Wednesday, May 13, 2020

Under The Influence: Shout At The Devil


Not my first experience with the genre of heavy metal, but Motley Crue's 1983 sophomore album, Shout At The Devil, was an important step for me.  Personally, it was a strange time as I received a copy of it from a beautiful girl who meant a lot to me.  I believe she was also the first girl I ever kissed, but we aren't going to out her here as she has and created an amazing life and family since.  It was a gift around a time that I was changing schools and my parents had divorced.

I still can visualize the moment after school on the day that I put the cassette into the stereo and cranked it up (because it starts so softly.)  I also remember racing to the volume knob to turn it down seconds later.  The intro "In The Beginning" is epic and very dystopian.  It's funny to see this in context as I just posted about the Beatles and this includes a great cover of their "Helter Skelter." It could be the teenage angst, family issues and emotional issues that most of the songs made a connection.  The singles were solid and each song made you want to sing along... well except the instrumental for obvious reasons.

I believe that because it didn't come with lyrics, photos and all the promotional fixings that imagery was overlooked on my part.  As I am usually focused on lyricism, the words meant less to me because I wasn't reading along during my first listen. 

The album still takes me back to a time in my life full of change.  Shout At The Devil may not have led me to the occult but led me towards other albums and artists.  I think metal guitar has a purpose and I felt it first here on an album full of rebellion, energy and passion.

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