Track #17: “Knock ‘Em Dead, Kid” by Mötley Crüe (1983)

Welcome to Track Chatter, where with each post we choose a different song to discuss in depth. This entry is part of an ongoing series in which we approach the 1980s through examinations of Heavy Metal and Indie music.

Lew: As we turn our attention back to the heavy metal music of ‘80s, we’re taking a look at one of the more hotly debated eras of metal – the so-called “hair metal” of the 1980s LA scene. In his book, Fargo Rock City, Chuck Klosterman states that he’s not a fan of the term “hair metal,” and prefers the term “glam metal.” I have to admit that I agree. LA bands had big hair for certain, but the look that was commonplace for bands of the scene had plenty of precedent in the glam rock of the ‘70s. Marc Bolan was looking like a Sunset Strip ex-pat well before Bret Michaels ever thought about putting on eyeliner. The relationship of LA metal to ‘70s glam rock and power pop can’t be easily overstated. Also, the term hair metal is applied in such an overwhelmingly pejorative way that it’s not conducive to balanced discussion. When you’ve essentially sided with its harshest critics in your choice of terminology, it’s hard to give the genre a fair shake, which I hope we’ll do here, for better or worse.

Twisted Sister at their glammiest

With that said, I should say that I don’t intend to provide an apotheosis for glam metal, and I’m not sure that it’s possible to do so (if Appetite for Destruction didn’t manage it, I don’t think that I can!) However, in the early 1980s, when I first became aware of glam metal, there was no need for an apotheosis, because I was pretty sure it was the greatest thing the human race had produced. As I noted earlier, my first exposure to metal in the ‘80s was “We’re Not Gonna Take It” by Twisted Sister, which became my favorite song almost instantly – so much so, that the music that I’d heard up to that point seemed bland by comparison. It was a pretty great three-and-a-half minutes! (I didn’t realize it at the time, but Twisted Sister, for all their drag queen affectations, were more of a ‘70s band than an ‘80s glam metal band. If anything they were “glam metal” in the truest sense of the word; much more indebted to T.Rex, Mott the Hoople and so on than any of their peers, excepting Quiet Riot.)

My exposure to “glam metal proper” came the following year, when I acquired a copy of Mötley Crüe’s Theater of Pain. The difference between Twisted Sister and Mötley Crüe was immediately apparent, and almost as quickly as the bands they had replaced earlier, Twisted Sister seemed square, and a little goofy. Mötley Crüe sang about sex and street crime, had better production quality on their albums, and looked cooler on the album cover. Beyond that, Mötley Crüe created an awareness of Sunset Strip, not just as a location, but as an idea – a sort of beautiful decadence that transcended societal rules; a place that was simultaneously more fantastic and more real than anything I’d ever experienced.

For this entry, we’re going to be listening to a track from Mötley Crüe’s second album, Shout at the Devil. As blown away as I’d been by Theater of Pain, I loved “Shout at the Devil” that much more. It was meaner, and more streamlined (not that I’d have used those words at the time). Even thrash metal fans dug it, if you could get them to admit it. The track we’ll be talking about is “Knock ‘Em Dead, Kid,” which is definitely a high point on the album.






Aaron, I realize that I’ve just started this discussion with what is, for intents and purposes, a significant digression, but I thought maybe you could talk a little about your time spent as an ‘80s metal fan, since I can only assume that Mötley Crüe must have figured into it somewhere.