71. Home Sweet Home by Motley Crue

"Home Sweet Home" by Motley Crue

Music by Nikki Sixx and Tommy Lee
Lyrics by Nikki Sixx
Released on Theatre of  Pain (June 21, 1985)
Released as single on September 30, 1985
Peaked at #89 on Billboard Hot 100
Re-released as single in 1991
Peaked at #37 on Billboard Hot 100
amazon spotify music video 1991 music video

I have always loved music, but I first really fell in love with music in the late 1980's, when hair metal ruled MTV. My first musical loves were Bon Jovi, Poison, and Def Leppard. My brother was older, and he tended towards the heavier stuff. I looked up to him and tried to like what he was listening to, but none of it was as intoxicatingly infectious as that pop metal that I loved. I still remember buying a cassette tape entitled Heavy Metal Rules. While heavy metal made some appearances on that compilation, heavy metal was not an entirely accurate description. I figured I could impress my brother if I bought it because it had songs from Megadeath and Anthrax. It didn't impress him much because he knew that I mostly listened to the songs from Tesla and Poison. I knew they weren't really heavy metal, but I also knew what I liked.

As I grew older, I started to enjoy the heavier stuff more, but my attention was mostly pulled towards classic rock. Also, as time moved forward, and the grunge/alternative era took hold, those hair bands I had loved when I was younger either broke up or changed lineups, and they all pretty much stopped making compelling or interesting music. Hair metal was no longer cool (if it ever was).

Once I was in high school, my dad bought me a CD player. All of a sudden, those hair metal albums I had purchased as cassettes tapes weren't really worth listening to anymore. I think they all ended up in the trash. I eventually replaced some of them with CDs, but it was many years later. Through it all, only a handful of songs from that era continued to feel relevant to me.

While there are quite a few songs from that era that still find their way onto my playlists, this one song from Motley Crue is the only one that I felt had earned a place on this list. I considered a couple Bon Jovi tunes, a couple Def Leppard tunes, and one other Motley Crue song ("Kickstart My Heart"), but they didn't quite hold up against the competition. ("Signs" by Tesla, which took the previous spot, I don't really consider a hair metal song, and Tesla were barely a hair metal band anyway.)

What I'm getting at here is that so many of those songs that helped me first fall in love with music just didn't last. So congrats to Motley Crue for keeping my attention 30 years later. Good job!

Like most of Motley Crue's good songs, this was written primarily by bass player Nikki Sixx (in this case, with a helping hand from drummer Tommy Lee's skills on the piano). I first remember hearing this song when they re-released and remixed it in 1991 with a new music video for their best of album. Sometime after I became familiar with the song, I caught the original video on MTV. I remember the VJ introducing it by mentioning that back in 1985 it had been the most requested song on their old Dial MTV show. It makes sense because in addition to it being a fantastic song, the original video is one of those classic hair metal era videos that is a collection of scenes from their tour and live shows. Those videos were always the best and most memorable from that time. (Other great ones include: "Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi, "Pour Some Sugar On Me" by Def Leppard, "I Won't Forget You" by Poison.)

Using footage from a tour is a magical formula for music videos that is still used today. It works because it gives the viewer a taste of life on the road and life in the spotlight. Some of my fondest memories from high school and college are from those times surrounding performances, concerts, and tours. Working so closely for an extended period of time with a group of people like that always seems to lead to great fun. It's not always smooth sailing, but I mostly remember the good parts, much like the good parts that are documented for these videos. I never partook in the extreme decadence that many of these touring rock musicians were famous for, but the videos generally steered around that stuff anyway. Getting just that brief glimpse of what it must be like to be in a hugely famous band has become strangely nostalgic and inspiring for me. And that's part of the reason why...

Right now, "Home Sweet Home" by Motley Crue is (probably) my 71st favorite song of all time.