Mötley Crüe - Too Fast for Love (1981)

"Public Enemy #1" by Mötley Crüe

Scatman Crothers was born in Terre Haute, Indiana.  Before relocating to California, guitarist Robert Deal was born there, too.  Deal would change his name to and make his name as Mick Mars, the guitarist for Mötley Crüe.  Mötley Crüe released their debut album in late 1981 on their own record label Leathür Records.

Note:  The album cover and date above are for the self-released version of the album.  When Mötley Crüe signed with Elektra Records, they went back to the studio to remix and re-record parts of the album.  The 1982 re-released version of the album and its album cover are what is most popularly familiar.  I've highlighted the original release mostly for dates reasons.

Here is the discography surrounding Mötley Crüe's debut album:

Gypsy Woman (1978 single by Video Nu-R)

Demo (1978 demo by Sister)

Work, Work (1979 single by Video Nu-R)

Demo '79 (1979 demo by Sister)

Before They Were Mötley Crüe (1979 compilation album)

Demotape Remaster (1981 demo)

Mötley Crüe (1981 demo)

Stick to Your Guns (1981 single)

Too Fast for Love

Too Fast for Love (1982 re-released, remixed album)

Live Wire (1982 single)

Public Enemy #1 (1982 single)

Wild in the Night (1982 live album)

"Live Wire" by Mötley Crüe

"Take Me to the Top" by Mötley Crüe

"Starry Eyes" by Mötley Crüe

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Girls at Our Best! - Pleasure (1981)

"Fast Boyfriends" by Girls at Our Best!


Before Wolfenden played with Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, he was a member of the short-lived band Expelaires.  Another surviving member of Expelaires was drummer (Darren) Carl Harper who found refuge with post-punks Girls at Our Best!  The band formed in 1979 around the musical collaboration of lead singer Judy "Jo" Evans and guitarist James "Jez" Alan.  Together, Jo and Jez wrote songs (in fact, just about every song) centering on Jo's fascination with sex and consumerism and the social expectations of women.  The punk outfit leveled off with bassist Gerard "Terry" Swift and eventually Harper.

Despite just looking for a musical outlet, the band's debut single "Going Nowhere Fast" was a surprise indie hit that demanded a series of follow-ups that culminated with the band's only album Pleasure released in 1981.  Girls at Our Best! toured England, other parts of Europe, and the United States but tensions grew within the band as the tour wore on that culminated with both Swift and Harper quitting the band.  Although Girls maintained a growing and devoted cult following, Evans felt a void of creativity and forward progress as far as the band was concerned and took that as a cue to end it.

Here is the complete discography for Girls at Our Best!:

Getting Nowhere Fast (1980 single)
Politics (1980 single)
Go for Gold (1981 single)
The Peel Sessions (1981 Peel sessions)
The Richard Skinner Sessions (1981 Skinner sessions)
Pleasure
Fast Boyfriends (1981 single)
Heaven (1982 single)

"Getting Nowhere Fast" by Girls at Our Best!


"Warm Girls" by Girls at Our Best!


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Daniel Johnston - Songs of Pain (1981)

"I Save Cigarette Butts" by Daniel Johnston


Beck's loosest demo Beck and Dava recorded in 1990 is an extremely informal session where Beck and Dava simply enjoy the process of recording together. The demo has no real song ideas that'll grow up to be hit singles and everything they do record is off-the-cuff. Mixed in between the songs and half-songs is the banter that leads from one to another. On one particular recording, Beck goes on at length on one of his influences Daniel Johnston. According to Beck, Johnston is a born-again Christian who at one point played with the Butthole Surfers. That's not necessarily true, but he and members of the Surfers did collaborate (with the band holding Johnston in high regard), and Johnston's songs are awash with Christian influence. Whether the songs reflect a faithful or cynical approach to Christianity is another conversation altogether...

Daniel Johnston learned to play the piano and wanted to be just like The Beatles. A few things stood in his way: he couldn't sing and he suffered from manic depression and schizophrenia, but he continued to play. He took classes at a couple of universities but, for reasons most likely rooted in his mental illnesses, he would always wind back down in his parents basement. It's in the basement where Johnston recorded his work on an old boombox. He'd then take the tapes he had made and go down to local record stores, universities, and clubs in Austin to give them out by hand. He gained a certain local notoriety for both his music and his odd behavior.

His first recording titled Songs of Pain and consisted of songs he recorded in 1980 and '81. The recordings are naturally poor in quality and consist of Daniel banging away frenetically on his piano singing his personal songs in his broken voice. Mixed in between the songs are sound bites of field recordings usually of friends and family. The most notable and saddening is a fight between he and his mother on how he'll never amount to anything. She criticizes him for his laziness while he retorts with sarcastic agreement and self-defeatism. The fight is one they've had many times before. The songs, as such, are very difficult to separate from their source material. Most of the Songs of Pain are in reference to a girl he loved who would eventually marry an undertaker. As such, whenever there is a reference to a funeral, a girl he loves, or a girl on whom he wishes ill, you begin to imagine Daniel's state of mind. His songwriting on its own is raw. His piano riffs are heavily embellished and his lyrics take turns of stream-of-consciousness. Still, the riffs are accomplished and the lyrics are deeply honest and find their way to natural conclusions whose notes and thoughts will resonate in the hearts of listeners.

Here is the discography surrounding Daniel Johnston's debut album:

Songs of Pain

"Urge" by Daniel Johnston


If you have any ideas for where the tour should go next, please give a shout. I'm open to whatever as long as the artists are historically related in some way and go in an artist's chronological order.

