Disco de Mötley Crüe: “Generation Swine”

It's unfortunate that this last collaboration with the original members of Motley Crue was their best, and sold the least. The members of Motley Crue have grown as human beings, and as song writers. It's too bad that most of their fans have not. This album demonstrates some of the most intense drumming Tommy Lee has released, and the most meaningful message that Nikki Sixx has ever given. I understand that growing up with Motley Crue was all about sex, drugs, and rock n roll. However, they have matured and the true Crue fans should too. From an artistic and creative point of view, this is the best Motley album ever recorded.

Motley Crue entered the 1990s as one the biggest, most popular bands in the world. The band was riding high off their "Dr Feelgood" (1989) album and they had just signed a multi-million dollar contract with Electrica. It looked like one of rock's most popular bands from the 1980s was poised to take the 1990s head on.

But almost overnight, things changed. In 1992, a lot of internal and external factors changed the fate of the Crue. In the early 90s, almost overnight, pop-metal, and melodic hard-rock was replaced by grunge and alternative rock (Soundgarden, Nirvana, Pearl Jam). After Nirvana's "Nevermind" exploded, Motley Crue's style of music was made almost instantly passé. Around the same time, singer Vince Neil and the rest of the band parted ways (Neil says he was fired, the rest of the band maintains that he quite).

Truth be told, had the original lineup of Motley Crue stayed together and stuck to their guns, they probably would have weathered the 90s and the new musical climate, much like Aerosmith or Van Halen (before their lead singer fiasco). Instead, the Crue changed lead singers and embraced a modern sound.

Although Motley Crue's 1994 self-titled effort (with lead singer John Corabi) borrowed from some of the styles that were popular at the time, like Soundgarden and Stone Temple Pilots, it was still an outstanding album (see my review). And although it has achieved cult-classic status among rock fans, it was a massive flop and generally ignored by the public at large.

In 1996, while sessions were underway for a follow-up album to the '94 self-titled album, Vince Neil and the rest of the band reconciled their differences and the original lineup was reformed.

1997 saw the release of the reunion album "Generation Swine." Like its 1994 predecessor, it debuted in the top ten, took a nose dive and sold poorly, and has received mixed reaction from fans.

Before going into a more detailed review of this album, there is something important to know about how it was created. Motley Crue, with vocalist John Corabi were working on a new album around 1995/96. It was going to be titled "Personality #9." When Vince Neil re-joined the band, Corabi's vocals were simply removed from the songs and Vince Neil sang over them, although Corabi's guitar parts were left on. Some people who listen to this album even claim they can hear Corabi's backing vocals in some of the songs, like "Let Us Pray," although the band has denied Corabi's vocals are on the album.

"Generation Swine" has a lot of good things going for it. It's edgy, for the most part well paced, and most of the songs have infectious hooks and killer solos. And the band sounds passionate.

There's lots of good songs to be found on this album-like the off-beat opening "Find Myself," the dark and melodic "Afraid," the anthem-like title track, the industrial-rock of "Beauty," and "Let Us Pray, " and the punkish "Anybody Out There" are all solid. The cool new wave of "Glitter" and the spacey "Rocketship" add a nice touch.

But there are drawbacks to "Generation Swine." The dragging suicidal "Flush" and "Confessions," sound contrived, and their sluggish pacing puts a wrench in the momentum of the album. "Rat Like Me," and "Shout `97" are throwaways. The former sounds like a bad Smashing Pumpkins b-side, and the latter is far interior the original. "Brandon," Tommy Lee's tribute to his son, while sincere, is awkward and out-of-place on the CD, and a poor way to close it. The album would have been stronger if those songs had been left off, and the much superior "Wreck Me," and "Kiss the Sky" had been included in their place (they are included as bonus tracks on the reissue).

Another drawback to this album is that the music was not really suited for Vince Neil. The songs on this album were written and arranged for John Corabi and they would have sounded much stronger had he sung them. Hopefully someday, the "Personality #9" demos will be released, although I doubt it.

Perhaps my biggest bone to pick with "Generation Swine" is that it sounds contrived. The whole album, while strong at several points, stinks of an 80s hair band trying too hard to jump on a trend. It's as though Motley Crue were trying to be a Nine Inch Pumpkins. If John Corabi had been the vocalist on this CD, that would have been okay, because the Crue with Corabi was like a whole new band. Again, the songs on "Generation Swine" are suited for John Corabi's raspy, bluesy voice, and not the sunny-sunset strip style of Vince Neil. It would be like Van Halen dubbing out Sammy Hagar's vocals from "When It's Love," and having David Lee Roth sing over it.

Despite its faults, "Generation Swine" is a decent album. I'd recommend it if you're a fan of the band, although it's hardly their best album.

