Motley Crue Dr. Feelgood
Let me tell you a bit about Dr. Feelgood from Mötley Crüe, this album was both the culmination of the excess of the 80’s as well as the slow death of it all. It’s loud, furious, never contemplative, fists up with middle fingers extended and wanting nothing more than for this party to never fucking end. It’s David Wooderson living out high school over and over while screwing ageless beauties and crushing endless keggers in the woods.
⭐ 9/10
Kickstart My Heart is blazing, hair metal glory. Dr. Feelgood, Same Ol' Situation, and Don't Go Away Mad round out album 5 from the illustrious Mötley Crüe.
But like I said, this was 1989 and that redhead was about to slay the beast and satiate the thirst for bountiful booze, bedded babes and berserk bashes (but by damned alliteration shall live on). And for the Crue, this was the end of the party, the booze and the drugs. Newly sober but still rocking harder than 97.3% of their Hollywood contemporaries.
And lucky for us, no rock band did it bigger and better the Mötley Crüe. Oh you don’t think so? Well then tell me who? What other rock band got so bored with banging endless amounts of groupies that they started making bets on who in the band could go longer without bathing and still bone groupies? For the record, Nikki Sixx won in one of the more disgusting stories of the 80’s but that’s a tale for later.
Dr. Feelgood was their 5th Studio album and brought out the best song writing from Sixx, the biggest riffs from Mars (albeit possibly stolen), the most decadent lyrics and range from frontman Vince Neil and an absolutely drumhead destroying pounding from Tommy Lee. Also, among its hit singles, it includes the single greatest pump-up song in the history of all histories.
Dr. Feelgood notes
Way huge production on the album from producer Bob Rock.
TnT (Terror 'n Tinseltown)
A little intro sound-bit that sets up a theme across this album of the dark side of drug use. Meanwhile, the good side of drug use is 80’s metal so dig that slice of delicious irony.
Dr. Feelgood
The title track!
The doc is a drug dealer. He gets you drugs. But let’s stop right there. This album is not about the story of downtrodden drug use that Neil is trying to push, it’s about the bitching music and this song bitches louder than Gordon Ramsey after a particularly bad gruyere cheese soufflé.
Connection to John F. Kennedy
Max Jacobson was the O.G. Dr Feelgood. He gave out the goods to high profile celebs during JFK's administration.
Slice of Your Pie
Vince Neil never beats around the bush and tried to wow you with deep lyrics. He sings and writes about what he knows and what he knows is sex and drugs and…well, I think that actually covers it all. It’s said men think about sex every 7 seconds. Neil thinks about it every 2.3 songs. So we’ll see you again soon. Very soon. Sidenote, this song ends with "She’s so Heavy" by the Beatles. It’s a weird outro that makes no sense? Maybe the drugs were still in the system. Probably.
Rattlesnake Shake
18 years prior, Fleetwood Mac released a song under a similar title that was a blues rock fueled jam of all jams. The Crue inexplicably ran with the same title and wrote about a stripper and added some horns for the first time ever. Nothing makes you put your fists up faster than some sweet trumpet call and response.
Kickstart My Heart
this is it. This is the greatest fucking pump-up hard rock track of all time. From the opening "raaaaaawrrrrr" of Mick Mars guitar, to the simplistic but bad-ass riff to some cheesy lyrics that even your grandma could belt out while baking some bitching poundcake, this song gives us everything. We even get to settle down for a bit and get all sentimental about the musical journey these 4 have taken together over 5 albums before they dropkick us all back into submission and the pit swirls in a fury of machismo and stale Old Milwaukee’s.
Kickstart My Heart was sponsored by amphetamines.
Without You
Whew ... let’s all calm down and spend some time with the necessary power ballad. I know we’ve spent the first half hour talking about all the dollar bills we threw at you and how delicious pie is, but I’d like to let you know I really miss you when you at the club without me. This song is rife with some good guitar runs peppered throughout that make you want to put the lighters up and sway with some randos in the crowd.
Same Ol' Situation (SOS)
Good girl goes bad while the band bad goes good. "Now I used to call her Cindy, she changed her name to Sin". Bravo gentleman, bravo. This song is just classic Hair Metal sing alone with some sweet throwback solos by guitarist Mars. Is the song good – not really. Do I fucking love it and sing along every single time – you’re goddamn right I do!
Fizz weighing in - Tommy Lee's suspended drum kit in the Same Ol' Situation video is/was legendary.
Sticky Sweet
This song sucks. Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) sings on this song. It still sucks.
She Goes Down
Question: is this song about the slow decent into drug use by a girl who had everything to live for but succumbed to the evils of the world ... or blowjobs? You are correct. Now pass Go and collect your $200 by skipping to the next song.
Don’t Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)
the title suggests a big ol "fuck you" song but warms your heart with a surprise ballad about young love fighting through the struggles of everyday life. Wait ... what? Now we’re telling the girl to just get the hell away from me and we’re whistling at some other girls ... girls girls? Goddamit Vince. Lyrics aside, this is one of the stand-out tracks on this album. It’s ballady, it rocks, Lee double-times like half the song and Mars just solos most of the time.
Time For Change
Sex. Drugs. Rock and roll. 10 songs of straight forward fuck-your-face rock n roll and now you want to preach about world peace?!?!? A throw-away song that should have been cut.
Final thoughts on Dr. Feelgood
This album rocks and it mostly stands the test of time. I mostly just wish I hadn’t grown old and listened to the lyrics for the first time in 30 years. Overall, it’s solid and is exactly what you need for some 80’s hair metal goodness.
Dr. Feelgood, An adrenaline rush of an album if there ever was one.
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Reviews of Motley Crue Albums
Hair Metal