Mötley Crüe’s 1981 debut album, Too Fast For Love, wasn’t a commercial hit. Originally released on the band’s own Leathür Records, it was later reworked and rereleased by Elektra Records but remains a cult classic, even among fans who don’t typically listen to hair metal.
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While Mötley Crüe went on to sell more than 100 million albums worldwide, Too Fast For Love captures the group in its DIY and early punk and glam phase. Looking at the album cover, with its homage to The Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers, Mötley Crüe matched its gritty sound with striking imagery. They looked as though they’d landed from the same glam punk planet that produced Johnny Thunders and Richard Hell.
But this wasn’t New York or CBGB. Things were different in Los Angeles, and Mötley Crüe helped pioneer a Hollywood rock scene that soon dominated pop culture. It all started with Too Fast For Love, which is arguably still Mötley Crüe’s best album.
“Live Wire”
In the self-directed music video for “Live Wire”, Nikki Sixx lights himself on fire while blood flows from the mouth of Mick Mars. Then Tommy Lee winds up in chains as Vince Neil points a flaming sword at the camera. The lo-fi theatrics match the punk rock of the band’s debut. And “Live Wire” remains one of Mötley Crüe’s defining tunes. Everything you want from a Mötley Crüe track is here: Sixx’s songwriting, Lee playing drums like Keith Moon in a punk band, Mars’s glam guitar riff, and Neil’s Sunset Strip screams.
“Too Fast For Love”
Mars has played many iconic riffs. Though “Kickstart My Heart”, “Wild Side”, and “Dr. Feelgood” are more popular, the title track to Mötley’s debut sounds like Jimmy Page had he been a member of Ziggy Stardust’s Spiders From Mars. When Neil enters with “Oh, no,” you can hear early glam and punk becoming the hard rock and hair metal that dominated MTV in the late 80s. A high-end production would have rounded the corners of this youth anthem. Instead, “Too Fast For Love” sounds young, alive, dangerous. Mötley Crüe was infamous for its debauchery. This is the sound of a notorious band spawning.
“On With The Show”
When Frank Feranna Jr. legally changed his name to Nikki Sixx, his future became set in stone. There’s just no other occupation for a man named Nikki Sixx besides glam rock star. “On With The Show” begins with the lyric: “Frankie died just the other night / Some say it was suicide / But we know / How the story goes.”
It’s the origin story of Nikki Sixx, and without his reinvention, there’s probably no Mötley Crüe. Sixx absorbed the lessons of New York Dolls, Sex Pistols, Aerosmith, and KISS, but created something new with what he’d learned. Too Fast For Love offers a glimpse of a young band working out the kinks. By the next album, Shout At The Devil, Mötley Crüe had established what became their iconic and unique sound.
Photo by Chris Walter/WireImage
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