miércoles, agosto 28, 2024

Rocktrospectiva: The Formidable And Chart-Topper "Dr. Feelgood" Turns 35

Released on 28 August 1989, "Dr. Feelgood" was the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, a classic of the genre, was the band's only album to claim the first position on Billboard 200, in addition this is the band's best album so far, highly regarded by music critics and fans as well and also the last album to be recorded with lead singer Vince Neil until "Generation Swine" in 1997. 

The album spawned four singles "Dr. Feelgood", "Kickstar My Heart", "Without You", "Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)", & "Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S)",  a classic within the dominant genre of the time, glam metal, where its main assets were the strong and distorted guitars along with the powerful and melodic choruses, for which the Canadian producer, Bob Rock, gave it a strong and vibrant sound with production techniques totally alien to those the band usually used. 

The album highlights the lyrics related to drug abuse, sex, and love relationships, as well as social and political issues of the time, also it had a wonderful and challenging sound throughout its ten tracks, demonstrating the quality and at the same time maturity of the band, in addition to having the necessary commercial strength that made it one of the best sellers reaching more than 6 million copies with singles that reached the top ten plus the videos that had high rotation on MTV at the time. 

The band sought to recover from the decadent spiral that it had been suffering, of course the recordings were not easy and Bob Rock had to put them to work separately seeking to avoid them arguing and relapsing into drugs again. Bob Rock couldn't have made a better decision, as the band sounded better than ever, Vince Neil sang beautifully, Nikki Sixx was at his best as a composer, Mick Mars hits every note and Tommy Lee stands out for his power offering new textures as a drummer.  

The album was tuned in D scale which made the lowered tone reach a more original sound, highlighting "Kickstart My Heart" which talked about drug abuse, while "Dr. Feelgood" was about Mexican drug dealers in Hollywood, then moving on to other types of songs like the power ballad "Without You" with strange harmonies that make it a unique song and which dealt with the love story between Tommy Lee and Heather Locklear, there was another song with a certain Beatles notion like "Slice Of Your Pie" which had some influence from "I Want You (She's So Heavy) with Steven Tyler from Aerosmith in the intro, although it also helps in the choruses of "Sticky Sweet", there were other songs like "Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away) the best for me on the album, which talked about love relationships and was very but very catchy and enjoyable, the commercial "S.O.S (Same Ol' Situation)" where they talked about sex, relationships loving and lesbian, to give way to the most serious song on the album, "Time For Change" which is barely heard but which had a serious touch compared to the other songs. 

Bob Rock's production was special and thanks to successful result of the album, the guy became the producer of the moment, so much, that Metallica will hired him for their masterpiece album in 1991, and it was also Mötley Crüe's last great album before their split as a banda and demise of glam metal with the arrival of grunge and alternative music

Dr. Feelgood Track List:

1. T.N.T (Terror in Tinseltown)
2. Dr. Feelgood
3. Slice Of Your Pie
4. Rattlsnake Shake
5. Kickstart My Heart
6. Without You
7. Same Ol' Situation (S.O.S)
8. Sticky Sweet
9. She Goes Down
10. Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)
11. Time For Change

No hay comentarios.: