Motley Crue-Shout at the devil, 1983
In the early 1980's the New Wave of British Heavy Metal really dominated the time between say 1980-1982, but by 1983 a few American bands were emerging as well. The LA scene was heating up and record executives were taking notice. Motley Crue had already released their debut "Too fast for love" and they made somewhat of an impact and they got to tour with Kiss. By 1983 the Crue were getting a darker image to some extent and this seemed to help in getting interest. Their 1983 album "Shout at the devil" would see them make the move from promising to being towards the top of the pack. This album shot the band up the ladder fast, but I believe it along with Quiet Riot's Metal Health were important in showing that there was indeed a big scene in LA. The Crue created controversy due to the title of the album as religious groups and parents across the country thought they were serving the devil. After all guys put on face paint, eyeliner and lots of hairspray when they set out to do the bidding of the dark lord. Ultimately this angle probably drew in a lot of teen fans and made a lot of money for the Crue. I remember supporters of the band trying to explain the title as "they are shouting at the devil not with him". My reaction was "who cares about the title as long as the music is good and it was. This album is a bit more polished than the debut, but still it moves straight ahead and keeps your interest. Other than Tommy Lee, I don't think these guys were great players. Yet Nikki Sixx had times of being a good song writer. I think they made ample use of what abilities they had on their first two albums. I remember listening to "Shout at the devil" a lot after it came out and I enjoyed it. At the time they weren't as slick as Ratt, they were perhaps heavier than Twisted Sister and they seemed to have the potential to do more. Time would eventually show that this probably was the peak for Motley Crue. After 1983 the floodgates opened from LA as more bands like WASP, Ratt and many others would be given major label deals. Also hard rock bands and musicians from across the country were relocating to LA to try and make it big.
***On Monday I will have my top ten favorite arcade games of the 1980's as Eight days of the '80's continues.
***On Monday I will have my top ten favorite arcade games of the 1980's as Eight days of the '80's continues.
posted by Metal Mark at
12:15 AM
12 Comments:
OFF TOPIC: M-M/M-M: just wanted to say hi since we're both up late!!!
Great review.
The Crue aren't one of my fave HM bands, I have to admit, but of all their albums this was their best
It might be my interpretation, but I thought towards the end of the decade they bacame almost a spoof band without the humour.
Jim-Hi
Ben-I rarely listen to Motley Crue just because I find Vince Neil to be very repulsive as a person. I think that Too fast for love and Shout at the devil were very good. I remember anticipating Theater of pain prior to it's release, but it's average at best. I think Girls, girls, is terrible. Dr. Feelgood is pretty good, but no where near the level of the early albums. It just got worse after that. I felt the need include them this week because they just had a huge impact on the scene.
I remember when I first heard SATD; I thought it kicked ass, and I thought that Crue would be a band to reckon with for a long time. Little did I know what was to come in later years...
And I feel the same as you about Vince.
I probably listened to this one far too much, too loud. And I loved the intro to Shout at the devil.
An unusual review for you--much more here about the artist and the context and less about how the album sounded when you listen to it now. I think that most of the album holds up well, but a few tracks do sound tired. I agree with you on the decline after this album!
-- david
yes, this was very bad for a nice, Catholic school girl to have. Still my favorite of theirs.
nice review.
Bruce- I think a lot of people thought the Crue were going to be great. They were poular, but they never close to what they did between 81 and 83.
Fuzz-I wore out a copy of this on tape.
David-I thought most of my reviews were like that. I still have three reviews this week that I am very excited about. I will be reviewing my second favorite Judas Priest album and my two favorite Van Halen albums.
Onmywatch-Thanks. I think Motley Crue scared a lot of parents at one time.
I admit I loved this album when it came out, but Crue's later releases and sex, drugs and rock n roll image was a bit naff for me. This was their high point for sure, where they did the most with their limited abilities. Of course most people would disagree as Crue earned mega millions and were the darlings of teenagers everywhere.
"In the begining, good always overcame the evil of all man's sins........" Great album. I think Dr. Feelgood also was a big hit for them commercially, but not as dark or as good as SATD.
If you read my guest post, you know how I felt about Motley Crue at the time. Secretly, i had the first 2 albums at home and listened to them a lot.
For my money, I prefer Too Fast For Love but Shout At The Devil has some great songs as well. It's too bad that the Crue went glam after this album, I don't think they ever matched this album, maybe Feelgood.
This album devastated me at the time. I remember I couldn't stop playing the damned thing! My neighbor behind me played it to me first, and like the first time Mark let me hear Metallica's Master of Puppets, I ran along the train tracks to our little music store to get Shout and I made my stepbrother listen to it, and then HE wanted to hear it over and over again...
I still like this album; it's not terribly dated...a lot of people say they don't like "Ten Seconds to Love," but I always loved that song because it appealed to my raging hormones and how badly I wanted to get laid at the time now that I was starting to get "those urges" at age 13.
This also begins my crusade against the preppies because I wore a Shout at the Devil shirt in high school and thus became labeled a satanist in my freshman year of HS....the pukes never did see my crucifix (not inverted) atop the pentagram, and I grew weary of explaining it was an anti-establishment song....took awhile, but when Girls Girls Girls came out, everyone didn't seem to mind being hypocrites
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