Generation Swindle: Motley Crue Release Fifth Greatest Hits Album

Posted by Bram Teitelman on Tue, Nov 17, 2009 at 3:06 pm

Good Luck With That

motley-gh09Motley Crue was one of the best hair metal bands of the ’80s. That’s why a Greatest Hits album from the band was a good idea in 1991. The Crue’s Decade of Decadence came out 18 years ago, but the band’s still going strong, or at least medium strength, so for them to have another greatest hits album isn’t a terrible idea either. BUT FIVE? Today the band released Greatest Hits on their own management company’s Eleven Seven label. It’s the fifth hits album the band’s released since 1991. This isn’t even their first Greatest Hits album called Greatest Hits (that, for the record, was their 1998 one).

Sure, we get it. Every time Motley Crue goes to another label and/or gets their publishing back, they release a greatest hits album to capitalize on that. Or labels like Elektra take advantage of one of their former marquee acts by releasing a comp (like 2005′s double disc Red White & Crue, the best of the comps in our opinon). But honestly, is there one Motley Crue fan not alive that doesn’t have at least one of the band’s compilations of music? What are you getting if you pick up the new version? You’ll get two songs from last year’s The Saints of Los Angeles, the title track and a remix of “The Animal In Me.” In other words, pretty inessential, unless you really liked the last album, in which case you already own it. You’re better off saving your money and buying a copy of The Dirt (one of the best rock autobiographies ever) instead. Or waiting for the long-rumored film version of the book to come out and buying the inevitable soundtrack that will serve as Motley Crue’s sixth Greatest Hits album.

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  • stu1

    Eleven Seven isn’t their label. It’s their management’s in-house label.

  • ZShaw

    Have to find it funny how the s’ in ‘greatest hits’ is replaced with a money sign. They are not even trying to be subtle that this is simply about milking out more money.

  • Massey

    sure, this is their fifth compilation album… but go out to a new record store and see how many Greatest Hits albums you can buy. The answer is ONE. You hit the nail on the head by stating that Motley releases a new compilation album when they sign a new distribution deal; it’s because they are one of VERY FEW bands that own their masters to everything. What you failed to mention is that when each distribution deal expires, then the albums released during that period are out of print.

    It makes perfect sense for the Crue to rerelease a Greatest Hits compilation with each new distribution deal. Yes, I’m a longtime fan; and yes, I already have all the other compilation albums… so I know I’m not getting much with this Greatest Hits ’09 release. But this is GREAT for the casual fans, the new fans, and the young fans. Tons of those people have just got turned on to the Crue in the past couple years with CrueFest 1 & 2 & the Saints of Los Angeles album. But those new fans can not go out & buy “Decade of Decadence,” the 99 “Greatest Hits,” or “Red, White, & Crue” if they want a compilation album; they are no longer in production. Perhaps they get lucky & find an old unsold copy of RW&C setting on a dusty shelf somewhere? But this ’09 release is for THOSE fans.

    BTW, Elektra did not release Red, White, & Crue. The only album they have any current stake in is some of the Decade of Decadence material.

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  • andre

    I disagree with Massey. First of all, the “record store[s]” of today are online. Nobody under the age of 30 is looking for music on “dusty shelves.” One could easily find a previously released compilation online, so his point about the earlier comps being a scarce commodity simply isn’t true. It seems to me that any new fan that was turned on to Crue by their recent tours could have/can easily find earlier comps online. But the idea of young people exploring 20 year old music by a hair metal band is somewhat depressing – considering hair metal itself was a watered-down version of heavy metal. At least have them dig up some NWOBHM classics, there’s some stuff there that rightfully stands the test of time.

    Does a 5th compilation make business sense for Crue? Maybe. Depends on how many copies they’ll sell and whether they can bootstrap a tour to its release. Should that compilation generate excitement among music fans? Not so much.

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  • Matt

    KISS has way more greatest hits out there

  • Susan

    The Crue do tend to bring out a lot of ‘Greatest Hits’ records, but so do a lot of other bands in that era.

    I think it’s to help promote themselves to younger listeners who bought ‘SOLA’ and want to listen to classic Crue and modern Crue.
    It’s a shame that such an established band would want to ‘fit in’ with today’s generation, when it’s actually the whole 80′s glam rock scene that excites them.

    I disagree with Andre and have to say that being only 19, I own all of Motley’s albums and love the sleazy side to their records that modern artists lack.
    It’s not depressing for Motley to appeal to younger fans; it’s inspiring.

  • andre

    @ Susan

    Point taken. Even though I still think that the mid80s LA hair-metal scene was Heavy Metal Lite (power ballads galore), I’m glad to read that you shy away from squeeky clean corporate disney pop.

  • Susan

    @ Andre.

    If I still listened to Disney pop at my age then I’d fear for my lack of sanity.

    You are right about the power ballads, but nearly every artist has at least one ballad on their album.
    It shows their diversity.
    Home Sweet Home, Rodeo, You’re All I Need and Glitter are beautiful Motley ballads whilst still having the Motley Crue feel to them.

    The appeal with this band is (and will always be) its dramatic history.
    No other band has been through devil worshipping, jail, personal tragedies, dying twice and various line-ups like Motley has.

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  • http://Birdsforsale Steven Jones

    wow, awesome blog article.Really looking forward to read more. Keep writing.

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