Ah, now here's what Mötley Crüe would doubtless refer to as a festive stocking-filler. And for anyone fortunate enough to have had MTV in the late 1980s they'll know the Crüe were a prominent fixture on the channel.

In those heady days of "hair rock", budget was clearly a dirty word for the band and their main-time collaborator, director, Wayne Isham. Excess was the name of the game here, both musically and visually. With Vince Neil's power vocals and Tommy Lee's gunslinger drums the dominant feature, the band cultivated a strong rock sound, and are as tight as the gnat's proverbials when featured live on Same Ol' Situation.

The video features Tommy Lee in little more than a jockstrap, hoisted high above the crowd with drum kit and all. Dr Feelgood, its killer riff rising out of the depths, involves a desert, an oversized circus tent, lots of hair and a serious fire that is nothing less than a pyromaniac's dream. And that's not to mention the suspicious packages at the start of the video, just in case anyone was doubting the subject matter!

In fact it's the stuff from the Dr Feelgood album that's most effective and overblown, with Isham giving us speeding cars, powerboats (Kickstart My Heart) and big cats (Without You). Afraid has a female equivalent of the infamous Pin-Head from Hellraiser, and Misunderstood was banned for the old guy with a gun at his head - a video where the Crüe look like they've just got up and arranged themselves on someone's doorstep!

Most blatant of course is Girls, Girls, Girls, with accompanying insight from Tommy Lee and Nicky Sixx on the track's origins: "We seemed to be hanging out in strip clubs and drinking a lot so we thought, hey, what about making a video in one?!" Needless to say the X-rated version is much more revealing, as is the animated Hell On High Heels where Mötley Crüe's history of mankind includes "Buy A Wench Day, 79AD".

You're All I Need, one of their big power ballads from 1987, was also banned by MTV since it was a bit bloody and druggy for their tastes. As the opening text states, "Who said the 6 o'clock news was pretty?"

Greatest Video Hits is an absolute essential for fans. As a companion to Mötley Crüe's outrageous book, The Dirt, it serves as a documentary of rock excess through the 1980s. In fact, it's a miracle the main protagonists are still alive to talk about it!

share:  Facebook | Digg | del.icio.us | more

Mercury Prize 2009 nominees