Mötley Crüe

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Mötley Crüe is an American metal band from Hollywood, founded in 1981 by bassist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee. Guitarist Mick Mars and singer Vince Neil soon joined. Mars came up with the name, after a remark about a motley looking crew, a ragtag-looking bunch. The umlauts were Neil's idea, reportedly inspired by the German beer the members drank.

Music and breakthrough

The debut Too Fast for Love (1981) was later remixed for Elektra Records. With Shout at the Devil (1983) the band broke through in America. On Theatre of Pain (1985) the group opted for glam metal: loud guitar rock combined with make-up, backcombed hair and clothing that was sometimes androgynous. Girls, Girls, Girls (1987) entered at number 2, and Dr. Feelgood (1989) became their only studio album to reach number 1 on the Billboard 200. The band sold more than a hundred million records. The concerts were a spectacle, with guitars spitting flames and a drum kit that rode around like a roller coaster.

Influence

Behind the scenes things often went wrong. Drug addiction nearly destroyed the band in the late 1980s. Neil left in 1992 and returned in 1997. On 31 December 2015 the group gave a farewell concert in Los Angeles, but a reunion followed in 2018. The book The Dirt (2001), about their debauched life, became a bestseller and was adapted by Netflix in 2019. Together with bands such as Poison, Mötley Crüe is the textbook example of 1980s glam metal.

Listening

Discography

Studio albums

• 1981Too Fast for Love
• 1983Shout at the Devil
• 1985Theatre of Pain
• 1987Girls, Girls, Girls
• 1989Dr. Feelgood
• 1994Mötley Crüe
• 1997Generation Swine
• 2000New Tattoo
• 2008Saints of Los Angeles

In School of Rock

The chapters, maps and magazine stories of School of Rock are currently available in Dutch only.

• Mixtape 7: The 1980s^NL Reader

See also

• New Tattoo