Posts Tagged ‘1983’
So come now, children of the beast, be strong and…
Shout at the devil!!!
My first recollection of hearing Crue was probably on the radio (K-94 or FM-99) when they first played Looks That Kill. Maybe it was on Metal Shop? Not really sure. But I do specifically remember when I first heard the album in its entirety. It was late fall of 1983 and I was on a camping trip with the Scouts. Hunter March, one of the older guys in the troop, said, “Hey Sean, you like metal, check this out.” So I popped the Shout at the Devil tape in my Walkman and freaked out. The opening track sort of wigged me out. It was pretty evil for the time. Then they started singing about the devil and things seemed right in the world again. hahaha. I listened to the tape all that night and was hooked. This band had quite a different sound. A good sound.
Now, if you’ve been paying any attention at all to my older blogs, you know that my mom didn’t approve of the metal in general. She got swooped in by some other parents at my church that it was of the devil. You know, the whole KISS = knights in satan’s service type crap. We had to be subjected to some anti-heavy metal seminars from guys like Albert Long who would stand on stage in front of us showing metal videos, album covers and reading lyrics trying to convince us that rock and roll was going to send us to hell. Little did he know that he was opening us up to a whole new world of bands! Thanks Albert!
One weekend we took a church trip to somewhere in North Carolina to see one of his seminars. While there we visited some mall and I bought 2 7″ records…Huey Lewis’ Finally Found a Home (b/w Walking on a Thin Line) and Crue’s Looks That Kill (b/w Piece of Your Action). Funnily enough I am pretty sure Mr. Long was pounding on the Crue during his seminar.
That stuff was pretty jank, ya know, those seminars. Hearing him say that Angus Young was possessed by the devil was absolutely hilarious. One of my favorites was when he showed the video for Twisted Sister’s You Can’t Stop Rock and Roll. Satanic? Really? Dude. C’mon. Anyway, I wish I still had that Crue 45.
I really love this album except for Helter Skelter. I’m not a Beatles fan in the least and don’t really care to hear covers of their songs (exception being Sacred Rite’s Eleanor Rigby). Danger, Ten Seconds To Love and Too Young To Fall In Love are my faves.
There is a pretty funny and somewhat embarassing story attached to Looks That Kill. I went over to Kelz’ house as his band was jamming. They ripped into Looks That Kill and I grabbed the mic and started singing it (poorly, I’m sure). Kelz’ mom busts in the jam room and asks what song that was and if we knew the lyrics. Like a dumbass, I spoke up. D’oh. It’s not like it’s a bad song, but the fact that it was Crue sent her over the edge (again). She was pretty much the mastermind of the “metal is evil” campaign.
I guess they all meant well but at the time it sucked for us. Having to hide tapes and trade them secretly really sucked.
Anyways, Crue ruled on this album…not so much afterwards.
Too Much Blood…alright!
My fondness for the Rolling Stones has never been much of a secret and I have always chosen them over the Beatles (blech!). They are my #2 band of all time right behind Iron Maiden. My earliest memories of hearing them are through one of my older brothers. I can remember him spinning Sticky Fingers and Some Girls on the record player. I was pretty much a fan from day 1. Maybe 1977 or 1978? Doesn’t matter. I was pretty young.
Undercover (1983) was the first one of theirs that I owned on my own. I remember buying it at Murphy’s on vinyl after hearing Undercover of the Night and She Was Hot on the radio. It was a bit of a different album for them, yet it still retained the feel of a real Stones album, unlike Dirty Work (terrible).
This album gets dissed by a lot of hardcore Stones fans, probably because of their MTV sirplay. No me importa. I love it. Even though I wouldn’t consider it their best album, it’s my #1. Songs like Too Much Blood, Pretty Beat Up, Undercover of the Night…great songs.
I love Mick’s ‘rap’ in Too Much Blood: “Did you ever see the Texas Chainsaw Massacre? Horrible, wasn’t it. You know, people ask me “is it really true where you live in Texas, is that really true what they do around there, people?” I say, “yea, every time I drive through the crossroads I get scared, there’s a bloke running round with a fucking chain saw. Oh! Oh! oh No, he’s gonna cut off, Oh no. Don’t saw off me leg, don’t saw off me arm.”
Good times.
Odd to think that this video was banned from MTV for a long time.
The Metal Files 