By 1987, it was obvious the tank was on “E” for Motley Crue. After a solid effort with their sophomore release Shout At The Devil, their worlds—musical and personal—began nose-diving, culminating in the lackluster Theatre Of Pain disc. One would have thought that Vince Neil and crew would have learned their lessons, tightened up their respective acts, and gone out of their way to make a solid follow-up disc.
Girls, Girls, Girls, their fourth studio effort, was not that solid album. It was a mess, mess, mess—with minor moments of brilliance shining through half-assed tracks that normally might not have made it past the cutting room floor (even for the now-inevitable “capture every note” super deluxe box set).
Granted, the disc starts off extremely well with “Wild Side,” a track that clearly shows what the band was capable of in those all-too-brief moments when they had their shit together. Pity there weren’t more moments like this; things switch gears when the title track kicks in, the ultimate declaration of cock-rock excess one could imagine. A literal love letter to various strip clubs in North America, it is the epitome of every teenager’s wet dream put to music.
Unfortunately for the band, they essentially shoot their load by the end of the second track. Yes, there are moments of brilliance in the interlude “Nona,” where they try to show their softer side; I’d have preferred having this song expanded into a full-length effort to see what they could have done with it. “You’re All I Need” has promise, but the overall execution leaves much to be desired.
The anti-drug message in “Dancing On Glass” and “Five Years Dead” could have been delivered more powerfully had there been better songwriting behind the words (and had the band actually listened to their own warnings at this stage in their career). Tracks Like “All In The Name Of...” and “Bad Boy Boogie” are essentially throw-away numbers. And, did we really need a live cover of “Jailhouse Rock” to close the disc? Couldn’t they come up with another half-assed track?
Apparently, the answer to that last question is “no,” based upon what bassist Nikki Sixx wrote in The Dirt:
“Like Theatre Of Pain, Girls, Girls, Girls could have been a phenomenal record but we were too caught up in our own personal bullshit to put any effort into it.”
There are those for whom Girls, Girls, Girls marked a milestone for Motley Crue—hell, it did make it to number two on the Billboard album chart. But the sad truth is that this is an album that could have been so, so much more, and now is just left as an example of what living the hedonistic lifestyle so many other bands followed (and which destroyed more than a few) could do to the music. There’s just not enough on this one to even recommend it to the diehard fans.