There’s only one word to truly describe heavy metal band, Mötley Crüe – excessive.
Excessive fame, booze, drugs, women, tattoos; you name it, they’ve done it. Nothing Britney Spears has done in the past couple of years ever comes close to Mötley Crüe’s level of decadence. It’s even more amazing that after more than two decades of such hedonistic lifestyles, this notorious American heavy metal band is still very much alive and kicking with the release of their ninth album, Saints of Los Angeles.
And no, they didn’t turn over a new leaf. The CD title simply refers to the 103 streets named after saints in Los Angeles. In fact, this four-member band – Tommy Lee, Vince Neil, Mick Mars and Nikki Sixx – is more than happy to replay the story of their life.
As singer Vince Neil explained, “Much of life is looking back and remembering what happened to you. Let’s share those memories, re-enact them, turn them into songs, plays, movies, books and a soundtrack to life.”
Saints of Los Angeles is, without a doubt, the ultimate album about their life thus far. And you can bet it’s about as saintly as a kid with his hand caught in a cookie jar.
Inspired by the band’s very own 2001 autobiography The Dirt, they’ve written songs about practically every kind of sin in the book. For examples, “White Trash Circus” is about a sleazy strip club, “Down at the Whisky” is about their pleasure-seeking lifestyle and “Chicks = Trouble” is, well, quite self-explanatory.
According to bass guitarist Nikki Sixx, Saints of Los Angeles is about “a tale of damaged minds, music industry battles and a whole lotta sex based on our stories from The Dirt”.
But even though the meaning of their songs is quite hardcore, they claimed that their lyrics are humourous because, well, they are actually “ridiculously funny”. This UrbanWire reviewer personally doesn’t share their brand of humour, which includes curses and hints of degradation of women.
Dirty lyrics aside, you can even catch sounds of cocaine coming off tables and squeaks of bed springs in the background of their songs. Seriously, it’s a wonder how they even managed to gain a permit to hold the most badass gig in this city yet.
After selling over 80 million albums worldwide, this is only the first time this legendary, chart-topping band is performing in Southeast Asia. You can bet they’ll be performing many of their number one hits as well, such as “Dr. Feelgood” and “Home Sweet Home”.
This reviewer is not a big Mötley Crüe fan, but she’s a fan of rock music and she expects some really good rock and roll performances.
In the words of guitarist Mick Mars: “This is not a safe bet, a show for the weak of heart. This is ****in’ rock and roll. This is what we need.”
We couldn’t agree more.
Mötley Crüe will perform at the only show in Asia outside of Japan at Fort Canning Park this Thursday on Oct 16 at 8pm. Ticket price is available at all Sistic outlets at $140 from Oct 1 to Oct 15 and $160 on the day of the show. Students will enjoy a discounted price at $100 that lasts till Oct 15 when they show their student cards at any Sistic outlet.