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When Mötley Crüe came home in 1984, they were on
top of the world. Shout at the Devil had gone platinum,
and they had toured the globe with legendary acts like Ozzy
Osbourne and Iron Maiden. But then frontman Vince Neil was
behind the wheel—and very drunk—when he crashed
and killed Hanoi Rocks drummer Nicholas “Razzle”
Dingley. Nikki Sixx went deeper into drugs, discovering heroin.
The distractions clearly were a factor in the recording of
their third album, 1985’s Theatre of Pain,
considered by many to be the weakest of the band’s career.
As a songwriter, Sixx was unfocused and uninspired. An album
earlier, the Crüe was shouting at Satan and asking God
to bless the children of the best; now the band has the “City
Boy Blues” and is covering Brownsville Station songs.
They had adopted an androgynous glam look that became the
standard “hair band” image that Poison and countless
other bands copied. I cannot imagine how disappointing this
must have been for fans eagerly awaiting the follow-up to
Shout at the Devil.
There is not an out-and-out bad song on the record, but at
least half of it feels like unimaginative filler. Sixx confirms
that in The Dirt, writing, “I had only written
five songs, and we recorded every one. Then we had to plunder
past demos just to scrape together a full album.”
Despite working again with producer Tom Werman, the sound
has none of the immediate, dirty edge of Shout at the
Devil. Instead, the recording has a glossy, over-produced
feel—which probably was necessary to get anything listenable
at this point. The band was aware of the problems. Sixx (from
The Dirt): “In the studio, nobody liked the
sounds they were getting out of their microphones, bass, or
guitars. But we were too loaded to do anything about it.”
On a positive note, the album introduces some new sounds
for the Crüe, including slide guitar on “City Boy
Blues,” harmonica on “Smokin’ in the Boys
Room” and, of course, piano on “Home Sweet Home.”
One of the all-time Mötley classics, “Home Sweet
Home” was a smash hit, its MTV success virtually guaranteeing
that every hard rock band would include one or two power ballads
per album. Mars, in the liner notes of the album’s 1999
rerelease, called the song “the sole savior of that
record.”
“Home Sweet Home” was Sixx’s one moment
of true songwriting greatness on Theatre of Pain,
but the band still struggled to commit it to tape. Sixx explains:
“… It captured our feeling at the time of being
stranded and alone and desperate and confused vagabonds yearning
for some sense of security, whether it be family, intimacy,
or death. But we recorded it so poorly: We’d come into
the studio and go through two takes, hate them both, and then
get bored and fed up and go home.”
Though “Smokin’ in the Boys Room” (the
aforementioned Brownsville Station cover) also enjoyed success
as a single, the album’s other gem is “Louder
Than Hell,” one of the only songs on the record with
the energy the band showed on their first two albums. “Keep
Your Eye on the Money” is also noteworthy, as its lyrics
contain the cue for the album artwork (“Comedy and tragedy/Entertainment
or death”) and because a demo included on the rerelease
has a raw sound that has a lot more bite to it than anything
on the final product.
Theatre of Pain is a completely listenable effort
and was a commercial success that allowed the band to headline
arenas. But by the standards Mötley Crüe had set
even at this early stage of their career, it is a supreme
disappointment. And there’s no one to blame but the
band members themselves. Mars: “… It’s
my opinion that we could have done better—songwriting
wise and arranging wise.”
®2009 Live-Metal.net
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