If discovering KISS was the event in my life in which the light bulb came on, helping me find my passion, discovering Motley Crue was the flick of the switch that would send the much needed jolt of electricity through my bones. The first spark came during the summer of 1984 in woods behind Shawn Wyllie’s house on Glen Street in St. Joseph, MO.
Shawn’s backyard gave way to (what at the time seemed a vast section of woods) that made for a great getaway for us neighborhood kids to do everything from build forts, play RAMBO, and discover rock and roll. Shawn had received SHOUT AT THE DEVIL for his 10th birthday, and soon enough we found ourselves wasting the days away, boom box in hand.
Shawn’s parent were far more way open minded than mine. Shawn got to see rated R movies, his dad had a subscription to Playboy magazine, and he was free and able to ask the ‘powers that be’ for Motley Crue SHOUT AT THE DEVIL, and receive it. Thanks to our friendship, I received the best of all worlds…(watching FRIDAY THE 13TH PART IV, PURPLE RAIN and MY TUTOR via the Wylie VCR, getting my first ever look at Playboy magazines, and thus and probably my finest hour as a 10 year old in the summer of 1984, falling in love with Motley Crue.
There was something about the danger of that music and this picture that effected me beyond measure. Dark, menacing and yet inviting, Shawn and I were in for a summer we would never forget…Crue-heads for life. Life was good…it was only getting better.
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