Picture of Motley Crue and The Dirt book autographed by Vince Neil (1988, 2001)

I remember when my older brother showed me his Motley Crue Shout at the Devil LP. I couldn’t believe the picture of the band inside, but was blown away when I heard the first two tracks - In the Beginning and Shout at the Devil. The music was heavier and meaner than Van Halen, and I liked it a lot. I remember being one of only a few students in my 5^th grade class who knew about Vince Neil’s car crash in December of 1984. This was before we had cable/MTV, so I think we all thought that The Crue was over. Through the magic of being a rock star and money, Vince only went to jail for 30 days and the band continued. In my 10-year-old mind, I figured what he didn’t must not have been that bad if he only had to be in jail for a month – and I was happy they didn’t break up. The next summer, my brother got Theatre of Pain and brought it up to PEI. We listened to it just about every day, and “Home Sweet Home” quickly became the favorite with my siblings and me. When Girls, Girls, Girls came out a couple of years later, I made sure I had a copy the day it was released. I don’t know how many other 7^th graders with straight A’s walked around playing the new Crue album at school on the last day (they let us do this as long as we were outside), but I was one of them.

That summer, my older brother did something that would change me forever: Motley Crue was touring, and he took me to my first concert at the Centrum in Worcester. Not only did it quickly make The Crue my favorite band; it made going to concerts one of my favorite things to do. Like I wrote on my blog about meeting Nikki Sixx, I remember hearing about Nikki’s overdose. It was the winter after that first show, and (again because of the time and slow news travel) the rumor was that Nikki had died. Of course he had died for a couple of minutes, but the news of his “kickstart” didn’t reach me until later that day. I remember being relieved and pissed at the same time. I thought “Dancing on Glass” meant not doing drugs anymore, and was upset that Nikki would put his life on the line like that. But, I was happy to find out he was okay, and hoped the close call would make him stop.

And in the summer of 1988, I hung up this picture by my bed in Prince Edward Island. My brothers, sisters, and I often bought “metal mags” to keep up with our rock heroes. I don’t know if this came out of Metal Edge, Circus, Hit Parader, or Rip, but I’m sure it was one of them. We didn’t have the internet, we had magazines.

My older sister got me this autographed copy of The Dirt, and I just finished reading it again yesterday. Say what you will about Motley’s music, this book makes it clear to me that these 4 people were meant to be in a band together. They all have demons that differ in size and shape, and the way they dealt with them was through rock, chemicals, and sex. It’s really a miracle they survived through it all, and pretty amazing that after all the drama, breakups, and headlines, they still put out a kick-ass album a few years ago (Saints of Los Angeles). If you are (or were) a fan of this band, The Dirt is a must read. And if you don’t like the song Home Sweet Home, shame on you…

Motley Crue TIcket and This is Gonna Hurt Book Autographed by Nikki Sixx

Five weeks ago tonight, I had just two things on my mind: Meeting Nikki Sixx and the Bruins Game 4 against the Flyers…

I remember when my older brother first showed me inside the Shout at the Devil record. I couldn’t believe my eyes. To that point, The Beatles were the only band I had listened to (I was 10), and even though I didn’t get the full meaning to all their songs, at least they didn’t look like that! “Dave,” my brother assured me, “Just listen.” Even though “In the Beginning” had me wondering what the hell I was listening to, “Shout at the Devil” blew me away, and would change the course of my musical taste for the rest of my life.

Even though there weren’t too many “metal heads” in my 5^th grade class, I remember talking to my classmate Todd after hearing about Vince Neil’s accident on December 8, 1984. We were wondering how much it would affect the band. My brother was a huge Hanoi Rocks fan too, and was (wisely) more concerned about its effect on them than Motley. It’s amazing to think of how much the way news travels has changed since then, and often overlooked are the two people that Vince paralyzed.

I remember being excited to hear Theatre of Pain when it came out. My older brother got it the day it came out, and we listened to it just about every day that summer up in Prince Edward Island.

I remember seeing “Home Sweet Home” as the #1 video on MTV every day for months and months until they changed the rule and limited the time songs could be #1 down to 3 months.

