Too Fast for Love

1981 studio album by Mötley Crüe
Too Fast for Love
Studio album by
Mötley Crüe
ReleasedNovember 10, 1981 (1981-11-10)
RecordedOctober 1981
StudioHit City West, Los Angeles, California[1]
Genre
Length
  • 39:37 (original)
  • 34:04 (Elektra version)
Label
ProducerMötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe chronology
Too Fast for Love
(1981) 		Shout at the Devil
(1983)
Singles from Too Fast for Love
  1. "Stick to Your Guns"
    Released: May 3, 1981
  2. "Live Wire"
    Released: August 16, 1982

Too Fast for Love is the debut studio album by American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. The first edition of 900 copies was released on November 10, 1981, on the band's original label Leathür Records. Elektra Records signed the band the following year, at which point the album was remixed and partially re-recorded. This re-release, with a different track listing and slightly different artwork (e.g., red lettering on the cover and a different interior photograph of the band), has become the standard version from which all later reissues derive. The re-recorded album also removed the song "Stick to Your Guns", though it is featured on a bonus track version of the album. The original mix of the album remained unreleased on CD until 2002, when it was included in the Music to Crash Your Car To: Vol. 1 box set compilation.

While the album only reached number 77 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States, it would ultimately reach platinum status.

The songs "Stick to Your Guns" and "Live Wire" were released as singles for the album.

Release history

The first recording session was in October 1981, a half year after the band first played the Starwood nightclub. They recorded for a few days with engineer Avi Kipper at Hit City West, a small studio in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles.[1][5]

There are three known vinyl pressings of the Leathür Records version, along with one known cassette. The first vinyl pressing had white lettering on the cover and the record label was white with black lettering. The back cover photo of Vince Neil shows him with a large airbrushed hairdo. The second pressing has red lettering on the cover and the record label is again white with black lettering. The second pressing has a slightly different photo insert of the band. The third pressing has red lettering on the cover and the record label is black with white lettering.

The album was remixed under the supervision of Roy Thomas Baker and rereleased on August 20, 1982, by Elektra Records, with whom the band signed its first recording contract. The Elektra version had a different track order and omitted "Stick to Your Guns", as well as the first verse from the title track. In addition, a re-recorded (and shorter) version of "Come On and Dance" appears on the re-release. However, the initial release of the album on Elektra in Canada (on both vinyl and cassette) was not the remixed version, but instead the original Leathür version with an Elektra label on it, and it included "Stick to Your Guns".[citation needed] This was released two months before the remixed version was released by Elektra worldwide, because Mötley Crüe was about to embark on a Canadian tour and Elektra wanted to ensure a product was available while the band was in the country. When the remixed version was completed, later Canadian pressings were the same as the Elektra version everywhere else. "It was amazing because everyone had passed on us first time around..." Neil observed in 2000. "We were just happy that someone was prepared to mass-produce our records and that we could go out on real tours."[6]

In 1996, Mötley Crüe and Elektra split. The band once again formed their own record company, Mötley Records, and rereleased all the albums before New Tattoo. The 2002 version of Too Fast for Love adds the Leathür version of "Too Fast for Love", "Stick to Your Guns" (omitted from the Elektra release), "Toast of the Town" (previously released as a B-side to Leathür's "Stick to Your Guns" single), the Raspberries cover song "Tonight" and a live version of "Merry-Go-Round".

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusicStarStarStarStar[7]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal9/10[8]
metal.de7/10[9]
Metal Storm8.8/10[10]
PopMattersfavorable[2]
The Rolling Stone Album GuideStarStarHalf star[11]

Too Fast for Love received mixed reviews on release; most reviewers found the music derivative and unoriginal with negative comments about the band's singing and playing, though a number did like the speed and rawness of the sound.[12]

Retrospective reviews have been a lot more favorable. AllMusic reviewer Steve Huey gave the album a rating of four stars and said that "Mötley Crüe essentially comes across as a bash-'em-out bar band, making up in enthusiasm what they lack in technical skill".[7] Martin Popoff, in his Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal, gave the album a 9/10.[8]

Too Fast for Love was the earliest of seven consecutive Mötley Crüe studio albums to be certified gold or platinum by the RIAA―every album up to and including Generation Swine (1997) is at least certified gold.[13]

In 2018, Collin Brennan of Consequence included the album in his list of "10 Hair Metal Albums That Don’t Suck".[14]

Track listings

1981 Leathür Records original release

All tracks are written by Nikki Sixx, except where noted.

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Live Wire" 3:14
2."Public Enemy #1"
4:22
3."Take Me to the Top" 3:43
4."Merry-Go-Round" 3:22
5."Piece of Your Action"
4:39
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."Starry Eyes" 4:28
7."Stick to Your Guns" 4:20
8."Come On and Dance" 3:11
9."Too Fast for Love" 4:11
10."On with the Show"
  • Sixx
  • Neil
4:07

