Happy 35th Anniversary to Mötley Crüe’s fourth studio album Girls, Girls, Girls, originally released May 15, 1987.
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Mötley Crüe “loved to fight, loved to fuck, and loved to play heavy metal,” the group’s bassist Nikki Sixx told Rolling Stone back in 2017, summarizing the band’s lifestyle approaching the release of their fourth studio album Girls, Girls, Girls. Just two years prior to the release of this album, Mötley Crüe released their third studio LP Theatre of Pain (1985), which found the band venturing away from their heavy metal sound and beginning a new era in glam metal. Nonetheless, Theatre of Pain was a successful album and would raise expectations for its successor. Mötley Crüe were at the peak of their career and wanted to sustain that success if they could.
Unfortunately, when the band reflects on Girls, Girls, Girls, many of the memories are centered around their troubling drug addictions. Musically, the band just went with the flow when recording. They had always been a gritty, charismatic band and arguably no album represents their collective persona more than Girls, Girls, Girls.
Although the band didn’t know it at the time of recording the album, Girls, Girls, Girls would be the last Mötley Crüe album produced by Tom Werman, who had helmed both Shout at the Devil (1983) and Theatre of Pain. “The album’s more straightforward sound and relatively easy recording process stemmed from the band’s maturity level,” Werman once reflected.
The band’s relaxed and self-aware approach to this entire album was highlighted instantly on the first track, “Wild Side,” with impressive guitar play by Mick Mars. With the combination of Mars’ guitar, raw lyrics and Vince Neil’s powerful voice, there wasn’t a better way to continue their prominence then by “taking a ride on the Wild Side.” If you’ve ever been to a Crüe show, this is a very popular show opener as well.
The title track was the first single released on May 11, 1987, just a few days before the album surfaced. Whatever strip clubs were most popular at the time in ‘87, they were likely referenced in “Girls, Girls, Girls,” a party themed anthem that would further elevate their pinnacle of success. The band sounded energized on the track, as Mars had found a new guitar tech that helped refine his sound, Tommy Lee was able to play around more on the drums, and all of the band members had the freedom to try new things. You can tell just by listening to the catchy guitar riff and lyrics that the group had a lot of fun recording this track.
Across the entirety of the band’s discography, no song lets Mars shine more than “Dancing on Glass.” Most of the song feels like a jam session and the band is just letting Mars go. Admittedly, the keyboard threw me off upon first hearing the song, but luckily Neil’s voice overpowers it enough that it doesn’t become too noticeable. It’s a great jam session that revisits much of their slightly softer sound from Theatre of Pain, while documenting the craziness of being a rockstar, in lines like “I've been through hell / And I've never goin' back / To dancing on glass / Going way too fast / Gonna burn and crash / Valentine's in London / Found me in the trash.”
The beginning of the album has your adrenaline pumping so hard that at times it seems like the energy is brought down a bit on “Bad Boy Boogie” and “Nona,” both of which veer into more pop-oriented territory. Personally, I admit that the short 1-minute and 26-second run time of “Nona” left me curious and craving more. It was completely different than not only everything else on the album, but anything I’d ever heard from Mötley Crüe. A lot of people hated it, but for me it worked—I just wanted more.
A few months after the album was released, the band released “Wild Side” as the second single in August 1987. It would end up becoming popular in the MTV rotation along with “Girls, Girls, Girls.” A couple of months later in October 1987, they released their third single “You’re All I Need,” which was arguably a questionable choice, but not shocking by any means. Only Mötley Crüe would release a power ballad about a man killing his girlfriend because he doesn’t want her to leave him. Apparently, it was based on Sixx’s real life experiences, and he later revealed that it was about a girlfriend he had at the time. Even with all of the controversy that surrounded the song’s subject matter, it wasn’t enough to translate into much chart success. In fact, the video was banned from MTV.
Girls, Girls, Girls continued Mötley Crüe’s super stardom and peaked at #2 on the Billboard charts, while becoming the band's third straight album to go quadruple platinum. Overall, it’s an insightful journal from a band that was having the time of their lives and just enjoying the ride—while simultaneously making great music. Although Girls, Girls, Girls just barely missed topping the album charts, it would nevertheless lead them to creating their greatest album of all-time, Dr. Feelgood (1989), which would finally give them their first and only #1 album.
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