Hardcore Cruehead Fantasy talk ahead, be warned and have fun!
I'm cherry-picking the catalogue to make better albums. Every song Crue recorded or demoed that exist from 1981-1991 will be included. Did I miss anything?
Play along and make your own Motley Ideal Albums.
In this alternate universe, Motley's early years don't change much, natch.
1981 - LEATHUR
(Let's say the Crue released this EP album before Too Fast For Love.
It includes songs they demoed and some of the tunes from the
November 1981 Leathur full length record.)
1. Nobody Knows What It's Like To Be Lonely
2. Tonight (Raspberries cover)
3. Toast of The Town
4. Stick To Your Guns (TOO FAST Leathur version)
5. Public Enemy #1 (demo version)
6. Take Me To The Top (demo version)
7. Come On And Dance (TOO FAST Leathur version)
8. Too Fast For Love (TOO FAST Leathur version)
1982 - TOO FAST FOR LOVE
(Elektra version)
1. Live Wire
2. Come On And Dance
3. Public Enemy #1
4. Merry-Go-Round
5. Take Me To The Top
6. Piece Of Your Action
7. Starry Eyes
8. Too Fast For Love
9. On With The Show
1983 - SHOUT AT THE DEVIL
(All the same except you could add "Black Widow" to "God Bless The Children")
1. In The Beginning
2. Shout At The Devil
3. Looks That Kill
4. Bastard
5. God Bless The Children of the Beast/Black Widow
6. Helter Skelter
7. Red Hot
8. Too Young To Fall In Love
9. Knock 'Em Dead, Kid
10. Ten Seconds To Love
11. Danger
I personally do not think the other demoed songs from 1982 that didn't make any records are strong enough tunes for inclusion. These songs are "Run For Your Life," "I Will Survive," and "Runnin' Wild In The Night." They're good but sound too much like a Dokken or RATT B-Side and just don't cut it for a Motley record, in my opinion. Another song recorded sometime in these years, "Sinners and Saints," is cool but the demo recording that exists could be stronger.
Theatre of Pain and Girls Girls Girls are the two least popular of the band's 1981-1991 career.
Some weak B-sides and generic Hard Rock music.
So, make one great record out of the two.
Imagine if the first song we'd heard from Crue after the Shout at the Devil album was . . . WILD SIDE?
That would have been amazing.
In this alternate universe, Motley are riding high from the success of Shout At The Devil. Vince has his accident in December, 1984. The Crue are shook and it takes them until the Fall of 1985 to put out an album, "Entertainment Or Death".
There are several tunes from these years that are indisputably awesome and essential. B-side preferences are all over the place as far as I've gleaned from talking Motley online now for over a decade. I have personal favourites that will be represented here but if you're playing along, you can pick "Sumthin' For Nuthin" over "Dancin' on Glass" or "Louder Than Hell" over "City Boy Blues" or whatever. I personally like all of Motley's songs from 1981-1991 (except I think the Sex Pistols cover from 1991 is lame . . . although they did a good job. Philosophically it don't work for me) but I like some more than others.
1985 - Entertainment Or Death
1. Wild Side
2. Smokin' In the Boys Room
3. All In the Name Of . . .
4. Use It Or Lose It
5. Home Sweet Home
6. Girls, Girls, Girls
7. Save Our Souls
8. Dancin' On Glass
9. You're All I Need
10. City Boy Blues
11. Nona
The tour ends with addiction and near death experiences at the first of 1987. They spend 1987-1989 getting sober and making Dr. Feelgood. In the alternate universe Decade Of Decadence is a rarities release and "Primal" and "Angela" are on Dr. Feelgood and I prefer a few of the singles they recorded at the time over some of the DR F songs:
1989 - DR. FEELGOOD
1.TNT
2. Dr. Feelgood
3. Slice of Your Pie
4. Angela
5. Kickstart My Heart
6. Without You
7. Same Old Situation
8. Rock N Roll Junkie
9. Sticky Sweet
10. Don't Go Away Mad
11. Primal Scream
Unreleased songs from Crue demos in these years are not strong enough. "Rodeo," (AOR tripe) "Get It For Free," "Say Yeah" etc just don't cut it, in my opinion. In this alternate universe, songs like "Time For Change," "Rattlesnake Shake" and "Tonight (We Need A Lover)" and etc. were recorded but relegated to unreleased/demo/rarity status. The Crue release a rarities album in 1991 . . .
1991 - Decade Of Decadence (Rarities, Unreleased and Demos)(double album)
1. Sinners and Saints
2. Keep Your Eye On The Money
3. Bad Boy Boogie
4. Rattlesnake Shake
5. Five Years Dead
6. She Goes Down
7. Raise Your Hands to Rock
8. Sumthin' for Nuthin'
9. Fight For Your Rights
10. Jailhouse Rock (Live)
11. Tonight (We Need A Lover)
12. Teaser
13. Rodeo
14. Anarchy In The UK
15. Time For Change
16. I Will Survive
17. Runnin' Wild In The Night
18. Hotter Than Hell
19. Say Yeah/Monstrous
20. Get It For Free
21. Run For Your Life
22. So Good, So Bad
23. Louder Than Hell
In the 1990s Vince leaves and they still make the MC94 album with Corabi. I would personally switch out a few songs off the record for a few on Quarternary (an EP released at the same time). No matter how you slice it, this would be another strong record. Imagine Mick's "Bittersuite" on MC94? Fuck yeah.
