1302. Mötley Crüe / Theatre of Pain. 1985. 2.5/5

Motley Crue’s sophomore album, the heavy yet accessible “Shout at the Devil”, had catapulted the band to national and international recognition, on the back of songs such as “Too Young to Fall in Love”, “Helter Skelter”, “Looks That Kill” and the title track “Shout at the Devil”. It was this song, and its perceived imagery of Satanism that was exacerbated by the album cover, that had many religious and political groups claiming that they had nefarious thoughts and plans. It was the time of the PMRC in the United States and their growing influence upon the media. In the long run this did not harm the sales of the album and even provided further promotion for it. During the recording of that album bass guitarist Nikki Sixx had crashed a friend’s Porsche which he had stolen while drunk, and the resulting shoulder injury found him develop a Percocet addiction that transitioned quickly to a $3,500 a day heroin addiction. They then found even greater popularity and airplay – and infamy - on tour when they supported Ozzy Osborne, before going on the Monsters of Rock tour in 1984 with Van Halen and AC/DC. On each of these occasions the band were a huge hit, but their backstage antics caused friction wherever they went. The band’s debauchery had shocked even Ozzy himself on that tour, and on the Monsters of Rock tour the band was eventually restricted to only leaving their trailer to play their slot, and having to leave the venue immediately afterwards, following incidents where Vince Neil had bitten Eddie Van Halen, Tommy Lee had bitten Malcolm Young and had also gotten into a fistfight with David Lee Roth. Popular with fans they may have been, but not with touring bands. There was even a discussion at one stage by the band of firing guitarist Mick Mars, which was only saved by then Ozzy bass guitarist, Bob Daisley, reminding them that they should not change something that wasn’t broken.
On December 8, 1984, in a car driven by Vince Neil while severely under the influence of alcohol, Hanoi Rocks drummer Razzle was killed when Neil crashed the car that he was a passenger in. With the threat of serious jail time a possibility, Neil found a way to escape this threat by writing a very large cheque and doing 30 days jail time, of which he only completed 20. Never a dull moment in the Motley Crue camp.
With all of this going on, the band finally entered the studio in January 1985 to finally write and record their follow up to their sophomore album. At the time, given the lengthy period between releases, there must have been some concern that they had failed to strike while the iron was hot. The end result offered a mixed response to those thoughts.

