A mere week after Judas Priest single-handedly restored my faith in the power of metal, Motley Crue, a band quite reasonably left for dead on the grunge heap of 80s rock, has released a masterpiece of its own, the shockingly perfect Saints of Los Angeles. You heard me. While breaking no new ground, confounding no expectations, and reinventing no wheels of even the most rudimentary sort, it also happens to channel everything weÂve ever come to love about the nasty side of the Reagan revolution, up to and including a fanatical disdain for the fairer sex usually reserved for the hardened heart of the Latino male. Or the Russian. In fact, the CrueÂs cheerful misogyny is just about the sole guiding theme of the piece, which means that over the course of the album, women are referred to as whores, gold-digging whores, hoochies, pussy, and S&M slaves. When they are named at all, only ÂSuzy is granted any status, proving conclusively that the moniker, while not existing in real life, will always manage to make its way onto a rock album. Even here, the bitch is reduced to biting bedposts and grinding for her man. It stands to reason that Vince met her at Marilyn MonroeÂs gravesite. By turns, the women of Motley Crue are doing lines, inhaling cock, sprawled out on their backs, or simply passed out, reeking of cheap wine. And why not? As our masters of wordplay so eloquently put it on one of the CDÂs juicier cuts, ÂThis ainÂt a love song, this is a fuck song. And after such babe-friendly dreck as Dr. FeelgoodÂs ÂWithout You, itÂs good to see the L.A. bad boys are back on sure footing.
Simply put, this is the bandÂs finest effort since Shout at the Devil, and how better to tip oneÂs cap to that milestone release than with an opening drone cut from the cloth of ÂIn the Beginning? Called ÂL.A.M.F., the brooding monologue is laughably pretentious, intoning grave imagery to set the overall mood. ÂSome will hit their knees in a rancid act of desperation, our narrator bellows, ÂWhile others search for a hopeless god to save them. You are about to enter hell, it would seem, only this hell is likely the most enjoyable place on earth. Interviews with the band have revealed that Saints of Los Angeles is based on their tell-all tome, The Dirt (easily the best book about the rock n roll lifestyle ever written), and as such itÂs an aural portrait of the entire decade of greed. There are no apologies, no regrets, and at no point do we sense that theyÂd change a thing about their ascent to the pinnacle of the rock world. These are four painfully unreflective men; drunks, brutes, lunatics, and sleaze merchants, and thankfully, they avoid the traps that doom all too many bands who try to recapture the publicÂs attention after a decade in the wilderness. Rather than reinvention, they cheerfully reiterate past wrongs, ensuring maximum pleasure for those who spent hours curled up next to a battered boom box with their sisterÂs cracked cassette tapes. If Shout was an act of defiance in an age where anything hinting at Âthe devil was verboten (even if CrueÂs trip to the dark side was more about lipstick than LaVey), the ribald sexism of Saints dares you to ignore Hillary ClintonÂs near-miss of a campaign and long for the simpler, bigger-chested days of yore.
Memory lane is served up with great helpings of a besotted hindsight, and the track ÂDown at the Whisky is as good as it gets along these lines. ÂRunaways in a van, all go straight to Hollywood, Vince begins, speaking one of the decadeÂs most essential truths. This was a time for pipe dreams; a telling contrast to our own era, when believing in a future is all but a quaint notion. ÂDo you remember when?Â, it continues, ÂWe were on the run Got loaded like a shotgun Living our dreams Down at the Whisky. Sure, L.A. has bestowed more small fortunes on the undeserving than any other city in the world, but in the case of the Crue, the fame was well-earned. This is a band we all know and love, even through the difficult Theatre of Pain period where glam seemed to push rockÂs hard edge to the sidelines. Curiously, all of this gin-soaked reminiscing fails to mention NikkiÂs brief death via the overdose cliché, nor does it tackle VinceÂs drunken ride to the liquor store that cost Hanoi Rocks drummer Razzle his life. But thatÂs, like, depressing, man; too real for a record that traffics so heavily in unadulterated pleasure. Sure, some died or never recovered from the eraÂs indulgences, but thatÂs for the historians. I choose to believe the rockerÂs side of the story and the myth that scrapes and bruises aside, no one ever really got hurt. If even so much as a genital wart makes its way into the narrative, it will likely be blamed on a woman, and quickly forgotten with the morningÂs sunrise. Assuming they didn’t sleep right through it, of course.
Another standout is the unambiguously titled ÂChicks = Trouble, which is as close to a mantra as weÂre likely to get. ÂI really thought that pussy was gold, is clearly the everymanÂs lament, and enough to bring about a rage that eventually turns to laughter. Of course the dumb bitch loved me for my money. What else could she do? ÂMy balls are deep in debt, is the next plea for sanity, and it wonÂt ever be found until the skirt is thrown off the tour bus for good. Yeah, the song is obviously a Pamela Anderson kiss-off (ÂThey never said I could catch this from a center foldÂ), but the song is an instant excuse for any guy who hasnÂt the patience to find the real explanation for loveÂs slow fade. The natural transition is to ÂThe Animal in Me, which is as close to a power ballad as the disc gets, which is still far enough to keep the purity intact. ÂI wanna be your last breath before we suffocate, sounds morbid on its face, but for the Crue, itÂs simply another side of the sexual coin, where the boredom of the assembly line necessitates gearing up for angry, dangerous love. After all, if sheÂs not fetching you a beer, the least she can do is get bound and gagged. And then on to ÂJust Another Psycho, where Âdoctor and Âshocker are rhymed with effortless bravado, and a man is compelled to say, ÂI donÂt need a reason to hurt you just for fun. Being retrograde never felt so good.
Everywhere else, from ÂWhatÂs it Gonna Take to ÂFace Down in the Dirt, the band is rising, falling, and pushing the limits, all in service of the rock god. They crave fame, sure, but it just might be about the music. No one believes it, of course, but itÂs the illusion of artistic sacrifice that keeps the lines long and the one-way bus tickets flying out the door. ÂI wanna make a lot of money, but I donÂt wanna go to school helps crank up ÂDirt, much like a middle finger to the principal, or a stiff upper lip in the face of dadÂs curfew. And when it continues with, ÂIÂd rather be face down in the dirt with a bullet in my head, Vince speaks to the fear of anonymity that has choked many a wannabe along rockÂs highway. ÂI wanna take on the world I wanna bang a million girls I donÂt wanna wear a three-piece suit I donÂt wanna be you. You, of course, being me, or anyone of the sort. And for good reason. Again, donÂt buy that shit about Âthe life being empty and cruel. For the life of me, I canÂt think of a downside to endless blowjobs, adulation, and, as another song states, having chicks pay your rent. Even six months of such madness would be worth the AIDS virus. Depending on my mood, I may even bargain down to a week. Truth is found in liner notes, not the endless warnings spoon fed by jealous, crestfallen elders.
Lyrics and celebratory irresponsibility aside, this is ballsy music the way itÂs meant to be done. And while IÂll let fools and fanatics debate the relative merits of Tommy LeeÂs drumming or the licks of resident leper Mick Mars, I can say that from where I sit in the fanÂs peanut gallery, these gents have never sounded better or more confident. Every instrument pulsates with phallic wonder, and no song ever overstays its welcome. Solos are piercing and jolting, but never self-indulgent, and Lee, as always, is a proud, aggressive stick man. I donÂt care whether or not he can hang with jazz giants or rockÂs statesmen; this fucker perfected the tit-cam, which rivals the Jarvik heart as the eraÂs greatest scientific wonder. And at the end of the day, they survived. And theyÂre back. And IÂm in love again.