Motley Crue

Motley Crue: The Dirt - Confessions of the World's Most Notorious Rock Band
$16.99
Motley Crue: The Dirt is a collective autobiography about the founding, the life, and pre-drawn conclusion of the band. Neil Strauss did an excellent job formatting the book and getting each member's candid take on Motley Crue. Contradicting views are brought together and a few outsiders from the record label also chime in on their experiences with the band. Motley Crue's inception set off a controlled explosion, with each member the fuel. Eventually the pressure of the music industry's "Machine" inevitably turned them on each other, ending with members finding themselves on an alone path without Crue.

Band members Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars, Tommy Lee, and Vince Neil all offer there own perspectives into the world of Crue. Nikki writes nonstop, lengthy chapters about his family, drug problems, and song writing. Vince writes about his vicious womanizing and hobbies outside the band. Tommy Lee writes much about his role as the fun loving member as well as his helpless romantic side. Mick's chapters are short and offer not so much his take on the band but his take on the world and conspiracy theories. Later in the book after Vince leaves the band, John Carabie writes a few chapters about his take on being in Motley Crue and how it changed him.

The Motley Crue members take shots at each other then often forgive and feel guilt about how they acted at times of crisis. It is amazing to see how the band changes from being kids jamming in Los Angeles clubs to megastars. Eventually drugs, alcohol, and record label executives brought them to dark places in their personal lives. They get sober, they relapse, and the process repeats itself until you find the band grown up. After the band loses it's identity without Vince, executives push the band back together and they somehow get along. This book was a great read; the tales of sex, drugs, rock and roll are timeless. For me the stories aren't that old, and it is interesting to look back at the event and see the bands view.

Motley Crue: A Visual History, 1983-2005
$35.00
If you are a Motely Crue/hairband lover like I am, this book has some remarkable photos that take you back in time, as well as some pages of commentary & stories from people closest to the band during those years. It was a terrific read-through-once book, but after that I didnt really find it something I was personally inspired to keep, so I re-sold it. For such a beautiful book, I was a little disappointed that a few of the photos were sorta weird blurry action photos that looked more like those smudgy paintings you see at a museum and you have to look hard to tell what it is. In all, if you are a Motley Crue Fan and collector of their memorablilia, get it. I loved it for the evening I did sit down and go through it.

Saints of Los Angeles
$16.98
Motley Crue have always been masters at changing their sound and style with each album (and years ago their image and logo as well). Saints Of Los Angeles is no exception. Musically, I think of this album as a cross between pop metal, punk, and grunge. It sounds like a mixture of those three things. It's a strong album. Not anything near their best, but a solid effort. They get points for changing their sound yet again. This band is a lot like Rush - they keep evolving and changing musically.

Top tracks for me are Face Down In The Dirt, Saints Of Los Angeles, MF Of The Year, The Animal In Me, White Trash Circus, and Goin' Out Swingin'. I don't know why Motley Crue has increased the frequency of swearing in their songs. It could be that the Crue's long career and evolution over the years with bad behavior and scandals etc. has further molded their image as rock and roll's bad boys, so they need to live up to that image in their music and lyrics. They keep raising the bar for themselves to live up to their image while simultaneously keeping the younger fans interested and entertained. These days a band like this increasingly needs shock value or the young kids will get bored. The Crue have evolved with the times. Whether that's good or bad is a matter of opinion. Personally, I don't think the Crue needs to resort to excessive swearing. The music and attitude they exude is enough to win over fans. On the other hand, the band does swear a ton at concerts. Time for the studio albums' lyrics to match the in-concert behavior? Perhaps. They have used swearing in many songs over the past three decades, but nothing like now (think Rock 'n Roll Junkie, Find Myself, some songs from the John Corabi album, etc.)

Overall, a pretty solid album. The original lineup of Tommy Lee, Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars, and Vince Neil are back. This package also comes with a DVD. Recommended.

Motley Crue: Crue Fest 2008
$24.98
This was a huge disappointment although it shouldn't have been. I should have expected this. I've seen the Crue as well as Vince "solo" many times. I thought maybe they could heavily edit this to make Vince look like he sang more than 50% of the lyrics. Do yourself a favor and buy the Iron Maiden Flight 666 DVD instead of this. That is how you put on a show. Tired of Vince mailing it in.