Late Night With Mötley Crüe
Saturday, January 24, 2015 at 12:01AM Today's post comes from our friend HIM.
Regular readers of Bring Back Glam know that I am a fan of the Crüe. Not a fanboy, mind you. But a fan nonetheless. I treat them like I treat quite a few of the idols of my youth. When Metallica started selling their souls to Bob Rock, I complained. When Blackie Lawless showed himself to be not only disingenuous, but also dismissive of his fans, I turned my back on him and W.A.S.P. The classic case is Ozzy, a singer and force of nature that I idolized as a youngster. But the laundry list of cheap gimmicks, coupled with his shoddy treatment of former band members, and divided again diminished output and creative lethargy, did it for me. It isn’t that I have a jaundiced eye; I have a realistic one. I still listen to all of those bands. I still treat the music they made with a great deal of respect. I just don’t go out of my way to support them, or purchase their new music, or see them unless they are on some package tour that breezes past my house. The same goes for the Crüe. They haven’t really mattered to me for a long time, save as memories—profound and lewd, inspirational and embarrassing—that are fused to the music they made up to the release of their eponymous 1994 album with John Corabi. And I kept at least an ear to the ground regarding the developments thereafter. I saw them on their New Tattoo tour with Maloney on the kit. I hummed along to a couple of the tracks on Saints of Los Angeles. As many regulars can guess, I didn’t sniff in distaste if a post or article appeared online. I read it as one would read a note from an old friend with whom they had lost touch. Casual interest mixed with a certain amount of hope—usually dashed—that things were going as well as they were when we used to be close. If I wanted a dose of the Crüe I knew, I simply put on the music of my memories.
So January 22 was an interesting test case for me: the Crüe on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. It was a chance to see them in a controlled environment, in somewhat real time, right in front of my couch. Sure, it is part of a promotional tour to keep the farewell going. But it is metal on late night television. I wasn’t going to pass it up.
You know what? Apply my comments regarding DLR to the Crüe on this night. They picked the right song (“Girls, Girls, Girls”). They kept the sing-alongs and higher notes in the hands of the band and the two back-up singers. They stripped it down to its essentials. They nailed it. Vince showed the same sort of stamina that Roth did in recent performances. Lee looked healthy and aggressive on the skins, and toyed around behind Fallon’s back as the credits rolled. Sixx didn’t showboat and actually blended in with the band. Mars? Watching him play is one thing . . . but watching him joyously react as The Roots played during the closing was a rare, and special, treat. My feelings about the Crüe’s more recent output, and this final tour, are well known. This performance did nothing to change my feelings. They aren’t going out on top, they are going. Some people are confusing the interest in this tour with actual interest in the band more generally. But that is a con, a trick of light. Others are also going to love each and every song they release, regardless of quality. Others still will go to the trenches claiming that all is well with Neil’s pipes. Don’t confuse smoke with fire, or a stage spectacle with musical chops. Tonight, though, they made a case for why they once mattered. They did their legacy proud. Their younger selves, if treated to this performance (and only this performance), would likely smile and sneer in equal measure. Their loyal fans are likely ecstatic. Fans like myself? I always like it when a band proves me wrong, if even for one night. The Crüe did that.
