Mötley Cruë was the demon spawn of Aerosmith and The New York Dolls

And their spiritual grandmother is Ronnie Spector

Oct 04, 2025

The first episode back is on Mötley Crüe with my guest, Interview editor-in-chief Mel Ottenberg. It was really interesting (and at many times, harrowing) to delve into the Mötley’s history and arc, mostly because I knew next to nothing about them going in, which is rare for me in making this podcast. And as (almost) always, I came out the other side which a deeper and more nuanced appreciation for a band I had previously pretty much written off.

The Dirt is probably the most insane rock book in existence; gun to my eyeballs I would not admit half the shit they freely talk about doing. The film adaptation from a few years ago is an abomination, but I’m not going to get into that here (the casting!!!). Crucially, the music still isn’t really for me, with the exception of the first album Too Fast For Love, which I love and think of as like the New York Dolls album that could have been in a way? A few men on the internet got every upset at me for saying Too Fast is actually better than both Dolls albums because they’ve never heard of opinions I guess. I do really think that in some ways Mötley Crüe is like if the New York Dolls had actually succeeded: the Dolls also wanted to be chart topping and popular and rich, they also weren’t exactly averse to the appeal of capitalism or engagement in sus gender relations; despite both bands presenting with hyper-feminine dress and make-up the members were overtly hetero and macho in almost every way. It’s interesting to think about the bizarro world where the New York Dolls had become mainstream in the mid 70s and how different music in the 80s and 90s might have looked in the wake of that. But that’s not what happened.

Anyway what’s particularly fascinating about the Crüe is that they start out very spiritually a 70s band, then quickly mint what becomes the prevailing look, feel, and sound of 80s rock - glam metal - and of course spawn many children in their wake, some worse, and some better (GNR is really a secret third thing musically but it’s undeniable that they would never have taken off the way they did without the road clearing and support of Mötley Crüe).

Anyway I’m treating this post like an expanded show notes because you really need to see some of this shit to properly appreciate what we are talking about when we talk about the Crüe.

This is my favorite video clip of Nikki and Tommy. Early Chad and Himbo archetypes.

A very early MTV clip about Mötley and their look.

You can really see here how rooted in punk and in particular the New York Dolls their whole look and vibe was.

The band in front of their black PJ.

One of my favorite photos of Nikki. Look at that jawline!

We talk about it on the pod but it’s kind of insane how you can draw a direct line back from the Crüe to the Ronnie Spector via the hair: The NY Dolls styled their hair after the Ronettes, who they were obsessed with, and Nikki Sixx was obsessed with the Dolls, hence the big hair of glam metal.