Songoftheday 5/14/14 - Sittin' in the classroom thinkin' it's a drag, listening to the teacher rap just ain't my bag...

Motley Crue - "Smokin' In The Boys Room"
from the album Theatre Of Pain (1985)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #16 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 9

Today's Song of the Day is by the Los Angeles heavy metal band Motley Crue, who were the epitome of the bad boy rock image in the 80s. With lead singer Vince Neil, drummer Tommy Lee, bass player Nikki Sixx and guitarist Mick Mars, the band came together at the beginning of the 80's, self-releasing their debut album Too Fast For Love before having it reworked went they went with Elektra Records in 1982. After a bunch of staged scuffles with the law, it wasn't until 1984 when album rock radio embraced their music that they took off. Their sophomore set Shout At The Devil nabbed them their first rock radio hit with the title track, then their first minor pop hit with "Too Fast For Love" (#54).

By 1985 MTV had also signed on the "Motley Crue" train, helped no less with a remake of a 70s track as their first single from their third album. "Smokin' In the Boys Room" was original one of those "one-hit-wonder" types of singles from the group Brownsville Station. The hard-rock group from Michigan went to #3 at the beginning of 1974, when smoking cigarettes was still a A-level-style problem...

Of course by then the Crue's exploits went way beyond the tobacco, but this novelty was their "in" to the mainstream, with a song the kids' parents can relate to and pre-screened for radio/TV consumption...

Motley Crue's cover became their first pop top-40 hit as it climbed to #16 in September of 1985. The single also was their first to make the top-10 on the Mainstream Rock chart in Billboard, topping out at #7. The record even crossed over the Atlantic, nicking the British chart at #71. Their album would eventually sell over four million copies, proving them the biggest force in hard rock at the time.

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Here's the band live from 1987...

and again from Moscow just two years later, when they were huge...

Up tomorrow: A Bronx freestyle singer so nice they named her twice.