This is the album that was marked by the awaited return of Vince Neil to the folds - i was expecting a "reunion" sound - something reminiscent of their early work meant only to please their long-time fans. Suprisingly (and i mean that in a good way), Motley ignored the format and pushed forward with their sound. Generation Swine is definitely the most modern sounding album the Crue has ever done - and its one of my favorites - (altho, they're all one of favorites, but thats beside the point). especially with tracks like "AFRAID", "LET US PREY", and the remake version of "shout at the Devil '97".

Let Us Prey easily has the heaviest riff of their entire career - i almost fell over when the drums kicked in. vince goes along with his usual croon, then some really creepy chorus-like vocals and then lets out his unearthly scream rip out. i like all the little breakdowns too - some crazy sounding guitar effects in there. this is my favorite track off the album. anyone who thinks Motley doesnt know how to rock it with the new crop of "metal" bands needs to hear this track.

The extra tracks are pretty cool too, as with all the other re-releases. i sat there and compared the normal version and the alternative mix of Afraid about a dozen times - they both have their benefits - someone should combine the best aspects of both mixes. KISS THE SKY is a very decent ballad. but the CONFESSIONS demo was most interesting to me - with Tommy Lee on vox.

In 1997, Motley Crue's original line-up was back together: Vince Neil, Nikki Sixx, Mick Mars, and Tommy Lee. They entered the studio with a new and fresh sound and with intentions to make an album unlike their previous releases. This album is GOOD in general but the main reason why I ranked the album "3" is because I have mixed feelings about the album. The difference between this album and their previous releases is that the Crue was experimenting with the use of computers in their music to give it a different sound. Since computers were a main factor in creating the sound, the result was the sound is somewhat held back on some of the tracks. However, here is where the mixed feelings come in. There are some excellent tunes on the album no doubt about it. However, this new Crue sound is great on most of the tracks and on the other tracks it makes the songs weaker.

The opening track, "Find Myself" is a weak opener and probably their weakest opening song to date. Even though Nikki Sixx did most of the vocals on this track, the lyrics and the sound is weak. Even though the opening track is a weak one, the next track, "Afraid" goes to the exact opposite. This song is excellent. It is undoubtably the greatest song on the album. Vince's vocals are excellent as usual and the riffs and beats are great. This definitely has "Motley Crue Classic" written all over it. The title track, "Generation Swine" is a great tune and is as good as "Afraid." This is probably the second best song on the album. Then Vince Neil sings his ballad, "Glitter." This is a great ballad and the lyrics are excellent. Vince put some of his best vocal work into this song and it is a Crue ballad MASTERPIECE!

Motley Crue enhances their sound on "Let Us Prey," which is probably the heaviest song on the album. The riffs and the beats are terrific and Vince's vocals couldn't be better. The next track, "Rocketship" is Nikki's ballad dedicated to his wife. Nikki sings this track in a very passionate tone that we haven't seen before in any Crue ballad. Then Motley Crue updates their classic "Shout At The Devil" with a new and improved sound and their is only word that comes to mind when I heard this one...WOW! This was the perfect way to remake their anthem. The song of course has Tommy banging away on the bass drum and then Vince Neil screams, "SHOUT AT THE DEVIL!" The riffs are a lot louder than the original and the Vince's voice is a lot better. This one is 5-STARS all the way. The next ballad is, "Brandon," which is Tommy's ballad dedicated to his wife Pamela and his newly born son. The lyrics are great and the passionate and loving feeling of the song just makes you wanna sing it to your little boy. There were a couple un-released tracks such as "Wreck Me" and "Kiss The Sky." The better of the two is definitely "Kiss The Sky." Mick's guitar playing is phenomenal and the lyrics are great.

This album is very good in general as Motley Crue follows the new sounds of the late 90s. Most of the songs on this album are great but the others are plain weak. The high point of this album is the group shared duties on lead vocals instead of just Vince doing all of it. Even though the album has it's high points, it also has it's weak parts and downsides. Motley Crue is one of my favorite bands but after I listened to this album, I was in total shock. I do recommend listening to clips from the album before buying it but any Crue fan must have this album. ROCK ON MOTLEY CRUE!

Save your money and purchase greatest hits which has "Afraid" on it. That is the only track that should catch your attention. This album was originally going to feature Jon Corabi, who sang on the '94 release of Motley Crue "4 star album". Generation Swine sounds hurried, it seems that when Corabi ubruptly left the Crue, Vince was hurried in to complete the album. The Greatest Hits album should also tell Crue fans how much the band thought of Generation, only two songs on Swine are on Greatist hits. In concert the band only plays "Afraid". I have been a Motley fan since "Too fast for Love" and have seen the Crue 11 times. The top Motley albums in my opinion are as follows: Too fast for love, Quarternary, Dr. FeelGood, Shout and Motley Crue. Check out the release of Motley Crue with Jon Corabi, it is the heaviest album that they have done.