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Awesome 90's Videos ... Motley Crue - Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away)

Motley Crue - Don't Go Away Mad (Just Go Away) - Live at the 1990 MTV Video Music Awards 

One of my favorite Motley Crue songs.  This is an excellent live performance of the track, which appeared on 1989's hugely successful Dr. Feelgood.  The album went to #1 in the US and sold 6 million copies. Check it out!



Motley Crue - Don't Go Away Mad (Live)


RANDOM THOUGHTS ... Bassist/classic songwriter Nikki Sixx played on the Alice Cooper track "Feed My Frankenstein" in 1991. I just find that to be totally awesome. ... Tommy Lee beats the shit out of the drums, I love it. I don't know if he gets enough credit for being a great drummer, so I'm going to make it a point to constantly mention it to family and friends from now 'til death. ... All the guys in the band are rockin' long manes, with Tommy Lee winning best 'do by sporting a headband, a la John McEnroe. If people don't agree that rock n roll is much worse off without all these interesting hairdos (i.e. Nickelback), they're crazy. ... I've always thought Mick Mars is a very underrated guitarist. The riffs in this track are classic. ... Good stuff from Vince Neil on vocals in this one. I've seen some live tracks of Crue with Neil when he wasn't at his best, but he's definitely at the top of his game here. I dig the way he gets the crowd on their feet during the foot-stomping portion of the song after the guitar solo (3:07). Arena rock at it's finest! 

PLAYING LIVE WITH AN OVERDUB - In my eyes, the most interesting (and somewhat disappointing) part of this otherwise kick-ass performance is the fact that some of the lead guitar lines are obviously pre-recorded and piped in along with the rest of the band playing live. It begs the follow up questions... How much of it are they actually playing? Are they just faking it? So I watched it back a few times. First, the background vocals during the pre-chorus (where he sings, "That's alright, that's okay...") are not live, and that's alright, that's okay with me. Vince Neil is clearly doing live vocals, and Tommy Lee's authoritative drumming is not mimed, but there are times when Mick Mars is seen playing a rhythm guitar part while a lead line can be heard over the top. So does Mick Mars play at all or is he just basically playing air guitar up there? Well, judging by the huge wall of Marshall stacks behind Mars, and the fact he's more than capable of pulling it off live, I doubt very much they turned him off. It appears to me he plays the rhythm guitar parts live and doubles certain lead lines throughout the song. He doubles (plays along with) the intro lick, the lead lines between the verses, and the guitar solo itself. The lead lines behind the vocals during the second verse (1:59) and the outro licks (3:39) appear to be piped in as Mars plays the rhythm parts during those sections. My final thoughts? It still rocks. The song is great, the energy is real, and the desire to rock was authentic. It was either pipe in a couple small parts or bring in a 5th band member for the performance, and I think they chose wisely. In fact, it was silly of me to even question it in the first place. It's Motley Crue... of course it rocked!

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