This is a terrific, highly underrated album. It is also highly controversial among Crue fans. The fans seem to be split on this one--either you love it or hate it. It's understandable why this album flopped. The album doesn't sound like a classic Crue album. It has a 90s grunge feel to it. It actually sounds a bit like Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots. However, if you listen to "Primal Scream" from "Decade of Decadence," you will see how this album was the next logical step. Also, singer John Corabi was the polar opposite of Vince Neil. A Steven Tyler/Blues voice was in sharp contrast to the Sunset Strip sunny style of Vince Neil. This album just kind of alienated everyone. Motley Crue fans did not want a grunge sounding album that differed radically from Dr. Feelgood. And a new generation of Teenagers didn't want to buy a Motely Crue album when they had music of their own generation. In short, people just didn't give it a chance. However, this album has stood the test of time as one of those "lost gems," like Montrose's debut or KISS's "Music From the Elder."

As previously stated, this album has a 90's grunge sound. If you put "Shout at the Devil," Soundgarden's "Superunknown" and Stone Temple Pilots "Core" in a blender, this album would be the result. As far as I'm concerned, the band never sounded better. Singer John Corabi was also a guitar player, so the music sounded extra thick. There is orchestration on "Misunderstood" so the band really tried to branch out artistically. Whereas most Crue albums are really Nikki Sixx's baby, everyone in the band really gave 100 percent. Tommy Lee never sounded better and his drumming here is a 10. Mick Mars never sounded more focused and his playing was never better. Producer Bob Rock did a terrific job focusing the band and gave the album a very heavy, crisp, melodic production. The tone and synthesis of the bass, drums, and guitar are perfect. All of the songs have killer riffs, hooks and solos. The content of the album is also far more substantive than most Crue albums. Nikki Sixx really made an album that rocked but also had intelligence, and all without being pretentious. "Misunderstood" deals with going through life and feeling empty, "Uncle Jack" deals with child abuse, and the beautiful closing song "Driftway" seems to acknowledge the disappointments of life but also accept them.

All in all, a great underrated album.

When vocalist Vince Neil left the fold in the early 90's and John Corabi stepped in to fill the shoes, many people failed to give this outstanding effort a chance...myself included. I must confess, although I am a Motley Crue fan (dating back to the first 2 albums), I am not a devoted one. I like the Crue and I do follow their work here and there. When this album was released, the first single Hooligan's Holiday caught my attention and I can remember thinking to myself, "Damn, this dude has one HELL of a voice!...the next single, Misunderstood", did the same, although, didn't get the airplay that Hooligan received...and that my friends was the end of that era for the Crue. They toured, they rocked and gave it one hell of a shake, but failed to capture the minds of those that couldn't get Vince out of their minds... and I brushed it off as well.
Fast foward....the year 2000. I was browsing in a record bin in a record store that was going out of business and found this CD brand new for 5 bucks (all selections were that price...I went home smiling from ear to ear, although my bank account was a little miffed...) I decided that for 5 bucks this effort would be worth it. Prior to my purchasing the self titled release from the Crue, my buddy bought it and told me that it was probably their loudest, strongest and best effort to date. Well, I got into my car, opened it up and right on the inside cover the word, Listen..." is printed in big yellow letters...that gave me a vibe that I might just be in for a treat. From the opening riff to Power To The Music, Mars' guitar is gritty, deep and heavy then.....BAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Tommy and Nikki come in with THE heaviest of rhythms I have EVER heard! My mouth fell open as I HAD to adjust the bass on my car stereo cause my car was vibrating! I kid you not! It was vibrating!!! I wouldn't even let the song finish! I kept playing it over and over! Now this album is no Shout, Girls, or Feelgood...THANK GOD! Those albums are good, but this IS Crue's finest moment. The other thing about this album, it contains a few acoustic numbers which are FAR from being whinpy ballads. The acoustic ones are heavy and very effective in texturizing the album to create a GOOD SOLID album. I may have paid 5 bucks for my copy, but the remaster is on my list for purchase. Don't let the absence of Vince fool you, Corabi's work on the album far exceeds the rest on the Crue's catelog. Five years after I first bought it, I am still listening to it at least 3 times a month, but for the first year, it remained in my changer and rotated through constantly! Also, this features Tommy Lee's BEST drum work. This remains my favorite Crue album...with Genenration Swine a close second.....

