Motley Crue - Shout At The Devil (1983)

I was never overly enamoured with the whole LA scene and bands it produced during the mid 1980s, a scene at which Motley Crue were at the forefront. However, listening to this multi-platinum selling album some 25 years later afresh, taking it for what it is – a hard rock album – as opposed to getting all hung-up over their image has been an interesting experience. The album, the band’s second, sold by the bucket load and largely propelled the four piece to mega-stardom and in the process, you could argue, created something of a monster in terms of the band itself and the whole scene it was partly responsible for spawning: but that’s a whole other discussion.

After a short intro piece the album proper opens with the title track which is a solid rock track with a grinding riff from Mars but the subsequent track, Looks That Kill, was I recall a rock club anthem back in the day and was one of the tracks that really defined the LA scene, and sound, and was one that had me reaching for my air guitar with a great grinding riff, snarling vocals from Neil and a catchy chorus: I’d go as far as to say that this track is now something of a classic and definitely one of the high points of the album.

A quick thrash around the kit from Tommy Lee opens Bastard with an up-tempo Priest-esque riff which then drops to half-time for the verse, picking-up again for the chorus. It was around this point on listening to the album in the present that it dawned on me that all the ‘glam’ overtones that alienated me towards Crue the first time around, and their ilk, was a bit misleading and that the music itself is in the realms of solid hard rock/metal with good, powerful riffs and screaming vocals, reminiscent of a lot of the non-Glam bands that I was really enjoying during the 1980s!

Next-up, a Beatles cover! An odd choice for a hard rock album, but their choice of Helter Skelter (cited as an inspiration for Charles Manson) from the ‘White Album’ was inspired as it suits Crue perfectly and they stick close to the original but with a distinctive Crue sound which really thunders along.

A Tommy Lee double-bass drum intro leads into Red Hot which is a fine up-tempo rocker that keeps the power levels up from start to finish with some double-tracked harmony guitar soloing from Mars towards the end of the track.

Too Young to Fall in Love, a single from the album, is another standout moment, and my personal favourite track, with a stabbing riff, powerful drumming from Lee and a good vocal performance and melody from Neil.

Knock ‘Em Dead Kid and Ten Seconds To Love continue in a similarly powerful vein and then the closing track Danger drops the mood with a chorused, picked guitar part from Mars leading into a strong ballad with a particularly melodic solo and strong performance from Neil.

The 2003 reissue of the album, from which the album cover above is taken, also features some demo versions of several of the tracks which are also worth a listen.

In summary, I’m at a bit of a loss for words to be truthful! In the 1980s I was into what I saw as the ’serious’ metal/rock bands such as Priest, UFO, Lizzy etc and rather dismissed what were later termed the ‘hair metal’ bands out of hand as a frivolous and irrelevant addition to the genre. However, maturity and hindsight are a wonderful thing and I have to confess that this album is a real belter and for those like me, who rather overlooked Motley Crue back in the day, I’d recommend putting aside what you know of their image, attitude and ’scene’ that they in a large part pioneered and just listen to the tracks with an open mind. What you’ll get is a collection of raw, powerful hard rock/metal tracks that would do nothing to diminish the musical credibility of any rock record collection!

• Vince Neil – Vocals
• Mick Mars – Guitar
• Nikki Sixx – Bass
• Tommy Lee – Drums