Motley Crue "Home Sweet Home"

I was so glad to read Chuck Klosterman's "Fargo Rock City," because, in a mix of rock criticism/analysis and personal biography, it explored some questions about 80s metal that I had had back, well, in the 80s.

Last week I was writing about liking U2, and how liking U2 (pre-"Joshua Tree" anyway) was not cool with the Cool kids.  No, the Cool kids liked Van Halen (which I liked, but didn't love) and AC/DC (who had a 1/2 dozen songs that were awesome, and a whole lot of dumb shit after that).

In the case of these bands, I felt like not liking them indicated that there was something wrong with me.

Then Hair Metal happened.

And for so many of the kids who had been preaching the liturgy of "For Those About To Rock," latching onto bands with big guitar riffs and lyrics about big lives and skanky girls, made perfect sense to them.

But in the case of these bands, I felt like not liking them indicated that there was something wrong with the rest of the world, not me.

While David Lee Roth could prance, there was no mistaking the fact that he was a manly man on the prowl.  Eddie Van Halen and AC/DC were just pure testosterone.

I understood why 15 year old boys gravitated toward that.

So what was with the bands of dudes dressed like girls, with pounds of make-up and huge, huge hair that had to have been fussed over for hours?  How did that connect to a hormone-driven teenage suburbanite boy?

I can't say that I could have articulated all this in 1986, but on an innate level, I knew it didn't make sense.

Beyond the make-up and hair spray, there was also some kind of cognitive dissonance about the music.

Plain and simple, Eddie Van Halen didn't play any fucking ballads, and Bon Scott would gargle rocks rather than croon a heart-sick love song (and probably did).

But these Hair Metal bands would put out a fluffy, hooky upbeat "rocker" and follow it up with some hokey Moon-June-Spoon weeper.  And while I was not a manly man, nor particularly testorone-y, I couldn't stand this maudlin stuff.

All this, to tell the story . . . whenever I hear Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home" I think of this one guy I was friendly with.  A group of us were watching MTV, and the room was silent as this song played.  As it got to the fade out, he said, "Man, this is one of those songs that you wish would never end . . . "

Some of the guys nodded, meaningfully, in agreement.

I sat there, quietly imagining the pleasure of gargling rocks.


Hear the song on Youtube.

U2 “Hawkmoon 269”

All Time Top Five Songs About Motel Rooms . . .

Throwing a monkey wrench into this post: Turns out this song is not really about a motel room.

I’d heard, years and years ago, that this song was inspired by an experience Bono had at a hotel called “The Hawkmoon” in room #269.

And I’d always assumed that to be the truth. If you check out the lyrics, it would make perfect sense that Bono (or the narrator), who is desperately begging for “your love” would be telling you how much he needs it, in a hotel room. What other explanation is there for the name?

Well, it turns out there is quite a handful of explanations.

While trying to research where this non-existent hotel might be, I ended up down the rabbit-hole of U2 fan site theorists.

Maybe the title has to do with the number of times the song was remixed (269 times). Maybe it has to do with a Sam Shepard book. Maybe it is something only in Bono’s head.

What’s fascinating is that this information exists at all. The internet is just an amazing thing. To have access to this information is incredible. That someone, and groups of someones, took the time to compile this information, gleaned from interviews and articles and appearances and such, to provide definitive answers to questions of U2 minutiae, is stunning, particularly because, until you stop and think about it, here in 2010, such things are pretty mundane.

Imagine if the internet were available when something like “Ode To Billie Joe” came out in the 60s?