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Duran Duran - Duran Duran (1981)

"Careless Memories" by Duran Duran


The Nice's album, despite not selling well, did have a recognizable album cover where the band were without clothes and wrapped in cellophane. Gered Mankowitz is responsible for that picture and many others. He is one of the most prolific and prominent rock photographers today. Although it might be one of his less recognizable pieces, Mankowitz also took the cover photo for Duran Duran's breakout single "Girls on Film".

Nick Rhodes and John Taylor formed Duran Duran in 1978 in Birmingham. Starting work for the Rum Runner night club, they eventually became the house band while they were also busting tables and doing dishes. The group went through several lineup changes (foregoing two vocalists, a bassist, and a drum machine) before coming together: Nick Rhodes (keyboards), John Taylor (bass), Andy Taylor (guitar), Roger Taylor (drums), and Simon Le Bon (vocals). Despite the same last names, none of the Taylors are related. By the turn of the decade, Duran Duran began receiving press as one of the leading New Romantic bands (a branch of late '70s New Wave). The band's connection with Rum Runner proved to be a good one as the owners became Duran Duran's original management and booked the group's first demo recordings. While touring in the late eighties, their marketability was noticed by several record companies resulting in a bidding war. Duran Duran would sign with EMI in patriotic reverence to The Beatles's original label (despite getting an unfair deal).

Their debut album Duran Duran came out in June of 1981 and was produced by Colin Thurston, a man largely credited with developing the classic "eighties sound". The album was accompanied by three singles "Planet Earth", "Careless Memories", and "Girls on Film". Of the three, "Girls on Film" hit highest on the UK charts at #5. It also gained a certain notoriety for its music video that portrayed sexual fetishes and was intended only to be played on pay TV channels. A heavily edited version brought the band to prominence in the United States as it breached the rotation of music videos on the burgeoning MTV.

Duran Duran quickly became the "prettiest boys in rock" around the time when exposure was at an all time high. MTV had recently gotten off the ground and Duran Duran were one of the first bands to take advantage of the new outlet to American audiences. All five members had photogenic features and worked with stylists to develop their own unique look. Musically, they also remixed their own songs, creating "night versions" in the studio that were more instrumental and dance friendly. In a quickly changing musical landscape and industry, Duran Duran were one of the first bands to exemplify the change and reap a surreal global popularity that would only keep growing.

Here is the discography surrounding Duran Duran's debut album:

Planet Earth (1981 single)
Careless Memories (1981 single)
Duran Duran
Girls on Film (1981 single)
Nite Romantics (1981 Japanese Remix EP)
Live at Club Paradise (1981 live bootleg)

"Girls on Film" by Duran Duran


"Tel Aviv" by Duran Duran


If you have any ideas for where the tour should go next, please give a shout. I'm open to whatever as long as the artists are historically related in some way and go in an artist's chronological order.

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The Replacements - Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (1981)

"I Hate Music" by The Replacements


When Titanic Love Affair was mercilessly criticized for sounding like a knock off version of The Replacements (often referenced as The Mats by critics and fans), it's more than likely that they were already comfortable with The Mats being such a heavy influence on their sound. After all, they got Chris Mars, original drummer for The Replacements, to do their debut's liner notes.


The Replacements saw themselves as the band that you turned to in case the originally scheduled act failed to show. Before that, they went by The Impendiments, a name adopting the "The ______" format inspired from their discovery of the British punk scene. Dogbreath, however, was the moniker that the band began to form under. The core starts with the Stinson brothers and Chris Mars. They formed Dogbreath in 1979 with the elder Bob Stinson on lead guitar, Chris Mars on drums, and Tommy Stinson on bass (at the ripe age of 12). Paul Westerberg, the band's eventual frontman, rhythm guitarist, producer, and primary songwriter, met the unfocused trio when he overheard them jamming in the Stinson's garage. He befriended the band and eventually sought out the vocalist position which at the time was already filled. This didn't stop Westerberg, however, as he convinced the then-vocalist, that none of the other band members liked him and were aiming to fire him. The singer quit soon after, and Westerberg filled the vacancy. With him, he brought professionalism and an untapped knack for songwriting.

The acquisition of Westerberg was the band's first stroke of luck. A connection with Peter Jesperson was the other. Jesperson ran the local record store and founded an independent record label Twin/Tone Records. He was more than impressed with the band's demo; he believed the band were surefire hits and had an unnatural enthusiasm in getting the quartet recorded. They signed with Twin/Tone in the winter of 1980, and Westerberg went to work immediately on writing material. They soon found themselves in the recording studio laying down the tracks for their debut album. The recording process took its time as they couldn't afford successive weeks in the studio, and even with it finished after six weeks, it took time for Twin/Tone to afford its release.


Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash saw release in August of 1981, preempted by one single "I'm in Trouble". Though the album is filled with an epic-seeming 18 songs, the rare song clocks in at over two minutes so the album is over within forty minutes of pressing play. Sorry Ma captures youthful frustration and raw inability. The Mats's energy is modeled after the anarchy of English punk groups but produce a sound a bit more fun and real aided by the band's own self-awareness. They relish in their trite impulsiveness and their inability to play their instruments properly. At this point, they have no more aspirations than simply having fun together and being in a rock band.

Here is the discography surrounding The Replacements's debut album:

1980 Demo (1980 demos)
1980-12-06 Minneapolis. MN (1980 live bootleg)
I'm in Trouble (1981 single)
Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash
Incident on 7th Street Main (1981 live bootleg)

"Johnny's Gonna Die", "Kick Your Door Down". and "Dope Smokin' Moron" by The Replacements live at 7th Street Entry on September 5th, 1981


"If Only You Were Lonely" by The Replacements


If you have any ideas for where the tour should go next, please give a shout. I'm open to whatever as long as the artists are historically related in some way and go in an artist's chronological order.

Pass the Headphones!!