Taking in everything that I’ve mentioned in the opening monologue to this episode, one can only wonder what the mood and headspace of the band was as they wrote and recorded this album, and in many ways that seems obvious when you listen to the finished product. The lyrics are not groundbreaking or particularly outstanding, and as they came from a mostly overly influenced lyrics writer that isn’t much of a stretch, though Nikki did seem to stick to a central theme. “City Boy Blues” is basically just a revved-up blues riff throughout as Vince moans about being unable to break the shackles of the city boy blues. It’s mostly a repetitive uninspired opening track that hardly sets the world on fire like the opening tracks on just about every other Motley Crue album does. “Louder Than Hell” mirrors the sound and style of track from “Shout at the Devil” with the guitar riff and Neil’s vocal stylings and squeals, but without the attitude that album possesses. It was actually a leftover track from that album, which explains why it sounds similar to that album, and also why it didn’t make the cut for that album. “Keep Your Eye on the Money” has some good lyrics early on, switching between the gambling and drug metaphors, but eventually becomes a song where the title of the song is repeated over and over in the back half to completely sink whatever credence it may have begun with. It isn’t a new technique for the band, and one that gets the same treatment on the second side of the album, beginning with “Tonight (We Need a Lover)”, “Use It or Lose It”, “Raise Your Hands to Rock” and even “Fight for Your Rights”. And yes, it is a very rock and roll formula to have repeated choruses or verses to encourage pop lyrical memory from the fans, and maybe it is just me, but this album does have it in overkill mode.
So lyrically the album does fall a little short on the band’s opening two albums. Musically... well there is a similar problem really. Tommy Lee’s drumming is solid on this album, but he isn’t really pushing himself to new heights, trying to be innovative or at the very least energetic in a way that has your head bobbing along in time with him. Mick Mars guitar work is as clean as always; he lets loose with a couple of bursts of soloing and with a riff that makes its mark but none of it is as spectacular as the previous two albums. Vince Neil’s vocals are serviceable but don’t inspire much enthusiasm. And Nikki Sixx’s bass work – well I guess that’s another story as well. In recent times it has been claimed from several sources that Nikki has not recorded the bass guitar in several instances during the band’s history. Now this isn’t unusual in the history of music, where other musicians have recorded instruments on an album uncredited, so it isn’t really a shock or surprise, but it has been made to be so. In the instance of this album, former Motley Crue guitarist Greg Leon recently said in an interview that Sixx did not play any bass on “Theatre of Pain”.
The two songs that stand out on this album, and the ones that have proven to be the most popular through the years are the two single releases, “Smokin’ in the Boys Room” and “Home Sweet Home”. “Smokin’ in the Boys Room” is a cover of the Brownsville Station song, and is immediately a standout on this album because it suddenly revives the fun and energetic part of the band that for the most part of this album lies dormant. And it sounds like they are having fun playing it. Vince sounds up and at his best, Mick’s guitaring is suddenly inspired, and Tommy’s drumming is far more upbeat. It stands out like sore thumb on this album. “Home Sweet Home” of course is the power ballad, the piano driven song that concludes side one of the album, and became the band’s signature song. It is a step further along from what they had tried before, and its style grabbed the attention of the target audience. As a leading light and forerunner to the singles oriented glam metal future of bands such as Poison, Cinderella and others, “Theatre of Pain” can lay claim to the one they all used as a template. Not only with the cover song they turned into a teenage anthem, but the power ballad that seduced the hopeless romantics of the world, or those just hoping that it would end up in sex. “Home Sweet Home” became that template that drove many bands that followed Motley Crue into the charts on the back of the sickly-sweet ballad, and with that cemented the bands reputation, and arguably also their conversion from the heavier side of metal to the glam styled version that exploded in the mid-1980's.

My introduction to Motley Crue came reasonably early on in my conversion to the heavier side of music. I had asked my heavy metal music dealer to record me an album that had become the next in my line of requirements. He asked me what I wanted him to put on the other side of the cassette, to which I said to him to choose something he thought I might like. The cassette came back with “Shout at the Devil” as the chosen second side album, and I never looked back.
As it turned out, “Theatre of Pain” is not an album I actually got until the start of the 1990’s decade, well after I had acquired the other albums of the band’s discography. I knew of course the two singles – very well as it turns out, as one was the overplayed ballad on TV and at parties, and the other was covered a band that my heavy metal music dealer played in around the local pubs. So, having been very familiar with Motley Crue’s four other albums, I eventually came around to buying my own copy of this album. And it is fair to say that I was underwhelmed by it. But I’m guessing you all had already guessed that by now. I don’t think it would have mattered what order I got these albums though, this for me would always have been the least likely to succeed. It doesn’t have the raw aggression of “Too Fast for Love” or the heavy tones of “Shout at the Devil”, the energetic exaltations of “Girls, Girls, Girls” or the anthemic “Dr Feelgood”. I’ve always found this to be the ugly duckling of the band’s iconic era. Much of the album is uninspiring in the ways you look for Motley Crue albums and songs. If I was to choose a best of track list between those five albums I wouldn’t choose one song from this album. And initially that may well have been because I heard it last of all those five albums, all of which I found at least half of their tracks appealing. Here though, it doesn't grab me.
The CD came back off the shelves this week for its habitual listen in the Metal Cavern. I’ve had it on at work also. And at no stage did I ever really grasp anything new from it. In fact, the only time my head popped up at work because of an energetic burst of a song was when “Theatre of Pain” had concluded, and the next album started in rotation. I think for me that sums up exactly how I feel about this album.
In the Crue catalogue, “Theatre of Pain” for me ranks at #9 of their 9 studio album releases. I’m sure there are fans out there who have thrown their listening devices out the window upon this revelation. Sorry to disappoint you. Just think about the fact though that this album has always disappointed me more than you are disappointed with me. Or, something like that.