Shout at the Devil [VINYL] [Import]

I just turned 14 when this album was released, and at the time I would go to the drug or grocery store and buy every new "Circus" magazine, or whatever mag was covering the new wave of metal at the time. I read my first article on the hot new band from L.A., Motley Crue, and what they stood for was rebelling, drinking, partying, and having as much sex with great looking women as possible. And the bassist was into black magic and satan, he looked like a huge demon, like the demented, punk bastard child of Gene Simmons. It was early in 1983 and when I saw all the black and red in their band photos, blood, skulls and post apocolyptic imagery, I knew they had to be my kind of band.

"Shout At The Devil" is a consistent, raw, heavy but catchy album that's as dark as it was empowering and inspirational for what would become pop metal in the late 80's. I still have the original vinyl release with the Pentagram on the front, before it was banned and replaced.

Sure in 1983 looking like Alice Cooper or Kiss was still ok, but ended soon after, and I wish they would've kept their dark, gritty edge, but they were always a bunch of egotistic rock star jerks, and that was never bound to happen for fans who were with them "In The Beginning." (pun intended)

My favorite Crue song will probably always be "Knock 'em Dead Kid," and the rest of the album is quality from start to finish - something non-existent on any other Crue album, except for the radio hits of Dr. Feelgood.

With two solid MTV hit singles, "Too Young Too Fall In Love," and "Looks That Kill," Shout has always been an underrated album. Only it and "Dr. Feelgood" are complete albums, and I am not a big fan of the latter and never was. "Too Fast For Love" is closer to Shout in terms of it's raw recording quality and it's production and sound, but also a complete album, without the cheese and filler of "Girls" and "Theatre Of Pain."

Finally one of my best concert memories is seeing them open for Ozzy on the "Bark At The Moon" tour mentioned in the book "The Dirt." I met Ozzy at a record signing and backstage, got his autograph, and watched the Crue put on one of the best opening act shows I'd ever seen. It didn't matter if they were a bit sloppy, they had fire shooting everywhere, a post apocolyptic stage show and theme, they were chugging bottles of Jack Daniels onstage, and had a solid group of songs to play that were heavy and full of energy and attitude. They inspired total chaos and nothing was really off-limits for them, they weren't sensitive hair metal geeks, they were guys who were crazy enough to break a bottle on your head or kick you in the teeth if you got in their way or pissed them off. It was all about annoying the hell out of authority and parents and the government, and as a rebellious early 80's teen, I was all about that.

It's sad to see so few reviews here of this album.

If you are going to buy one Crue album, this is definitely my choice. If you can get past the makeup, outfits and the goofy satanic theatrics, you should really enjoy this if you are a hard rock fan. Not the most thought provoking piece of work, but it is not supposed to be. It is just pure adrenline. Some of my favorites that never seem to make it on any of the greatest hits collections include Red Hot, Too Young to Fall in Love and a killer version of Helter Skelter.

A must-have for any fan of 80's metal.

This CD is the last of the non-commercialized Motley Crue CD's. While Theater Of Pain was a decent CD, it wasn't truly a Motley Crue CD. If you like good old-fashion heavy metal that still sounds great today, buy this CD.