was the first album the band had recorded completely sober. This is again something to dive into at another time but these lifestyle changes brought about many trials and would eventually lead to the band splitting up for the first time.

A large portion of MÖTLEY CRÜE’s live material comes from Dr. Feelgood and for good reason. The title track’s riff slithers throughout in a way it had never done before. Lee’s drums finally lose that tinny and somewhat loose quality. Kickstart My Heart – the song written about Sixx’s overdose – still has the ability to fill the listener with enough adrenaline to want to throw themselves out of a perfectly good aeroplane for that sweet hit, while Without You tries to recreate the essence of what made Home Sweet Home so special. It doesn’t quite hit the mark in terms of success as the market was oversaturated with power ballads at the time but still remains in heavy rotation on the set list. With AEROSMITH’s Steven Tyler making an appearance on the raucous Sticky Sweet, this album has a certain quality the others simply didn’t: a sober and re-energised MÖTLEY CRÜE, a band which wasn’t burdened by the call of a bottle of syringe. Where the drug became making the music, as it should have always been.

Slice Of Your Pie remains sticky on the brain with the high buzz of harmony and that low and slow groove while Rattlesnake Shake hits a part of the brain which makes us feel like we’ve had that sweet high without touching anything resembling base. Though we maintain Time For Change is God awful and the only downside to Dr. Feelgood. Were that song and its saccharine sentiment toward sobriety removed, the band would have had themselves a perfect album. It’s a shame a band which had managed to finally free themselves of the shackles of their city boy blues hit another bump named the ego which would lead to the first of many demises for the line up.

Nostalgia fully played upon, we have to look at Crücial Crüe objectively. Is this hefty cardboard box an essential thing to have? For collectors, yes. It comes with five 180g splatter variant vinyl which hardcore fans would be left drooling at. Our gripe here comes with the piece of paper haphazardly stuck to the back of the box. Were we to part with £131 for the pleasure, we’d rather something of a higher quality. For new fans of MÖTLEY CRÜE, a hundred odd pounds for five vinyl records is actually rather cost effective. Though for long term fans, it’s not worth duplicating the majority of the collection for a single album in Too Fast For Love. What we also have a slight issue with is Shout At The Devil still remains the only gatefold. Every record in this collection may not have been created equally but should be treated as such if they are so crucial. Which brings us to our final question; is this vital? It’s a difficult one to answer as a fan of this band. With no duplicates in the collection being made, there’s an argument that this would be a worthy purchase. However, with the Greatest Hits albums we alluded to at the top of the review – no, this is not Crücial. A talking point when friends are round, sure, but as with everything in the modern age, Spotify would sadly serve the need a lot better, for a lot cheaper.

Rating: 7/10

Crücial Crüe: The Studio Albums 1981-1989 is out now via BMG.

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