Theatre Of Pain

About

Mötley Crüe’s third album is dedicated to the memory of Hanoi Rocks drummer Nicholas “Razzle” Dingley, who was killed in a speeding car driven by drunken Crüe vocalist Vince Neil in December of 1984. Incredibly, that was just one of the dark clouds that hung over the band when they started recording <i>Theatre of Pain</i> in early 1985. Bassist and songwriter Nikki Sixx was deep in the throes of drug addiction—at least one eyewitness claims Sixx didn’t play bass on the album—while he, Neil, and drummer Tommy Lee were seriously discussing the possibility of replacing guitarist Mick Mar. The album was originally named <i>Entertainment or Death</i>, a line from the song “Keep Your Eye on the Money.” In retrospect, that would have been an apt title, given the record’s stylistic and thematic shift. Gone were the danger, faux-satanism, and sex that permeated previous records <i>Too Fast for Love</i> and <i>Shout at the Devil</i>. Instead, <i>Theatre of Pain</i> relied upon a power ballad (“Home Sweet Home”) and a cover (of Brownsville Station’s “Smokin’ in the Boys Room”) to move unit. It worked: <i>Theatre of Pain</i> went multi-platinum, and “Smokin’” was the band’s first chart hit. While those songs certainly helped cement the group’s star status—Carrie Underwood covered “Home Sweet Home” in 2009—they didn’t really sound like Mötley Crüe. Instead, it’s <i>Theatre of Pain</i> tracks like “Use It or Lose It,” “Keep Your Eye on the Money,” and especially “Louder Than Hell”—a leftover from the <i>Shout at the Devil</i> sessions—that capture the attitude and righteous riff-mongering of the band’s first two album. Meanwhile, “Save Our Souls” finds Sixx reflecting on his worsening heroin habit: “It’s been a hard road/Edge of an overdose.” (Within a few year, Sixx would actually overdose, and later claim to have been dead for a full two minute.) .

via Apple Music

The Clerk says

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