1994 - MOTLEY CRUE
1. Power To The Music
2. Father
3. Hooligan's Holiday
4. Misunderstood
5. Bittersuite
6. Poison Apples
7. Hammered
8. Til Death Do Us Part
9. Welcome To The Numb
10. Smoke The Sky
11. Droppin' Like Flies
12. Baby Kills
(Anniversary/deluxe editions would add the songs I switched out here and other songs demoed at the time that came out later on singles and anniversary editions.)
1997 - GENERATION SWINE
(All the songs except the last three and replace them with the two strong singles from 1998's Greatest Hits. I think this is a good record despite its reputation. The songs are legit catchy and you can tell they worked hard on the record despite the results.)
I. Find Myself
2. Afraid
3. Flush
4. Generation Swine
5. Confessions
6. Beauty
7. Glitter
8. Anybody Out There?
9. Let Us Prey
10. Rocket Ship
11. Bitter Pill
12. Enslaved
Now, ONE strong record made out of New Tattoo, SOLA and all the singles. This album would be the last thing they recorded and released (so far) in our Alternate Crue Universe. Maybe it wasn't released til recently or . . . whenever. We'll say 2010. I seem to like the two Final Tour singles better than most. Perhaps you like other songs off of SOLA more or some of the recent "The Dirt" Soundtrack new tunes. Change accordingly.
2010 - SAINTS OF LOS ANGELES
1. If I Die Tomorrow
2. Saints of Los Angeles
3. Punched in the Teeth by Love
4. Mutherfucker of the Year
5. New Tattoo
6. Animal In Me
7. Sex
8. The Dirt
9. She Needs Rock N Roll
10. Hollywood Ending
11. All Bad Things Must End
So that's SEVEN full length albums, one EP and a deluxe rarities double album. The songs I didn't include are only found on bootlegs or singles and were never officially released by the band.
To me, that's FIVE strong, classic albums, one strong EP, an interesting rarities release with some cool tunes and two debatable quality albums that I enjoy but think are not great.
In an upcoming post we switch band body parts to make the Motleyest Crueman of them all!
I'm cherry-picking the catalogue to make better albums. Every song Crue recorded or demoed that exist from 1981-1991 will be included. Did I miss anything?
Play along and make your own Motley Ideal Albums.
In this alternate universe, Motley's early years don't change much, natch.
1981 - LEATHUR
(Let's say the Crue released this EP album before Too Fast For Love.
It includes songs they demoed and some of the tunes from the
November 1981 Leathur full length record.)
1. Nobody Knows What It's Like To Be Lonely
2. Tonight (Raspberries cover)
3. Toast of The Town
4. Stick To Your Guns (TOO FAST Leathur version)
5. Public Enemy #1 (demo version)
6. Take Me To The Top (demo version)
7. Come On And Dance (TOO FAST Leathur version)
8. Too Fast For Love (TOO FAST Leathur version)
1982 - TOO FAST FOR LOVE
(Elektra version)
1. Live Wire
2. Come On And Dance
3. Public Enemy #1
4. Merry-Go-Round
5. Take Me To The Top
6. Piece Of Your Action
7. Starry Eyes
8. Too Fast For Love
9. On With The Show
1983 - SHOUT AT THE DEVIL
(All the same except you could add "Black Widow" to "God Bless The Children")
1. In The Beginning
2. Shout At The Devil
3. Looks That Kill
4. Bastard
5. God Bless The Children of the Beast/Black Widow
6. Helter Skelter
7. Red Hot
8. Too Young To Fall In Love
9. Knock 'Em Dead, Kid
10. Ten Seconds To Love
11. Danger
I personally do not think the other demoed songs from 1982 that didn't make any records are strong enough tunes for inclusion. These songs are "Run For Your Life," "I Will Survive," and "Runnin' Wild In The Night." They're good but sound too much like a Dokken or RATT B-Side and just don't cut it for a Motley record, in my opinion. Another song recorded sometime in these years, "Sinners and Saints," is cool but the demo recording that exists could be stronger.
Theatre of Pain and Girls Girls Girls are the two least popular of the band's 1981-1991 career.
Some weak B-sides and generic Hard Rock music.
So, make one great record out of the two.
Imagine if the first song we'd heard from Crue after the Shout at the Devil album was . . . WILD SIDE?
That would have been amazing.
In this alternate universe, Motley are riding high from the success of Shout At The Devil. Vince has his accident in December, 1984. The Crue are shook and it takes them until the Fall of 1985 to put out an album, "Entertainment Or Death".