I remember going to my first concert. Whitesnake opened for The Crue at The Centrum in Worcester. There was pyro, scantily clad women on the stage, and Tommy Lee’s drum set spun upside-down, and around and around. I was hooked, and knew I would be seeing The Crue and other bands live…a lot.

I remember hearing about Nikki’s overdose. It was the winter after that first show, and (again because of the time and slow news travel) the rumor was that Nikki had died. Of course he had died for a couple of minutes, but the news of his “kickstart” didn’t reach me until later that day. I remember being relieved and pissed at the same time. I thought “Dancing on Glass” meant not doing drugs anymore, and was upset that Nikki would put his life on the line like that. But, I was happy to find out he was okay, and hoped the close call would make him stop.

I remember following The Crue in metal magazines and on MTV, buying their albums, and going to their shows. Even when I went to college and grunge took over the 80s metal scene, I defended my metal bands and still listened to them along with my newly purchased Ten by Pearl Jam.

I remember seeing Motley Crue play live back in 2006, when they opened for Aerosmith at Great Woods (it will always be called this to me) in Mansfield, MA. Crue AND Aerosmith? I would like to tell you that it was the best concert I’ve ever been to, but Vince’s voice flat-out sucked that night. He apologized, and I don’t think Steven Tyler thanked Motley for opening. Hey, one bad show out of a bunch isn’t bad.

I remember being excited to hear and read Nikki’s Heroin Diaries CD and book. Not surprisingly, both rocked and I was glad to see that after he cleaned up his act, Nikki hadn’t lost his edge.

I remember reading online about Nikki’s book signing in Boston. I knew I wanted to be there, no matter how long I had to wait. My older sister and I got to the bookstore a little before 4:00, and waited until almost 8:00 for our moment at the head of the line.

I had already written Nikki a note in front of my latest book, Episode IV Play, thanking him for his music and words that I had enjoyed over the years. I wasn’t really sure what I was going to say as I approached the table, but I remember telling him I had something to give him, thanking him, and asking if he’d sign my first concert ticket. Meeting Nikki was over in a matter of seconds, but it was well worth the wait.

I included my contact info in my book, but I’ve yet to hear back from Nikki (not that I expected it, but hey, I’m a dreamer). Maybe he didn’t even read the book; maybe he was upset I didn’t thank him on the back cover, maybe he forgot about the book, I’ll never know. I just hope at the very least he enjoys fans giving back something…

Oh yeah, Go B’s!

Tickets to Motley Crue and Foo Fighters at The Centrum in Worcester, MA (1987, 2008)

I have been going to concerts for almost 24 years. Thanks to my grandmother telling my mother she couldn’t see The Beatles because their “hair was too long”, my mother let me go to any concert I wanted to growing up. It all started back in the summer of 1987 when my older brother Jon took me to see “The Crue” at The Centrum, a story you can read at my Motley Crue T-shirt blog from last year.

The world has been through many changes since that August night, but a few things have remained the same…

I’m still going to see rock concerts in “Woostah”.

In between Motley Crue and Foo Fighters, I’ve also seen Stryper, Poison, Slaughter, Winger, Kiss, Extreme, Motley Crue (again), Deftones, White Zombie, Pantera, Bruce Springsteen, Korn, Van Halen, and Flogging Molly in Worcester (I’m sure there are others, but this is what I just came up with).

As you can see from the seating chart, I’m usually not seeing this bands from the front row.

But, a couple of things have also changed…

The first thing I notice us the “price” and “total” being the same for the Motley Crue ticket, only $17.50. The $8.25 convenience charge of my 2008 ticket is almost half of the 1987 price. Interestingly, when I used this Inflation Calculator, it says what cost $17.50 in 1987 would cost $32.75 in 2008 (This other one came up with $33.17).

Also, we wouldn’t have dared bring a camera into that Motley Crue show. Now, with just about every cell phone having a camera/video function, there’s not much security can do about taking pictures during a show (see my friend Glen and I at Foo Fighters along with a couple pics of the band).

As long as some band I like is still playing music and I can afford a ticket, I will keep going to concerts. More rock show ticket scans to come…