1013. Mötley Crüe / Shout at the Devil. 1983. 5/5

Motley Crue is a band that has either been loved or despised over the years, both for their contribution to the music world, and their antics away from the writing and recording process. In many instances, people are unable to separate the two, and should they disapprove of the behaviour of members of the band then they also disapprove of the music they create. It was around the time this album was being created that the behaviour patterns were set in stone. Coming off their debut album, “Too Fast for Love”, an episode of which you can find in Season 1 of this podcast, the band were on significant tours with high profile artists such as Kiss, Ozzy Osbourne, and eventually the 1984 Monsters of Rock with Van Halen and AC/DC. Each of these bands had major problems with the way Motley Crue conducted themselves. Gene Simmons had them replaced after just five shows of the “Creatures of the Night” tour. Bob Daisley counselled them not to change their guitarist when they spoke on the tour bus of replacing Mick Mars. And Eddie Van Halen, David Lee Roth and Malcolm Young were left furious at some of things that the band perpetrated. For their part, Motley Crue just didn’t care. They were high on life and doing it their own way. They trashed every motel room thy stayed in, and Nikki Sixx got into an accident in a friend’s Porsche he had stolen, the consequences with pain killer addiction were not fully realised until a few years later.
In and around all of this, the band had to write and record the follow up their first album. While it had some excellent tracks and had been well received, following that up to the point that they could back up their over the top behaviour on tour was going to be another thing entirely. "Too Fast for Love” had been a good album that showed promise, but not on a scale that this album produced. The jump in quality and energy between it and this is quite remarkable. Some fans disagree and think that this album waters down the punkish edge that the debut had and thus made it less alternative and more mainstream. I can see where that argument could be made, but the extra ‘polish’ that may appear to be here does actually help to tie in the whole album rather than expose any lesser tracks such as could be argued appear on “Too Fast for Love”.

Here on “Shout at the Devil” there is a nice mixture of tempo on the songs without ever losing the energy and power of the album, and each member of the band can be thanked for that. Tommy Lee’s hard hitting drums are a constant metronome. He doesn’t always sound like he is doing anything special outside of a regular drum beat, until you realise that the nuances he uses are so much more than average, they are extraordinary. His drum sound on this album is perfect, it doesn’t take centre stage nor is it hidden in the background, it rides along with the other four in harmony. Nikki Sixx’s bass lines rumble along in much the same way, not appearing to be out of the ordinary but in fact are driving the songs, supplying the energy in the tracks throughout. An interesting thought, given the recent developments that suggest Sixx did not play any of the bass guitar on this album, that it had been re-recorded by an unnamed session player. Mick Mars and his guitar shine along the way, not only matching the riff of his bass partner but making the perfect punctuations when his solo slot comes up in each song. He really is a very underrated player. Topping this off is the marvellous vocals from Vince Neil whose falsetto voice pierces through in places that are sometime unexpected, supported by the chanting back up voices of his three band mates to allow him to be the star out front. Whatever problems he may be faced with in the modern day in the live environment, his vocals sound great here on this album.
As to the songs themselves, I love every one of them on this album. That could be put down to having had this album imprinted in my brain back in those early days rather than the songs being spectacularly good, but that is the advantage of listening to the album and not just having heard a couple of singles off the album. For instance, most people would know “Looks That Kill” as it is a well aired video and song, but how many of those people would know of songs such as “Bastard” and “Red Hot”, or the album closer “Danger”? A very low percentage I would suspect, and these songs to me are just as enjoyable and important as “Looks That Kill” is. “Bastard” and “Red Hot” are the two fastest tempo songs on the album, and help to raise the action and adrenaline of the song list. They’re not singles by a long shot, but they are terrific songs that make up the core of the album itself. “Knock ‘em Dead Kid” and “Ten Seconds to Love” settle in that same range that every great album needs, the songs that may not be the stars of the show, but are terrific supporting cast. And you can’t have a great album if the bulk of the tracks, the ones that don’t get a single release of played at the live shows, aren’t great in their own way. Then you can add in the excellent cover of The Beatles’ “Helter Skelter”, which to me is the best version of this song, by any band. Again, the key word is ‘energy’ and this version has plenty of that in order to get the most out of it.
“Shout at the Devil” and “Too Young to Fall in Love” are the two real foot stompers on the album, based around the great Mick Mars riffs and leading drums from Tommy Lee. They both have that heavy mid-tempo riff with the drum pattern that encourages not only hard foot tapping in time but a solid head banging rhythm as well. And that is one of the key characteristics of this album. Perhaps the song structure isn’t complex or difficult, but it is enjoyable and entertaining, and that’s all you can ask of an album.

Back in my teenage years, in the middle of the Age of Discovery where new music and new bands were hopping out of the ground by the dozen, I gained my first exposure to the band Mötley Crüe. Initially it was through the video clip for the song “Looks That Kill” that had popped up on music video programs at specified times, and eventually metal music dealer picked up the album “Shout at the Devil” and taped it for me. Thus began my love affair with this band in general, but on a wider scale the hair metal genre as a whole. The album is a product of its time. The carefree ‘we are indestructible’ quartet looking to make their way in a music world that was finding success in several different quarters, and Motley Crue were able to knock down a couple of doors with their antics, their stage persona and the music itself.
I came into the band just beyond the halfway mark of the 1980’s decade, and when I did I came in hard. I had this on one side of a cassette with “Girls Girls Girls” on the other, which made for a riotous 90 minutes whenever I put it on. Driving around town with the drivers side window wound down and this blasting out of the car stereo was not an unusual sight in those days. And it was this album in particular that solidified my love of the band. Critics like to suggest that there is nothing outstanding about the song writing or the performance, but to me that’s what makes this such a great album. Lee’s drumming sounds simple but is so intricate, it makes it more special. Mars’s riffing is superb, and his solo’s his every spot perfectly. And Vince’s vocals don’t go for extremes, they are exuberant and enticing. And the fact Nikki Sixx almost single handedly wrote the album makes it what it is.
Plenty have suggested this is Mötley Crüe’s finest hour. There is enough evidence here to suggest that’s a fair comment. I believe they at least equalled this with “Dr. Feelgood” a few years down the track, but as much as I like their other surrounding albums I don’t think they get close to this one in terms of greatness. The formula comes up as a winner on this album, and when I put this on again over recent days to listen to it for this podcast review, it has now been on constant playback for a couple of weeks, and there is every chance it will continue to stay on my playlist now for a while to come. Surely that alone is enough to indicate just how highly I rate it.