Motley Crue Return Of The Party Boys

Motley Crue Return Of The Party Boys

Allessandra A.

"I want to have my listening party at the Body Shop and that’s all there is to it!" Nikki Sixx declared decisively when his record company publicist asked where he wanted to preview Motley Crue’s fourth and most exciting vinyl venture, Girls, Girls, Girls.

If Nikki, the demented driving force behind Motley Crue requested it, then it was done. On a hot, steamy Los Angeles evening a hundred people were jammed into this shoebox-sized strip joint on Sunset Boulevard to have their eardrums blasted away with a cacophony of exciting new tunes and have their eyes deluged by the interplay of some of rock’s biggest stars, including the infamous Motley Crue themselves: bassist Nikki Sixx, vocalist Vince Neil, drummer Tommy Lee and guitarist Mick Mars.

“There’s not a weak track on the album,” screamed Quiet Riot’s Frankie Banali, as the tune “Wild Side” blared out of four mega-watt speakers featuring the piercing strains that we have come to know and love Motley Crue for. “Mick’s guitar work is really fine.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” commented Vince, looking sexy and sophisticated in a silver-grey sharkskin suit.

“I’m very happy with this record,” Nikki beamed, his latest love, Vanity, on his arm. “We spent a little extra time on this record making it special. Look at it this way, Motley Crue’s been together six years now. So we’ve become really seasoned. Plus last year we took a year off to improve our musicianship and songwriting and now everything’s improved and at a higher level than it’s ever been with this band.”

Nikki slinked back into the darkest corners, keeping a low profile; he’s one of the few people who’s able to be sociable yet reclusive at the same time.

By noting his contented scowl, it’s obvious that he’s pleased with the reaction the crowd’s having to Girls, Girls, Girls. “A lot of hard work went into this album,” he declares candidly, watching heads bang and feet tap in time with the title track. “The band really busted their butt and it shows in our work. I like this album a lot, but it’s very hard for me to be satisfied with anything because as soon as it’s done I see things I could have done better.

“What’s so good about this record is that nothing comes across as contrived. And it’s a progression from our last album, everything’s gotten better. Some people may say that it’s not as hard as, let’s say, Shout At The Devil, and I’d agree with them. But we didn’t want to put out another album like that. We’re not competing with Megadeth or anything. Our only competition is ourselves. After all, we don’t have to try and be like Motley Crue. We are Motley Crue! And that’s what’s great about us. After six years in this business we’ve learned to be what we are and do as we feel, and then everything just flows more honestly. We’re happy, so I don’t really care what everybody else thinks.”

It’s been an extraordinary six years for everyone in Motley Crue. Today, with their fine houses and fast cars, they’ve come a long way from sleeping on friends’ floors and eating ketchup soup. But they took the risks to get to where they are today. They were the only L.A. metal band in the early ’80s with the drive and the passion to scrape up the money together to actually release their own LP, the energetic Too Fast For Love.

That gamble paid off for them. They got a major label deal, and have become the biggest band to rise out of the Los Angeles rock scene this decade. Everything they’ve released since their first record, be it Shout At The Devil, Theatre Of Pain or now Girls, Girls, Girls, has gone multi-platinum. They’ve hit big time on MTV and they’ve become the success story everybody dreams about. Yet, it hasn’t gone to their heads or their music.

“This record is so raw, it’s great,” raved Tommy, who was totally getting off on the energy of the crowd, while his TV star wife Heather Locklear sat there like a lady taking all the chaos in. “The kids are definitely going to dig this record because we went back, not backwards.

The songs are more rock ’n’ roll. We didn’t compromise at all as far as radio play is concerned, we just did what we wanted to do, which was back to our old stuff, only-it sounds and is performed a million times better. It’s real good all around rock ’n’ roll.”

“This is going to be a fabulous tour,” remarked Whitesnake’s braintrust, the always-dashing David Coverdale to his guitarist Adrian Vandenberg and Vince Neil. This first public display of the album set everyone on edge and made them absolutely exuberant about the tour that is to come.

The album finished and dancing girls came twirling out onstage, their slow, sinewy bodies captivating the predominantly male audience. Yet the excitement that should have been vibrating through the room just wasn’t there. The event of the evening was the Girls, Girls, Girls album, and even the real thing paled in comparison.