Mötley Crüe – Released back in 1983, on Elektra, the sophomore album Shout At The Devil, from Mötley Crüe, launched them into the Heavy Metal stratosphere and the rest is Mötley Crüe history. What an album then and now. Seriously, when I first heard Shout At The Devil, there wasn’t another band in the land that sounded like Mötley Crüe. From the thickly heavy bass of Nikki Sixx and loud drumming of Tommy Lee, to the riffage fest that Mick Mars was playing; every car at all the hot hangouts and keg fields had this cassette blaring through the speakers back then!
I never took Mötley Crüe for a Hair Metal band until 1985’s Theatre Of Pain. Really. My interpretation of Too Fast For Love and Shout At The Devil was never Hair Metal; then again, that genre tag probably took awhile to hit my old neck of the woods anyhow. Bands were popping up so fast in those early 80’s, with albums being released faster, that I could care in the least about what genre a band was as they were coming out of L.A.; if it looked and sounded like Heavy Metal, then it probably was Heavy Metal. Thrash was Thrash, however. That’s how I approached it all those decades ago.
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I remember liking Vince Neil’s vocals from the get-go, thinking that he and Mötley Crüe were taking a cool slice of Punk and mixing it with Heavy Metal. As I compared Shout At The Devil to their debut album, I couldn’t believe this was the same band. The tough-ass attitude and flamboyant personalities of these guys called Mötley Crüe, I really dug as a teenager. Seeing this band live during their heyday was UNBELIEVABLE. Metal be thy name it was.
My three favorite songs from Shout At The Devil are not the obvious: Bastard, Knock ‘Em Dead, Kid and Ten Seconds To Love. I always wished Mötley Crüe made an entire album that had that real heavy and fast sound like Bastard. What a song. Shout At The Devil is my favorite Mötley Crüe album, without question. Strong and incredibly memorable songs, with a heightened potency of sound that continues to lift my Metal spirit in 2012.
Original Shout At The Devil album cover.
I never owned Shout At The Devil on vinyl. I still have my original cassette of Shout At The Devil too. Yes, I did upgrade to CD and the remastered version has four demos and one unreleased track. The demos are a fun listen, they’re raw, lean, and crusty around the edges. They’re demos and they still Rock! The unreleased track I Will Survive is damn right cool, it isn’t as heavy duty as the other songs on the original Shout At The Devil track list. Still, it’s a song that cannot be ignored for it is loaded with memorable rhythm and lyrics.
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Shout At The Devil – Track Listing:
In The Beginning
Shout At The Devil
Looks That Kill
Bastard
God Bless The Children Of The Beast
Helter Skelter
Red Hot
Too Young To Fall In Love
Knock ‘Em Dead, Kid
Ten Seconds To Love
Danger
Bonus Tracks On Remastered Version:
Shout At The Devil (Demo)
Looks That Kill (Demo)
Hotter Than Hell (Demo)
I Will Survive (Unreleased Track)
Too Young To Fall In Love (Demo)
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Mötley Crüe should be inducted into The Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame. Metal. Be. Thy. Name.
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* For more info on Mötley Crüe, click on the link below:
Long Live Mötley Crüe.
Stone.
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