Music

Review: For Mötley Crüe fans, a chance to revisit glam metal's glory days

In the summer of 1983 I rode to Rockaway Beach in Queens, New York, in my friend's muscle car. We blasted Mötley Crüe's "Too Fast For Love" and were feeling like we owned the road. I was 14. That autumn saw the release of Mötley Crüe's most renowned album, "Shout at the Devil," and the occasion of my very first rock concert.

It's been 30 years since that show so the details are blurry. I recall Ratt opening for the Crüe. I rocked my bright turquoise spandex pants (the ones that got me sent home from school on at least one occasion), a black sleeveless T-shirt and Chinese slippers. It was the beginning of my ever-growing hairdo, which included drugstore highlights and lots of Aquanet. Friends would later compare my hair to that of Tina Turner or David Bowie in "Labyrinth." My young self thought Mötley Crüe was the coolest band ever, next to AC/DC and Black Sabbath.

Mötley Crüe's glam metal was a distillation of Kiss and Aerosmith with a touch of the film "Escape From New York," trying to be tough and titillating at the same time. Over 30 years later, Mötley Crüe is playing its self-proclaimed farewell tour and has gifted Anchorage fans with two nights at the Alaska Airlines Center.

Young and older fans

It's Thursday night, and aging heshers, thrashers, punk rockers, professionals and middle-aged parents with their kids line up in front of the venue, awaiting the return of the glory days of glam metal. There's excitement in the air. The fans are ready to rock their faces off. With ticket prices between $75 and $187, it's surprising to see so many teens among the mostly middle-aged rockers.

Chris Bergey 17, lead singer for the local band Henchmen, tells me he is a "diehard fan" and that Mötley Crüe was one of his "biggest inspirations" when he started playing music at 10 years old. "Seeing them brings a tear to my eyes," says Bergey. Erica Miller, 17, says she loves Mötley Crüe "a ridiculous amount." Her cousin gave her the Nikki Sixx autobiography and she hasn't been able to get enough of the band since.

When Mötley Crüe takes the stage the bright lights flash and things get loud. The crowd throws up devil-horn hands and yells. The media have been relegated to shooting photos from the back of the room and for only the first song, rather than the typical three songs from a press pit in front of the stage. I suspect that has to do with well-worn stars not wanting the camera to reveal how sex, drugs and rock-'n'-roll leave you looking after your party years are over. Only Nikki Sixx is well hidden under his costume.

And it does feel like they are in costumes; the whole cartoonish affair feels as if we are part of the video game Rockband. While most of us have moved on from the 1980s, Mötley Crüe? hasn't. I suppose it would be disappointing if they weren't donning dated ripped jeans and black top hats, but it looks so out of place in 2015. In the audience, you can see a tight minidress here and a big-haired gal there, but the most outrageously dressed fans were just masquerading as their favorite glam metal characters.

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Singer Vince Neil is followed by backup singers who look and move like strippers. I had forgotten this part of the glam metal scene: the machismo, the sexist stance that women exist to please the male gaze. But then I see a middle-aged woman in front of me banging her head frantically and loving life. So I embrace the moment and shake my hips to get into the groove, as I do at any rock show that has something worth vibing to. And it feels real good.

While my tastes have evolved since 1983, I have to say that hearing "Looks That Kill" and "Too Fast For Love" live again brings me back my townie days in Queens. Drinking beers in the woods with friends, and to hell with the rest of the world.

The author photographed during glam metal's heyday in the 1980s.

Tara Young

Tara Young was a video journalist for ADN.

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