Girls, Girls, Girls

Dear James,

Ah, 1980s MOR and naked women. John Spencer, watch and learn. Mötley Crüe are very touchy about their videos, all the versions of Girls Girls Girls are unavailable in my country and they've disabled embedding for this one too, so I'm obliged to illustrate this piece with a photo of Crüe drummer, Tommy Lee. (Readers please note: I do not own the copyright to this photo and it is used here merely for educational purposes.)

Watching this when I was 14 was the height of excitement. My neighbour Matt Blundell had recorded it off Raw Power and we watched that, the nudey bits from Monty Python films, and some dodgy interview off The Word, and then we had something to remember for later. We made our own entertainment in those days.

Aren't Mötley Crüe hard? I'm very impressed with their big bikes, their leather gear, and the way they gang up on an unarmed man minding his own business in a strip club (0:38). Notice at (1:38) the camera cuts to Vince Neill in the crowd, and he looks like just another stripper. Also good to see what a consummate professional Mick Mars was (3:32). He somehow finds himself in the strippers' dressing room, surrounded by ladies in lace, and he just lights up a cig and carries on playing his solo. Musical masturbation, some would call it.

The follow up to Girls Girls Girls was Bikes Bikes Bikes, featuring the boys riding around on women while some tarted-up Harley Davidsons flaunted their assets around a dance pole. The video was less successful.

Bassist Nikki Sixx (all these names are made up, one suspects) officially died in December 1987 after a heroin overdose. He was brought back to life with an adrenaline shot to the heart. Like that lady in the film. Sadly, this has never led to any kind of "Nikki is Dead" conspiracy theories.