Part 251: Punched In the Teeth By Love

RECORD STORE TALES Part 251: Punched In the Teeth By Love

Back in December of 1991, an old M.E.A.T Magazine article on Motley Crue revealed a cool little nugget of an exclusive. Motley were promoting their first “greatest hits” CD, Decade of Decadence.  Like any good official compilation album should, it contained three brand new songs.  They were heavier, alluding to an evolution in direction for Motley Crue.  However there was a fourth new song that didn’t make the cut:

PUNCHED

It always disappointed me that since Vince Neil left the Crue in early ’92, that song title never appeared on their next album.  Too bad, I thought.  Something about the title jumped out at me; I was looking forward to hearing the song, but it never came out.  Bummer.  Especially since I did indeed get “punched in the teeth by love” (figuratively) and been knocked out a couple times.  But you could never keep me down for the count, I always bounced back.

Any time I broke up with some girl back then, I’d always tell the guys at the record store the same thing.  “Man, I need to write a song called ‘Punch In the Teeth By Love’!”  I figured, since Motley Crue hadn’t used it, the title was up for grabs!  I threw some words and a rudimentary riff/melody together as a joke but it never went beyond that.  It always generated a few laughs though, and laughing at work is healthy, especially when you’ve been punched in the teeth by love.

Of course later on (1997) Vince Neil did rejoin Motley Crue.  Later still, after Tommy Lee quit the group acrimoniously, they released possibly their worst ever album New Tattoo (2000).  Interestingly, that album’s track #7 was called “Punched In the Teeth By Love”!

I don’t presume this to be the exact song that would have come out in 1991, since Randy Castillo (Tommy Lee’s replacement) is credited as a writer.  Maybe the lyrics are recycled, maybe just the title, whatever:  it doesn’t matter.  Finally “Punched In the Teeth By Love” surfaced and as hoped it was one of the heaviest songs.  The riff was pretty generic, but Mick Mars’ guitar work is impressive.  I’ve always felt Mick has grown as a guitar player tremendously, especially since Dr. Feelgood.  It’s certainly not the greatest song, but it rocks hard enough and has a cool gang vocal chorus, so I’ll give it a B or a B+.

It was considered to be worthy of the concert setlist in 2000 (Samantha Maloney on drums now, filling in for the terminally ill Randy Castillo).  It was played only on that tour though, and it was not included on any Crue compilation since then, including the double Red, White & Crue.  So I’d like to bring your attention back to this track, a pretty good if not great dirty little Motley Crue song:  “Punched In the Teeth By Love”!

25 comments

  1. Cool I hadn’t heard this one before, we should form a covers band immediately – cover this, AC/DC Kicked in the Teeth and, umm, ZZ Top I Kneed You Tonight …

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  3. Great story, dude. I thought the punch line was gonna be that the song appeared on some other release later, under another title. That happens a lot too. And is it just me, or are Vince’s vocals in that live video absolutely terrible?

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    1. Yes unfortunately that live release is noted as one of the worst for Vince’s performance. However it’s also the only DVD with Sam Maloney on drums and you just have to love her, she is so obviously having a good time.

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      1. Yeah, she was having a real awesome time, doing smack with Sixx and, errr… doing Sixx as well.
        But yeah, I see what you mean. Her having such a good time is contagious, you cannot help having a good time as well.

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        1. Yeah rule #1: Don’t start screwing your boss. It is bound to cause some kind of drama.

          Obviously Tommy Lee coming back was the correct move for Motley, but Samantha was cool, I liked her.

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  4. Vince is gassed ..case in point he headlined a show here in Tbay back in 05 at a bill they called Rock The Fort. 3 day festival including Quiet Riot ,Helix,Sweet,Northern Pikes Heart, Alannah Myles, Bachman Cummings and a few others as well…
    Neil headlined the Sat night and I left 6 songs in..half singing ..
    Exhibit A..
    Shout At The Devil….ie Vince’s fill in the blanks song….
    He’s the….
    He’s the blood….
    He’s the tear……
    Been tempted….

    Get the point…guy was half assin it! Now I’m one for old audience participation but god what a mess…..
    He’s playing our auditorium (capacity 1500 or so)here in Jan for $55….
    Good luck to all the suckas who go to this one….

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    1. I hate it when Vince half-asses it! He is notorious for that. This DVD was embarrassing for that reason. It was obvious he didn’t have the lung power to keep singing.

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  5. Actually miss Meat Magazine now that u posted that pic with the Sun King on the cover!
    It’s too bad it fell apart and Masters chased the country genre which I guess ya gotta pay the bills when sumthins hot which country was (1993) at the time…..but I subscribed to it so it would get to my mailbox so I wouldn’t have to hunt for it anywhere….
    Fantastic articles back than……

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  6. I remember Vince doing an interview with a Swedish mag at the time they were starting pre-production on the Decade compilation. He namedropped Punched for us as well and he also revealed that they had song called Hell On High Heels that was supposed to be on Decade Well, that song also ended up on the horrible New Tattoo. I don’t think neither are any good. Thank God (well, not really…) that we got Primal Scream instead. In my opinion, one of the Crüe’s best songs ever.

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    1. I guess New Tattoo has a lot of recycled idea huh? I wonder if it’s the same song or just a title.

      I agree about Primal Scream Jon. I don’t know what I can add to that except to say that it was really profound to me back in 1991. The lyrics spoke to me, I had been bullied a lot as a kid and I liked the lyrics. But that groove…solid! And Mick’s slide guitar is always something that makes Motley sound different from other bands.

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