1982 Elektra version

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Live Wire" 3:14
2."Come On and Dance" 2:47
3."Public Enemy #1"
  • Sixx
  • Grey
4:22
4."Merry-Go-Round" 3:22
5."Take Me to the Top" 3:43
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."Piece of Your Action"
  • Sixx
  • Neil
4:39
7."Starry Eyes" 4:28
8."Too Fast for Love" 3:22
9."On with the Show"
  • Sixx
  • Neil
4:07
2003 Mötley Records CD release bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
10."Toast of the Town" (B-side of the 1981 "Stick to Your Guns" single)
3:35
11."Tonight" (Raspberries cover)Eric Carmen4:27
12."Too Fast for Love" (alternate intro) 4:19
13."Stick to Your Guns" 4:23
14."Merry-Go-Round" (live in San Antonio, Texas) 3:56
15."Live Wire" (video) 12:18

Personnel

Charts

Chart (1984) Peak
position
US Billboard 200[15] 77
Chart (2022) Peak
position
Scottish Albums (OCC)[16] 77
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[17] 95
UK Independent Albums (OCC)[18] 31
UK Rock & Metal Albums (OCC)[19] 17

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[20] Gold 50,000^
United States (RIAA)[21] Platinum 1,000,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Accolades

Publication Country Accolade Rank
Revolver U.S. 6 Glam-Metal Albums You Need to Own[22] 1
PopMatters U.S. 10 Essential Glam Metal Albums[23] 1
Consequence of Sound U.S. 10 Hair Metal Albums That Don't Suck[24] 1
Rolling Stone U.S. 50 Greatest Hair Metal Albums of All Time[25] 9
Rolling Stone U.S. 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time[26] 22
L.A. Weekly U.S. Chuck Klosterman's Favorite Hair Metal Albums[27] 8
Guitar World U.S. Top 20 Hair Metal Albums of the Eighties[28] 1
Ultimate Classic Rock U.S. Top 30 Glam Metal Albums[29] 1

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Moskowitz, David V. (2015). The 100 Greatest Bands of All Time: A Guide to the Legends Who Rocked the World. Vol. 2. ABC-CLIO. p. 421. ISBN 9781440803406.
  2. ^ a b Hreha, Scott (July 10, 2002). "Mötley Crüe: Too Fast for Love". PopMatters. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  3. ^ Klosterman, Chuck (2007). Fargo Rock City : a Heavy Metal Odyssey in Rural North Dakota. 3M Company. Scribner. p. 161. ISBN 978-1-4165-8952-5. OCLC 869442403.
  4. ^ "100 Greatest Drummers of All Time". Rolling Stone. March 31, 2016. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  5. ^ Avi Kipper | Credits | AllMusic
  6. ^ Ling, Dave (March 2000). "We are lüdicröus!". Classic Rock. No. 12. p. 48.
  7. ^ a b Huey, Steve. "Too Fast for Love - Mötley Crüe". AllMusic. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
  8. ^ a b Popoff, Martin (November 1, 2005). The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal: Volume 2: The Eighties. Burlington, Ontario, Canada: Collector's Guide Publishing. p. 232. ISBN 978-1-894959-31-5.
  9. ^ Rothe, Dominik (February 19, 2020). "Mötley Crüe - Too Fast For Love Review". metal.de (in German). Retrieved November 18, 2025.
  10. ^ "Mötley Crüe - Too Fast for Love". Metal Storm. January 1, 2005. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
  11. ^ Considine, J. D. (2003). "Mötley Crüe". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York City: Simon & Schuster. pp. 562–63. ISBN 978-0743201698. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
  12. ^ Lauryn Schaffner (November 10, 2022). "What critics said about Motley Crue's Too Fast For Love When it Came Out". loudwire.com.
  13. ^ "RIAA Gold & Platinum database-Too Fast for Love". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved March 4, 2008.
  14. ^ Brennan, Collin (February 5, 2018). "10 Hair Metal Albums That Don't Suck". Consequence. Retrieved December 21, 2025.
  15. ^ "Motley Crue Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  16. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart on 9/9/2022 – Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  17. ^ "Swisscharts.com – Mötley Crüe – Too Fast for Love". Hung Medien. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  18. ^ "Official Independent Albums Chart on 9/9/2022 – Top 50". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  19. ^ "Official Rock & Metal Albums Chart on 9/9/2022 – Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved October 17, 2023.
  20. ^ "Motley Crue - Mick Mars - Canadian Gold Record Award". October 25, 2023.
  21. ^ "American album certifications – Motley Crue – Too Fast for Love". Recording Industry Association of America.
  22. ^ "6 Glam-Metal Albums You Need to Own | Revolvermag". July 28, 2017. Archived from the original on July 28, 2017. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  23. ^ Zupko, Sarah. "10 Essential Glam Metal Albums, PopMatters". PopMatters. Retrieved April 11, 2021.
  24. ^ "10 Hair Metal Albums That Don't Suck". Consequence of Sound. February 5, 2018. Retrieved February 25, 2021.
  25. ^ "Rolling Stone - 50 Greatest Hair Metal Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. August 31, 2019. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  26. ^ Greene, Andy (June 21, 2017). "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media LLC. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
  27. ^ Westhoff, Ben (December 6, 2011). "Chuck Klosterman's Favorite Hair Metal Albums". LA Weekly. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  28. ^ "Guitar World - Top 20 Hair Metal Albums of the Eighties". Guitar World. December 12, 2008. Archived from the original on October 4, 2012. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  29. ^ Rolli, Bryan (July 1, 2021). "Top 30 Glam Metal Albums". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved July 1, 2021.
  • Official website
  • Too Fast for Love at MusicBrainz (list of releases)
  • Too Fast for Love at Discogs (list of releases)
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