For the first time in the bands career, Nikki Sixx actually had a real songwriting partner in John Corabi. What came out of that was an album that may very well pass "Shout" as Motley Crue's greatest album EVER! Go into your collection and listen to Dr. Feelgood again~ then listen to the Crabby Crue album and you'll see what I mean. Corabi gave the Crue balls again!
On top of John Corabi's excellent songwriting and singing, he also played guitar which left Mick Mars open to do some of his best lead guitar work since Shout.
Also, one thing that MUST BE NOTED...Tommy Lee is phenominal on this album! I doesn't matter if I spelled Phenominal right or not...TOMMY LEE IS PHENOMINAL ON THIS ALBUM! If your a Drummer you HAVE to go out and get this album...no question.
The only thing bad about this album is that Motley fans didn't give it a chance. Almost everyone I've talked to said they listened to most of it ONCE and put it away cause it wasn't Crue. If it wasn't Crue then I'll make the statment right now...It was BETTER than Crue. But in essence IT WAS CRUE!
I like Vince, always have, but it's a shame that Motley fans choose to stay loyal to a guy who'll get drunk on stage and try to fight his fans on any givin night for not knowing the lyrics to his crappy solo material, rather than give a GREAT artist like John Corabi a chance in the spotlight.
Straight to the point...John Corabi brought out the best in Motley Crue period*
Corabi RULES!

By far the best Motley album ever! Yes, even better than Shout! Why couldn't the rest of Motley's albums sound even close to this one? Did Vince have that much influence on the music? All I can say is Motley was a totally differen't band when Vince was gone. Motley finally got away from the glam and in my opinion went back in time to pick up where "Shout at the Devil" left off. Unfortunatley, the fans didn't respond to well to Vince's departure, and with grunge at it's peak this album didn't even have a chance. I like to think of this album as a hidden gem. One of the very few albums you can buy and get your money's worth. In my opinion there is not one bad song on this album. John Carabi took the music to another level and left you begging for more. It's too bad we only got one album from him with the Crue? He brought something back to the band that had been missing since the "Shout at the Devil" days. Not to take anything away from Vince, but for this one album the Crue was at their best. I highly recommend this album for the serious hard rockers who appreciate that "kicked in the teeth" type music. This is not for the glam/rock fans that may have liked Poison, Bon Jovi, etc. This a harder more raw Crue that is not watered down. Of course this in my opinion only. Try it for yourself and you will see what I'm talking about. Definatley a must have!!

When this album came out in 94, I was eagerly anticipating its arrival. I had never heard corabi, but read so many magazines about the recording process, and how Motley was coming along with their new singer, John Corabi. When it came out, I was totally floored. It rocked harder than any previous album, had bigger balls, and was just straight forward rock! From the opening song, "Power to the Music", to the last chords of "Driftaway", this album hits on many fronts. I have to say that the best tracks come around track 3. I have to also say that at the time, Pantera was the premier metal giant in 94, and had just released their most succesful effort "Far Beyond Driven". Unfortunately its press along with the grunge invasion, sent all the potential success of this album away. Could you imagine what a different story it would have been had Pantera and Motley toured behind this release? Motley could have had a potential hit the size of their Previous effort Dr. Feelgood. It was a tragedy that Vince came back in my opinion. They had recorded more than 50 tracks with John that never were released. I love how nikki says that all of those songs became the generation swine songs. No they didn't. Even John Corabi admits there are vaults of unreleased motley tracks. I remember Nikki even giving names to them, like "the christmas song" "la dolce vita", and "the year i lived in a day". When Audio Galaxy and Napster were huge i looked high and low for these tracks, however never saw them. I did hear of a bootleg video that was all over ebay for a while of a performance in Illinois in which they preformed 2 "new" songs never heard before, but never did hear them. Oh well. I guess this is the best we will have from motley.