Why Mötley Crüe Needed a Cover To Break Through With Their First Top 40 Hit

Would the glam/hair metal scene have developed in the same way in the 80s without the influence of Mötley Crüe? The LA bad boys set the template in terms of the flash and danger of their image and the swagger and potency of their music.

Videos by American Songwriter

To make their first dent on pop radio, however, the quartet needed to stand on the shoulders of some predecessors. Their first US Top 40 hit came via a cover of an irreverent 70s classic.

A Crüe Crisis

Mötley Crüe set the heavy metal world ablaze with their first two albums. Here was a young band who brought the thunder of the genre’s forefathers but did so with the frazzled energy of punks. And their songs had hooks galore.

After a few songs from their second album, Shout At The Devil, knocked on the door of the Top 40 (“Looks That Kill” made it as high as No. 53), it seemed the band was poised for a third-album leap. And the band savvily understood that some concessions to pop radio could take them to the masses.

Unfortunately, the making of that third record came during a period of great duress for the band. Vince Neil’s involvement in a December 1984 drunk driving incident that claimed the life of Nicholas “Razzle” Dingley of the band Hanoi Rocks raised the possibility of elongated jail time for the singer. And bassist and chief songwriter Nikki Sixx was dealing with drug addiction that left him struggling to contribute.

“Boys” Night Out

After the fact, a few members of Mötley Crüe were quite dismissive of the quality of Theatre Of Pain, released in 1985 as the band’s third album. Nonetheless, it turned out to be mission accomplished when it came to the band making the move to the mainstream.

The catalyst was a 22-year-old song. Brownsville Station, a band that hailed from Michigan, enjoyed a breakthrough hit from Yeah!, the album they released in 1973. Guitarists Cub Koda and Michael Lutz wrote the song based in part on memories from their high school days. “Smokin’ In The Boys Room” made it to No. 3, by far the band’s biggest ever hit.

Vince Neil had the idea for Mötley Crüe to do a cover of the song. The band had played it right when they formed in the early 80s. Now, more polished as musicians and with a firmer grasp of their sound, they were able to turn out a version both faithful to the original and consistent with the Crüe ethos.

“Room” To Grow

Since they didn’t feel that strongly about any of the other songs on Theatre Of Pain, Mötley Crüe decided to go with “Smokin’ In The Boys Room” as the first single. Sure enough, it soared to No. 16 on the pop charts. MTV’s growing embrace of the band certainly helped.

Having broken down the door, Mötley Crüe then took their next big swing. They chose “Home Sweet Home”, the first power ballad in their catalog, for the next single. Although it wasn’t a pop hit, it was ubiquitous on MTV, raising the band’s profile even further.

The true culmination of what “Smokin’ In The Boys Room” started for Mötley Crüe came four years later. That’s when the Dr. Feelgood album went nuclear and produced four Top 40 singles, the band’s commercial peak.

Photo by Mark “WEISSGUY” Weiss