Too Fast for Love

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.

Too Fast for Love
Studio album by Mötley Crüe
Released	November 10, 1981
Recorded	October 1981
Studio	Hit City West in Los Angeles, California,[1]
Genre	Heavy metal
Length	38:49 (original) 34:19 (Elektra version)
Label	Leathür, Elektra
Producer	Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe chronology
Too Fast for Love (1981) Shout at the Devil (1983)
Singles from Too Fast for Love
"Stick to Your Guns" / "Toast of the Town" Released: May 3, 1981 "Live Wire" Released: August 16, 1982 "Public Enemy #1 (Promo)" Released: 1982 "Merry Go Around (Promo)" Released: 1982

While the album only reached number 77 on the Billboard 200 album chart in the United States,[2] it would ultimately reach platinum status.[3]

The songs "Stick to Your Guns" and "Live Wire" were released as singles for the album. The cover is an homage to The Rolling Stones' 1971 album Sticky Fingers.

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][4]

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. 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". This was released two months before the remixed version was released by Elektra worldwide, because Mötley 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."[5]

In 1996, Mötley 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
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[6]
Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal	9/10[7]
Metal Storm	(8.8/10)[8]
PopMatters	(favorable)[9]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide	[10]

Too Fast for Love has received mostly positive reviews. AllMusic reviewer Steve Huey gave the album a rating of four stars and claims that "Mötley Crüe essentially comes across as a bash-'em-out bar band, making up in enthusiasm what they lack in technical skill".[6] In 2017, it was ranked 22nd on Rolling Stone's list of "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time".[11]

Although released in late 1981, Too Fast for Love did not enter the Billboard 200 until 1983.[12] "Stick to Your Guns" and "Live Wire" were released as singles to promote the album.[13] "Public Enemy #1" and "Merry Go Around" were released as promo singles.

Too Fast for Love was also 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.[3]

Track listings

1981 Leathür Records original release

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

Side one

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Live Wire"	3:14
2.	"Public Enemy #1" (Sixx, Lizzie Grey)	4:22
3.	"Take Me to the Top"	3:43
4.	"Merry-Go-Round"	3:22
5.	"Piece of Your Action" (Sixx, Vince Neil)	4:39

Side two

No.	Title	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.	Title	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.	Title	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.	Title	Length
10.	"Toast of the Town" (Mick Mars, Sixx; B-side 1981 "Stick to Your Guns" single)	3:35
11.	"Tonight" (Eric Carmen; Raspberries cover)	4:27
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

Mötley Crüe

• Vince Neil – lead vocals
• Mick Mars – guitars, backing vocals
• Nikki Sixx – bass
• Tommy Lee – drums, backing vocals

Production

• Gleen Felt - engineer
• Azi Kipper, Robert Battaglia - additional engineers
• Michael Wagener - engineer, mixing
• Jo Hansch - mastering
• Bradley Gilderman - additional overdubs and edits
• Gordon Fordyce - remixing
• Roy Thomas Baker - remixing advisor

Certifications

Country	Organization	Year	Sales
USA	RIAA	1987	Platinum (+ 1,000,000)[3]

References

1. Moskowitz, David V. (2015). The 100 Greatest Bands of All Time: A Guide to the Legends Who Rocked the World. 2. ABC-CLIO. p. 421. ISBN 9781440803406.
2. "Billboard album chart history-Mötley Crüe". Retrieved June 16, 2010.
3. "RIAA Gold & Platinum database-Too Fast for Love". Retrieved March 4, 2008.
4. Avi Kipper | Credits | AllMusic
5. Ling, Dave (March 2000). "We are lüdicröus!". Classic Rock #12. p. 48.
6. Huey, Steve. "Too Fast for Love - Mötley Crüe". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved August 25, 2011.
7. 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.
8. "Mötley Crüe - Too Fast for Love". Metal Storm. January 1, 2005. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
9. Hreha, Scott (July 10, 2002). "Mötley Crüe: Too Fast for Love". PopMatters. Retrieved December 4, 2014.
10. 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.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
11. Greene, Andy (June 21, 2017). "100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time". Rolling Stone. Wenner Media LLC. Retrieved June 22, 2017.
12. "Too Fast for Love Billboard Albums". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved December 4, 2013.
13. "Mötley Crüe - Discography". Encyclopaedia Metallum. Retrieved December 4, 2013.