They were pretty much on the same level as Def Leppard and Bon Jovi during that period, they were one of the bigger arena bands for a period of about 5 years.
Motley never sold as many records as any of those bands either. Motley's biggest selling record was DR. F at about 5-6 million. Poison, Bon Jovi, Def Leppard all had records that sold way more than that. Why? I think Motley were that much 'heavier', scarier & less public friendly . . . & that's why their fans are more hardcore & that's why they can punch above their weight & still be selling out arenas in 2015.
Though I loved it at the time (and still like some of it) I think Shout at the Devil is a fairly contrived concept with the pentagram on the cover, etc. I guess you could call it shrewd marketing also (I certainly ate it up as a teenager), but to call Motley Crue "honest" and "authentic" with that schtick is off the mark.
SHOUT was definitely Nikki's attempt to ride the Metal wave that was happening in the early 1980s, for sure, & he has admitted as much. But they didn't completely change who they were. Motley were always about image & exaggeration, it was just a logical step for them. Nikki had a very defined idea of what RnR was & had a plan! He is the same person in interviews all through the 1980s. some of the images changed but they NEVER changed as people (they didn't do that til the 1990s!)
Here's what people that go to those arenas in 2015 are getting. Look at this mess...and people give Paul Stanley and DLR a hard time!
I see Poison playing a hell of a lot of the same places 'Crue were back in the late 80's... http://www.lookatstubs.com/bands/poison.htm
Not when I saw them in 1983. Now, it's a joke. There's really no justification for people paying to see fat Vince Neil and arthritic Mick Mars going through the motions for your hard earned cash. Yet, people will pay for nostalgia no matter how compromised the quality of the performance is these days. Crue is cashing in on the MILFs, Cougars, and bro-rockers that still find them a viable option for their entertainment. More power to them.
I dunno about sound but we used to go see them at Pookies in Pasadena all the time. They were hilarious to watch. I was never sure if they were in on the joke or not though.
I saw them in 2005 & have refused to pay to see them now. Yeah I should have said they CAN BE a horrible live band, always. Check out audio/video from 1981-1992 & there are many examples of bad performances, mostly Vince & Mick-derived. But yeah, when Motley are on, they're great. Ragged but Right.
In some markets that is true, though single shows where Crue were doing 2 nights. In DFW Poison always played smaller places and, at the time, this was a great place for bands to come in terms of ticket sales.
You lost me by including Poison in there. Obviously Bon Jovi and Def Leppard sold more than the Crue, but Poison? Just going by wikipedia, and American sales numbers, the top Poison album is Open Up and Say Ahhh which sold 5 million. Dr. Feelgood sold 6 million. Poison have two other titles that sold three million each. Motley Crue have three other titles that sold four million each. I liked Poison in that era but they were never in the same league at Motley Crue; not in quality, not in sales of albums or tickets. Poison's problem is that beyond the singles, the rest of the songs were nowhere near as good. They have some fantastic songs, several of which I consider to be the definitive songs of the era, but they have a grand total of zero great albums. Motley Crue made great albums.
As a teenage guitarist trying to learn how to play Purple Haze and Pretty Woman and stuff like that Looks That Kill seemed to just explode out of nowhere on to the charts. This was a whole new kind of Metal. This was no Crazy Train or Rock You Like A Hurricane, but Mick could make those notes squeal in a way I'd never heard. I still think Too Young to Fall in Love is one of the heaviest songs ever. What a riff! I did think they must have kidding or something with the pentagram and all of that, but whatever. I did see them in Columbia, Mo. At the Hearn Center in maybe 1990. Seemed like they were having fun and we all were too ...
Motley Crue was pretty notorious in industry circles for "buying their tunes". Although to be fair in the Hair-metal era, many of the bands did that. Maybe Poison just had a lower budget to pay for and pay off the real songwriters.
I thought Poison had a 9 million seller? Guess not. anyway, my point still stands. And yes, I agree, Poison have some great rock tunes but the sum total isn't that satisfying & their music hasn't aged as well as Motley's. PS I may be thinking about how things were in the 1980s. Before Dr. F, Poison had a bigger selling album than Motley did in Open Up AND Look What the Cat Dragged in sold about 3 million by 1990 where I think TOP & GGG were still at the 2 million mark. Motley caught up with Poison with Dr. F & later career sales. Motley are guilty of inflating their world-wide record sale totals though. They tout an 85 million sales # but I think it's more towards 50 mill
I actually think poisons best songs are "theater of the soul" and "life loves a tragedy", neither of which are singles
Life Loves a Tragedy is a great song, always liked that one. I've never even heard the other. Maybe tomorrow I'll give it a listen on youtube, I was done with Poison after Flesh & Blood and the only times I've started to listen to Native Tongue I didn't get very far into it.
i loved the first 2 albums, but they lost me after that. Although i did see them in 1990 in Sydney and it's still memorable as one of the worst arena shows i've ever seen. The band were a mess.
I was there too! Great show and my second rock show. Kiss Creatures show in Montreal being the first.
What? LOL! I'm a huge Crue fan and trust me, if that were true I would have heard about it. I don't believe that for a minute.