There are several tunes from these years that are indisputably awesome and essential. B-side preferences are all over the place as far as I've gleaned from talking Motley online now for over a decade. I have personal favourites that will be represented here but if you're playing along, you can pick "Sumthin' For Nuthin" over "Dancin' on Glass" or "Louder Than Hell" over "City Boy Blues" or whatever. I personally like all of Motley's songs from 1981-1991 (except I think the Sex Pistols cover from 1991 is lame . . . although they did a good job. Philosophically it don't work for me) but I like some more than others.
1985 - Entertainment Or Death
1. Wild Side
2. Smokin' In the Boys Room
3. All In the Name Of . . .
4. Use It Or Lose It
5. Home Sweet Home
6. Girls, Girls, Girls
7. Save Our Souls
8. Dancin' On Glass
9. You're All I Need
10. City Boy Blues
11. Nona
The tour ends with addiction and near death experiences at the first of 1987. They spend 1987-1989 getting sober and making Dr. Feelgood. In the alternate universe Decade Of Decadence is a rarities release and "Primal" and "Angela" are on Dr. Feelgood and I prefer a few of the singles they recorded at the time over some of the DR F songs:
1989 - DR. FEELGOOD
1.TNT
2. Dr. Feelgood
3. Slice of Your Pie
4. Angela
5. Kickstart My Heart
6. Without You
7. Same Old Situation
8. Rock N Roll Junkie
9. Sticky Sweet
10. Don't Go Away Mad
11. Primal Scream
Unreleased songs from Crue demos in these years are not strong enough. "Rodeo," (AOR tripe) "Get It For Free," "Say Yeah" etc just don't cut it, in my opinion. In this alternate universe, songs like "Time For Change," "Rattlesnake Shake" and "Tonight (We Need A Lover)" and etc. were recorded but relegated to unreleased/demo/rarity status. The Crue release a rarities album in 1991 . . .
1991 - Decade Of Decadence (Rarities, Unreleased and Demos)(double album)
1. Sinners and Saints
2. Keep Your Eye On The Money
3. Bad Boy Boogie
4. Rattlesnake Shake
5. Five Years Dead
6. She Goes Down
7. Raise Your Hands to Rock
8. Sumthin' for Nuthin'
9. Fight For Your Rights
10. Jailhouse Rock (Live)
11. Tonight (We Need A Lover)
12. Teaser
13. Rodeo
14. Anarchy In The UK
15. Time For Change
16. I Will Survive
17. Runnin' Wild In The Night
18. Hotter Than Hell
19. Say Yeah/Monstrous
20. Get It For Free
21. Run For Your Life
22. So Good, So Bad
23. Louder Than Hell
In the 1990s Vince leaves and they still make the MC94 album with Corabi. I would personally switch out a few songs off the record for a few on Quarternary (an EP released at the same time). No matter how you slice it, this would be another strong record. Imagine Mick's "Bittersuite" on MC94? Fuck yeah.
1994 - MOTLEY CRUE
1. Power To The Music
2. Father
3. Hooligan's Holiday
4. Misunderstood
5. Bittersuite
6. Poison Apples
7. Hammered
8. Til Death Do Us Part
9. Welcome To The Numb
10. Smoke The Sky
11. Droppin' Like Flies
12. Baby Kills
(Anniversary/deluxe editions would add the songs I switched out here and other songs demoed at the time that came out later on singles and anniversary editions.)
1997 - GENERATION SWINE
(All the songs except the last three and replace them with the two strong singles from 1998's Greatest Hits. I think this is a good record despite its reputation. The songs are legit catchy and you can tell they worked hard on the record despite the results.)
I. Find Myself
2. Afraid
3. Flush
4. Generation Swine
5. Confessions
6. Beauty
7. Glitter
8. Anybody Out There?
9. Let Us Prey
10. Rocket Ship
11. Bitter Pill
12. Enslaved
Now, ONE strong record made out of New Tattoo, SOLA and all the singles. This album would be the last thing they recorded and released (so far) in our Alternate Crue Universe. Maybe it wasn't released til recently or . . . whenever. We'll say 2010. I seem to like the two Final Tour singles better than most. Perhaps you like other songs off of SOLA more or some of the recent "The Dirt" Soundtrack new tunes. Change accordingly.
2010 - SAINTS OF LOS ANGELES
1. If I Die Tomorrow
2. Saints of Los Angeles
3. Punched in the Teeth by Love
4. Mutherfucker of the Year
5. New Tattoo
6. Animal In Me
7. Sex
8. The Dirt
9. She Needs Rock N Roll
10. Hollywood Ending
11. All Bad Things Must End
So that's SEVEN full length albums, one EP and a deluxe rarities double album. The songs I didn't include are only found on bootlegs or singles and were never officially released by the band.
To me, that's FIVE strong, classic albums, one strong EP, an interesting rarities release with some cool tunes and two debatable quality albums that I enjoy but think are not great.
In an upcoming post we switch band body parts to make the Motleyest Crueman of them all!
