Motley Crue Theatre Of Pain CD

This is an Enhanced CD, which contains both regular audio tracks and multimedia computer files. Enhancements include the "Home Sweet Home" video.
Motley Crue: Vince Neil (vocals, harmonica); Mick Mars (acoustic, electric & slide guitars, background vocals); Tommy Lee (piano, drums, percussion, background vocals); Nikki Sixx (synthesizer, 4 & 8-string bass, background vocals).
Includes interviews conducted by Alan K. Stout.
Digitally remastered by Chris Solem (1999, Future Disc).
Personnel: Vince Neil (vocals, harmonica, background vocals); Mick Mars (acoustic guitar, electric guitar, slide guitar, background vocals); Tommy Lee (piano, drums, percussion, background vocals); Nikki Sixx (synthesizer, bass guitar, background vocals).
Audio Mixer: Duane Baron.
Backing away from the mild pseudo-Satanic posturing on parts of Shout at the Devil in favor of a more glammed-up image, Mötley Crüe really began to hit their commercial stride with Theatre of Pain, which broke them on MTV with the power ballad "Home Sweet Home" and a remake of Brownsville Station's "Smokin' in the Boys' Room"; the latter also landed them on the Top 40 singles chart for the first time. Overall, the guitar riffing sounds less heavy metal and more pop-metal; similarly, the sound of the record is slicker and more arranged, polished for mainstream acceptance and airplay. A higher percentage of dull filler has crept into the songwriting, but there are still enough high points to rescue the album's momentum. [In 1999, the Crüe remastered and reissued Theatre of Pain on their own Motley/Beyond label with five bonus tracks: demos of "Home Sweet Home," "Keep Your Eye on the Money," and "City Boy Blues," plus rough mixes of "Smokin' in the Boys' Room" and "Home Sweet Home" (the latter an instrumental).] ~ Steve Huey
After a lengthy tour in support of the breakthrough SHOUT AT THE DEVIL, Motley Crue almost called it quits. In December of 1984, singer Vince Neil was involved in a D.W.I. car crash that killed his friend Razzle (drummer for the promising Hanoi Rocks) and injured two passengers. The other Crue members drowned their sorrows in drink and drugs but somehow managed to write and record 1985's highly anticipated third album, THEATRE OF PAIN. Whereas SHOUT was a heavy metal album, THEATRE returned to the glam stylings of the debut TOO FAST FOR LOVE but was musically more experimental.
THEATRE may not have been as strong as SHOUT, but the album proved another platinum-plus smash, spawning two immensely popular MTV videos-a rollicking cover of The Brownsville Station's "Smoking in the Boys Room" and the tender, piano-based ballad "Home Sweet Home." THEATRE solidified Motley Crue's standing as one of the world's top metal bands. While the album contains more filler than usual, tracks such as "City Boy Blues," "Louder Than Hell," and "Raise Your Hands to Rock" are up to par with earlier Crue anthems.