439. Mötley Crüe / Girls, Girls, Girls. 1987. 4/5.

By 1986 Motley Crue was riding high on the back of three successful albums, and were leading the pack of the glam/hair metal brigade of Hollywood and Los Angeles, while the thrash metal scene gained steam in the bay area and San Francisco. Their previous album, “Theatre of Pain”, had contained two surprising tracks that had gone huge – the cover version of “Smoking in the Boys Room”, of which the video had become immensely popular and on constant rotation on MTV, along with the power ballad “Home Sweet Home”, one whose success could easily have led to the band heading further in that direction on future albums to catch that popularity phase. And it is true, that most of their albums following this did contain a power-ballad-type track on them, but to the band’s credit they didn’t compromise their own sound by moving down that track. And it is certainly true that each of their power ballad tracks down the line are still entertaining and not the kind of dribble that European power metal bands dabbled with through the 1990’s and onwards.
And so from “Theatre of Pain” the band moved to their next album. From all reports and interviews with the band members over the years since, it is obvious that writing and recording the album was a struggle. Not only through the drugs and alcohol, but the inability to have all four members in the same room at the same time. There were stories where members just didn’t show up to the studio at all, or if they did they were so wasted they were unable to perform. Nikki Sixx wrote in their book “The Dirt” many years later, “Like “Theatre of Pain”, “Girls, Girls, Girls” could have been a phenomenal record, but we were too caught up in our personal bullshit to put any effort into it. You can actually hear the distance that had grown between us in our performance. If we hadn’t managed to force two songs out of ourselves, 'Wild Side' and the title track, the album would have been the end of our careers.”
Whether or not that would have been the case, somehow those around the band managed to find a way to get them together, for Nikki to pull back on his heroin addiction enough to write the songs, for Tommy to pull away from his then girlfriend Heather Locklear to come to the studio, for Mick to be able to play without restriction due to his medical condition, and for Vince to be sober enough to sing. Somehow, it all came together, and we were able to enough the finished product, “Girls, Girls, Girls”.

“Theatre of Pain” did good sales especially through the US, but in some instances was somewhat maligned. Ok, by me, it was me. But the opening to this album is always the hit that draws you in deeper. That opening guitar riff from Mick Mars and collaborating drum fill from Tommy Lee is a killer, and the song is a cracker, one of my favourite all time Motley Crue songs. It sets the album off on the right foot immediately, and this continues with the title track that follows it. This was the first single released from the album, and the accompanying music video of the Crue being filmed through strip clubs and driving down the Sunset Strip became one of the most watched videos on MTV, and pushed sales of the single to number 12 in the US, and a moderate 43 in Australia. “Wild Side” was then the second single released, and both helped to increase the sales of the album – along with making a great start to the album.
“Dancing on Glass” is another high energy track, written by Sixx about his heroin overdose in London, and is another of the best songs on the album. The remainder of side one of the album is more middle of the road, with “Bad Boy Boogie” living up to the song’s title with a bit of boogie woogie hard rock style. This song though is really effective both for the band itself and also the album. It keeps the flow of the album going in a place where other bands occasionally feel the need to change it up. I often think that if I got into this album at a later date rather than at the time of its release that I may well have disapproved, but I did not, and I still enjoy it. “Nona”, which closes out the first side of the album, is a minute and a half that I don’t think the album needs. Back in the days of cassettes, I used to cut it out completely, and go straight into the hard rocking “Five Years Dead” instead, which is a much better feel for the album as a whole. It probably didn’t matter so much when listening to it on vinyl as I would just end that side early. On CD you have to skip it. Ah, if only I had the ability to conjure up a version of the album without “Nona”...
Anyway, I digress. “Five Years Dead” kicks off side two in the same energy as side one started, and while it sounds great on the album, you can also imagine just how great it would when played live, with the bones of the track making easily malleable in that arena. Then you have the awesome Crue deliverance of “All in the Name Of...”, the perfect combination of great guitar and bass riff and Tommy’s hard hitting drums, and Vince’s spitting lyrics. Classic Motley Crue, showcasing everything that is great about the band. “Sumthin’ for Nuthin’” eases back in hard hitting and pace of those two tracks, finding the middle range Crue sound by falling into a groove with the music and letting Vince move through the tail. This is followed by this album’s power ballad “You’re All I Need”, which in many ways is a lesser attempt at recreating the spectacular that was “Home Sweet Home” from the previous album. This is OK, but it doesn’t match that song, and in many ways it feels like that is exactly what it is trying to do. The album then concludes with a cover version of the old Elvis staple “Jailhouse Rock”, a somewhat strange decision I’d have thought. Perhaps they just needed a song to pad out the album at the end. It seems the other reason why they would do it, when the majority of the songs on the album were already fantastic.

Motley Crue is a band that generally you either love or hate, there is little in between. My wife dislikes their music. I’ve always find that they straddle the faster heavier music and lighter rock music really well, able to create songs that can combine both styles or sit comfortably in the middle such that they are accessible to both side of that spectrum.
I came into the Crue at the time this was released, first finding their sophomore album “Shout at the Devil” and then this album on its release, mainly through the ability of their video for “Girls Girls Girls” popping up almost every weekend on the video shows MTV and Rage. And while that song and video drags you into the album, the great part about it is that once you have discovered the other great songs here it made it all completely worthwhile. I wouldn’t say there were a lot of my friend group who really enjoyed Motley Crue at that time, but that didn’t stop me devouring those two albums in particular. And there is no doubt that it is their high energy, faster paced songs that attract me, and while the casual fan will only really know the opening two tracks to the album, the other songs such as “Dancing on Glass” and “Five Years Dead” and “All in the Name of” are right up there with the best songs Motley Crue ever released. I had this on vinyl for years before a flood put paid to the majority of my original vinyl collection, and it was well used and well worn by the time I lost it. This for me is in the top three albums the band released, and perhaps I will always reach for “Dr Feelgood” and “Shout at the Devil” more often than I will for “Girls Girls Girls” in this day and age, at the time of its release it was one of my most played albums. And having been able to binge it again over the past couple of weeks has been a lot of fun, and a lot of air-drumming to “Wild Side” again at my desk at work, much to the amusement of those that caught me doing it.