Theatre of Pain is the third studio album by American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, released on June 21, 1985. Released in the aftermath of lead vocalist Vince Neil's arrest for manslaughter on a drunk driving charge, the album marked the beginning of the band's transition away from the traditional heavy metal sound of Too Fast for Love and Shout at the Devil, towards a more glam metal style. and No. 36 in the UK, and was certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA on June 5, 1995.
Background
The band had enjoyed a tumultuous two years in the wake of Shout at the Devils unexpected success. The band's fondness for partying and sex earned them a reputation as a legitimately dangerous band, culminating in a December 8, 1984, car crash which killed Hanoi Rocks' drummer Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley and saw Mötley Crüe's lead vocalist Vince Neil facing possible prison time for vehicular manslaughter. On top of Neil's troubles, the band's founder and primary songwriter, Nikki Sixx, had developed a heroin addiction which was beginning to spiral out of control. Further adding to the turmoil, the band had been seriously considering replacing guitarist Mick Mars. It was with these uncertainties hanging over the band that Theatre of Pains recording commenced in January, 1985. During recording, the album's working title was Entertainment or Death, though Sixx changed it prior to release. The title "Theatre of Pain" comes from a line in the band's then-unreleased song "Black Widow" and was announced in December 1982 as the title for the band's previous album, which ended up being called "Shout at the Devil".
Production
Mötley Crüe started recording their third album, Theatre of Pain, in early 1983, with Tom Werman again hired to produce. The album was dedicated to the memory of Nicholas "Razzle" Dingley.
Though Sixx, the band's primary songwriter, was battling a heroin habit during the album's recording, he has since blamed producer Werman for the album's shortcomings, saying in his 2007 memoir The Heroin Diaries that Werman "didn’t really know how to control us, or to do what it is we needed to make the follow-up to Shout at the Devil."
While not the first power ballad for the band, in the form of "Home Sweet Home" was still a monumental moment for the band as it was backed by a road-diary-style music video directed by Wayne Isham (who would go on to do "Wanted Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi). Some observers were unhappy with the band's decision to record a ballad and release it as a single. Said Sixx at the time, "First we were mass murderers for doing 'Helter Skelter', then we were Satan-worshippers and now we've wimped out." The song came together in the studio when Neil began humming along to a piano lick randomly played in the studio by drummer Tommy Lee. Sixx wrote the lyrics and the band had a hit single, charting at number 89 on the Billboard Hot 100, with a remixed version peaking at number 37 on the same chart seven years later in 1992. The video for the song was made when Sixx was deeply addicted to heroin. The bassist was so strung out during the shooting of the music video for "Home Sweet Home" that he wandered underneath a stage and began discussing "family, music and death" with an imaginary person. Country music star Carrie Underwood scored a hit in 2009 with her cover of the song.
| rev2 =Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal
| rev2Score = 4/10
| rev3 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide
| rev3Score =
| rev4 = Sputnikmusic
| rev4Score = 1.0/5
The album did not fare well critically. In their August 1985 review, People praised guitarist Mick Mars' work but found little else to applaud. The magazine called the album "thudding trash", with Neil's vocals and Sixx's songwriting taking the brunt of the criticism. The magazine felt that, while Theatre of Pain does contain some of the band's most accomplished work, the album ultimately "needs cosmetic surgery". Terry Atkinson of the Los Angeles Times declared that Sixx's lyrics "include some well-phrased lines", but ultimately declared that the album "plods along nondescriptly" with "punchless riffs", stating that the album "sounds as if it was produced by a machine in a youth-market research firm." Tim Holmes of Rolling Stone found Theatre of Pain to be the group's "most technically proficient album" while dismissing the heavy metal genre entirely, not understanding its growing popularity.
Robert Horning of PopMatters reviewed the albums Theatre of Pain and Girls, Girls, Girls in 2003, finding that "Both albums show a general lack of inspiration, both in the writing and the playing. The band's indifference is evident in the lyrics, which are nothing but a string of clichés stitched together with little concern for coherence"
The album has been credited, perhaps more so than any other release of its time and place, with transforming heavy metal from an album-oriented format to a singles-oriented format. The album was instrumental in inaugurating the pop-metal era which to many has become synonymous with the 1980s, with bands such as Poison, Cinderella and others following the Theatre of Pain example as the decade continued. Vocalist Neil has referred to Theatre of Pain as his least favorite Mötley Crüe album, while Rocks Back Pages chided their "effeminate clothes". Guitarist Mars addressed the image change in a 1985 interview with The Georgia Straight: "We've always been a bit different looking band than anybody else. And everybody, now, is wearing lots of leather and studs and blowing out their hair and stuff. So it’s time for us to change, ’cause we don’t want to be stuck into that mainstream. It's just to be something different." The guitarist did admit years later that he had been uncomfortable with the band's move to glam metal during the Theatre of Pain era, saying "I went along with the makeup, but I never liked it. I looked like a really ugly old woman." Said Sixx of the move towards glam: "Hey, man, I like to look good, I wear make-up. Shit, President George Washington used to wear a wig and make-up. I mean, c'mon. If he can do it, I can do it."
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Certifications
Uncensored video
Uncensored is the debut video release by Mötley Crüe in 1986 following the Theatre of Pain album/tour.
The video features behind the scenes footage and music videos from the band's first three albums. Portions of the video are featured in the end credits of the band's 2019 biopic The Dirt.
Videos include:
- "Take Me to the Top"
- "Public Enemy #1"
- "Live Wire"
- "Looks That Kill"
- "Too Young to Fall in Love"
- "Smokin' in the Boys Room"
- "Home Sweet Home"