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Mötley Crüe: Decade of decadence
25/01/10 || InquisitorGeneralis
Mötley Crüe stands head, shoulders, and permed locks above the other bands from the hated days of 80’s hair metal. Yes, they totally looked like chicks for a while and pumped out some shit tunes, but fuck me I must admit they did have much more of an edge than shitcrappola like Winger and Poison. Mötley Crüe still plays to arenas while Warrant rocks the Kallamazoo County fair and Great White burns down clubs.
If you forget about the whininess and drama that usually follows Vince Neal and all the rap bullshit Tommy Lee has done Teh Crüe has made more than a few classic tunes and “Decade of decadence” pretty much covers them all…if you can find it. This bitch is out of print but, like me, but you can still find it in the bargain bin at your local record shop. “Decade of decadence” is much better than the greatest hits album released in 1999, so if you are looking for quick hit of all things Crüe this is the way to go.
Between Tommy’s exposed dong, Vince’s antics, and Nikki Sixx dying like 14 times from heroin, it is easy to forget about what I consider to be the strongest part of Mötley Crüe’s music: the guitars of Mick Fucking Mars. Sure, he’s at least ten years older than the rest of the band and nowadays his spine is fused together and he looks like the crypt keeper but the dude can play. His riffing and occasional solos have quietly been the backbone to the Crüe’s success.
Lee’s drumming was good for it’s time I guess, but his on stage theatrics overshadowed any of his talents behind the kit. When you look at other metal drummers at the time like Dave Lombardo and Nick Menza, Lee’s playing is good but nothing special. But, his style was perfect for this type o’rock and that is what really matters. I can not think of any Crüe song would benefit from the addition of extreme blasting.
Take “Wild side” for example. That song would be weak without Mars’ playing. Same goes for other classics like “Live wire”, “Shout at the devil”, and “Dr. Feelgood”. While I like “Girls, girls, girls” as much as the next dude my favorite part of said song is the main riff, not the hormone injected theme of the song. “Dr. Feelgood” especially considering the cheesiness of the song’s drug themed lyrics. For some reason, an LA strip rock band singing about drug dealers just doesn’t seem very original, even though they did successfully go clean before “Dr. Feelgood” was released. How about “Dr. why does needle still in my arm not feelgood?” or “Dr. why does it not feelgood when I pee after banging seven groupies?”.
Vince Neil is a decent vocalist and managed to maintain a high-pitched, but never too nasally or wimpy sound to his voice. “Home sweet home” being the best example of this. I hate to admit it but like “Home sweet home” quite a bit and even though it began the Power Ballad abortion that would cripple the Hair genre it was original and I can’t help sing along like a little bitch to the chorus. “Smoking in the boys room” is an enjoyable cover but gets close to filler territory. The live version of “Kickstart my heart” is pretty cool and you can imagine that a Crüe show back in the 80s was pretty fucken fun… if only for the coke.
Oh, and speaking of filler territory tracks 11-15 are total Fillerfuckenville. Completely skippable new (at that time) and unreleased material. “Decade of decadence” should have kept the whole number “10” theme going and stopped at ten tracks because the final third of the disc are definitely not greatest hits. I would rather have more tracks from “Too fast for Love”, “Shout at the Devil”, or “Theatre of pain”. But, I’m a two-bit Internet quasi-blogger hack and this album as is sold two million copies so what the fuck do I know.
However, the rest of this compilation is solid and really does show that Mötley Crüe deserves the fame it still has while other bands from the hated hairspray days have crashed and burned. They made good, memorable songs that managed to never get extremely glammed or pussied out. Compared to most of the shit we cover on Teh Domination Mötley Crüe is not metal, but it is catchy hard rock that this loser still enjoys.
I am sure this will anger you die hard, superblack metalheads out there but 2/3 of “Decade of Decadence” is pretty good so fuck off, a decent score for the Crüe.
- Information
- Released: 1991
- Label: Elektra
- Website: www.motley.com
- Band
- Vince Neil: vocals
- Mick Mars: guitars
- Nikki Sixx: bass
- Tommy Lee: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. Live wire
- 02. Piece of Your action
- 03. Shout at the Devil
- 04. Looks that kill
- 05. Home sweet home
- 06. Smokin’ in the boys room
- 07. Girls, girls, girls
- 08. Wild side
- 09. Dr. Feelgood
- 10. Kickstart my heart
- 11. Teaser
- 12. Rock ‘n’ roll junkie
- 13. Primal scream
- 14. Angela
- 15. Anarchy in the U.K.
