“Cuz I’m alive……”
Mötley Crüe was the first “bad” band that I ever listened to as a kid. With their Satanic imagery, lyrics about rock staples such as sex, drugs, alcohol, and doing pretty much whatever you wanted to do as a youngster in the 1980’s, I was forbidden to listen to them. Because of this, I didn’t actually hear them until the mid 1980’s when I would go to my friend’s house and listen to them on cassette. I had a few bootleg tapes that I would make at my friend’s house. When I discovered music clubs like BMG and Columbia House, I was able to purchase my very own copies of the band’s albums and since my parents rarely checked what cassettes and CDs I purchased, I quickly amassed the band’s entire catalogue with the exception of one album, Too Fast For Love.
Mötley Crüe quickly became my favorite band. I listened to their music nonstop. I learned the lyrics for all of their songs and would regularly try to imitate Vince Neil’s vocals. I wanted to look as cool as Mick Mars, rock out like Tommy Lee, and write lyrics and music like Nikki Sixx. It wasn’t until I got into college that I picked up a copy of Too Fast For Love. I immediately fell in love with it. As cool as Shout At The Devil and Dr. Feelgood sounded, Too Fast For Love sounded cooler. It didn’t have the polished sound that Theatre of Pain and Girls, Girls, Girls had. Instead, it was raw, trampy, dirty rock and I loved it.
The entire album has that raw sound that just screams out that a bunch of young and hungry punks put it together. Almost all of the tracks are punchy, in-your-face, and make you want to scream along with them. Some of the tracks pound on you like a high school bully. Those tracks include “Live Wire” and “Piece of Your Action.” Other tracks are slower paced but just as brutal like “Merry Go Round” and “Come On And Dance.” There’s also one reflective track on the album, “On With The Show,” which looks at the death of “Frankie” and the rise of Nikki Sixx. The title track is a pounding anthemic rocker and my favorite tune, “Starry Eyes,” is a perfect blend of poppy ballad and violent rock.
It should be noted that the original release of the album and the Elektra release had a few differences. “Stick To Your Guns” was completely removed from the Elektra release and the song order was altered as well. Also, there’s an intro found on the Leathür Records release of the title track that is omitted from the Elektra release. The original Leathür album is still out there but very hard to find. Luckily it was also released as part of the Music To Crash Your Car To Volume One collection in 2003.
I highly recommend this album to fans of hard rock, heavy metal, and glam. It’s raw and simply amazing. I’ll have another album review next Friday. Thanks for reading!
Ken's Alternate Universe! 