Shane’s Rock Challenge: MOTLEY CRUE – 1987 – Girls Girls Girls

Shane’s Rock Challenge: MOTLEY CRUE – 1987 – Girls Girls Girls
8/10

Motley were on the back foot after their Theatre Of Pain album – mostly because it was rubbish due to the Crue’s self-indulgence. They got back in touch with their muse for their fourth record, with help from producer Tom Werman.

Wikipedia today says of Girls Girls Girls – “The record also reflects the band’s hard-living lifestyle, and pays homage to their love of riding Harley Motorcycles, drinking whiskey, drug use, life on the Sunset Strip, and spending nights at strip clubs. However, there are darker sides to the album as well…” Because all that drug use and nocturnal debauchery wasn’t dark enough, perhaps??

Their bad boy antics aside, Girls Girls Girls is simply a FAR better album than its predecessor. Wild Side and the title track were pretty damn popular on MTV, not to mention the powerfully black ballad You’re All I Need.

The rest of Girls Girls Girls ain’t too bad either – Dancing On Glass packs a punch, Bad Boy Boogie and Sumthin’ For Nuthin’ are generic but enjoyable, and Nona is a short, mostly instrumental piece dedicated to Nikki Sixx’s Grandmother who died while they were making the album. Their cover of Elvis’s Jailhouse Rock even makes Vince Neil sound good (despite highlighting the fact that they didn’t have enough new material to make a full album.)

Girls Girls Girls reached #2 on the U.S. Billboard charts – held off by some Whitney Houston thing. They’d hit the #1 with their next outing, but for now, this was an incredible success.

By Shane Pinnegar

Category: Shane's Rock Challenge