My Sunday Song – “Wild Side” by Motley Crue

Published on by 2loud2oldmusic

For My Sunday Song #187, we are going a little nuts with the song “The Wild Side” by Motley Crue. The song is off the band’s 1987 album ‘Girls, Girls, Girls’ which went to #2 on the Billboard charts and saw three singles including this one. It sold well over 4 million albums in the U.S. alone and saw the band reach another level of success.

The song “Wild Side” is very similar to the song we did last week, “Saints of Los Angeles”.  They both talk about their lives on the Sunset Strip and both reference the Lord’s Prayer.  “SOLA” opened with Vince speaking it and “WildSide” was inspired by a school girl who Nikki asked to recite the Lord’s Prayer and then he incorporated some of the prayer in to the lyrics like below…

“Our father
Who ain’t in heaven
Be thy name on the wild side”

The song is about the dirty side of the Strip with all the drugs, pimping, and many other abuses going on at that time in their lives.  Heck, even Nikki wrote when he was severely hooked on Heroin.

Musically, it belts at as a rocker with a mean guitar riff by Mick Mars. The pace goes from fast to slow with tempos reaching 118 beats per minute at one time.  There is actually no guitar solo in the song only many instances of Mick belting out some cool riffs and guitar parts.  Tommy pounds away and you can tell it is him on those drums. Vince sounds great and still so young.  And Nikki is always doing his thing.  There is a blues sound to the song as well and ends with sirens, breaking glass, gunfire and lots of mayhem.

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Give the song a listen and see if it takes you back to the excess of the 80’s.  Let me know what you think.  Thanks for stopping by and have a Happy Sunday even if it is a little n the wild side!!

“Wild Side”

Kneel down ye sinners, to
Streetwise religion
Greed’s been crowned the new King
Hollywood dream teens
Yesterday’s trash queens
Save the blessings for the final ring-
AMENTake a ride on the wild side
Wild side

I carry my crucifix
Under my death list
Forward my mail to me in hell
Liars and the martyrs
Lost faith in The Father
Long lost in the wishing well

Take a ride on the wild side
Wild side

Fallen angels
So fast to kill
Thy kingdom come on the wild side
Our father
Who ain’t in heaven
Be thy name on the wild side

Holy Mary
Mother may I
Pray for us on the wild side
Wild side. Wild sideName dropping no-names
Glamorize cocaine
Puppets with strings of gold
East L.A. at midnight
Papa won’t be home tonight
Found dead with his best friend’s wife

Take a ride on the wild side
Wild side
Take a ride on the wild side
Wild side

Gang fights
Fatal strikes
We lie on the wild side
No escape
Murder, rape
Doing time on the wild side
A baby cries
A cop dies
A day’s pay on the wild side
Wild side, wild side
Tragic life on the wild side
Wild side, wild side
Kickin’ ass on the wild side

No goin’ back on the wild side

Written by Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee, Vince Neil and Mick Mars

16 thoughts on “My Sunday Song – “Wild Side” by Motley Crue”

  1. Great track from a so so album. That opening paragraph is one of the best things Sixx has ever written. Right up there with Primal Scream and the “Broke Dick Dog” line.
    Great pick Mr Snow

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  3. Great song for the Motley Sunday series.

    Seriously how good are the opening lyrics
    Kneel down ye sinners, to
Streetwise religion
Greed’s been crowned the new King..

    And the music.. bone crunching. Love the clip as well… I remember reading a circus article about it and how they told the crowd they are going to mime the song for the clip and the crowd booed and they said fuck it… let’s just play it…

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  6. I agree with Deke, a great song from a so-so album. Didn’t know that story behind the Lord’s prayer but I really like the way Nikki twisted it. Sure was memorable. This song needs to be in every Motley setlist and on every hits CD.

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