MÖTLEY CRÜE – Dr. Feelgood

Mötley Crüe is known to be the craziest band ever to hit the Metal world, and the stories of this legendary band are many. Drug and alcohol binges, overdoses, prison sentences, big tours, and platinum album sales. The Crüe was one of the most outrageous bands on the 80s Metal scene and have inspired a generation of Rock bands.

Drug abuses almost put a stop to the band in 1987 after the Girls, Girls, Girls release. When bass player Nikki Sixx suffered a heroin overdose, which left him dead for several minutes, the band members decided to go the rehab route and come clean. 1988 saw the band clean-up and the work for their big-break-through album started. They hooked up with the legendary producer Bob Rock, and set out to make the album that would impact the Heavy Rock scene for decades.

The first impression after listening to this album is nothing less than awesome. The song “Dr. Feelgood” is just amazing. The powerful guitar riff, energetic drums, and the pounding bass makes it very strong, and the screaming guitar lines from Mick Mars is something you’ve never heard in the past. Bob Rock is a guitar player himself, and he pushed Mick’s playing even further than any producer had done before him. Vince Neil does an incredible vocal job on every song from prior albums, and, of course, this one is no exception. He sounds more invigorated on Dr. Feelgood than on any of the earlier releases.

“Kickstart My Heart” is the song Nikki Sixx wrote after he overdosed on heroin … an experience that almost killed him … and what a song he came up with! An energetic and fast Rock song about living on the edge. The guitar riff is fast and intense, and Mick got a much more heavy sound out of his guitar. On this track, he experimented with the talk-box effect for the first time. The backing vocals for this song, and all the others, are incredible. The choir features artist such as Bryan Adams, Steven Tyler, and the band members of Skid Row.

“Same Ol’ Situation (S.O.S)” maintains the old party Rock ‘N’ Roll factor Mötley Crüe had on especially the two previous albums, Theatre Of Pain and Girls, Girls, Girls. Of course, almost all the other songs on this album are pure party Rock too, but this one is outstanding. It’s a sing-along-song with a simple refrain. The lyrics are about a sexy girl every man wants a piece of — the kind of stuff Mötley Crüe had always been very familiar with.

“Time For Change” is one of the two ballads on this album. The song is a cry out for world peace and changing of the world society. There’s also another undertone in the song — maybe there was time for a change in the band? After almost ten years of making records and being on the road for months together, things would come to an end. The rumors were right; the Crüe fans saw the departure of vocalist Vince Neil only three years after the release of this album.

It wasn’t only the music that was different on Dr. Feelgood; the lyrics also took another direction from the earlier albums. They did feature sex, drugs, and Rock ‘n’ Roll, of course, but the way they were written was something completely different from the way they did earlier.

They also experimented with a lot of new sounds, including Honky Tonk piano and Marguerita horns in the song “Rattlesnake Shake.” The street-sounds, like sirens in the opening intro “T.N.T (Terror N’ Tinseltown)” was also something new.

Dr. Feelgood was for Mötley Crüe a big step forward when it comes to production, and last but not least, arrangements. The Crüe took their music to another level when they created this masterpiece. It was so much more than the prior albums. Dr. Feelgood was certain to become a very important album to the Crüe. It became their biggest selling album ever, selling to platinum almost at once, and put the Crüe at the pinnacle of their career.

Band Lineup

Tommy Lee – Drums and backing vocals
Vince Neil – Vocals
Mick Mars – Guitar and backing vocals
Nikki Sixx – Bass guitar and backing vocals