On June 21, 1985, Mötley Crüe released Theatre of Pain , their third studio album. The band has released a limited 40th Anniversary Deluxe Box Set of the album, available now in North America and on November 28th in the rest of the world via BMG – secure your copy here.
Produced by Tom Werman , the album's standout track was "Home Sweet Home," a sentimental ballad that the record label immediately rejected.
The track was a reaction to the band's experience embarking on their first tour, promoting Shout at the Devil in 1983. Bassist Nikki Sixx said in the documentary included in The End – Live in Los Angeles , from 2016 [transcription via Song Facts ]:
“It was our first time. A tour bus picked us up from our tiny apartments and we went off to do some shows, and 18 months later we were dropped back in our tiny apartments. I’d call Tommy and say, ‘Hey, what are you doing?’ ‘Sitting here. What are you doing?’ ‘I don’t know what to do.’ ‘Me neither. Want to grab a beer? How about a pack of cocaine – that too. And some strippers.’”
At that moment, the outline of the band's greatest ballad emerged. Nikki Sixx added: “We didn't know what to do, so we started writing songs for Theatre of Pain and 'Home Sweet Home' started to come out. The lyrics came from that feeling of being away for so long and wanting to go back, which is ironic, right? Because all you ever wanted was to join a band and hit the road, but then you're on the road and you want to go home.”
Record label rejected Mötley Crüe's ballad.
During a 2012 episode of his national radio show, Sixx Sense , Nikki Sixx recalled how the band had to fight to get this song included on an album: “Our label at the time, Elektra Records, we handed them the 1983 album Shout At The Devil and they rejected it,” he said.
“They said they didn’t like it, that it didn’t sound like Too Fast For Love from 1981, so we changed the logo, we changed the look. And then we said, ‘Okay. Let’s go to another label.’ So the label released it, and it sold four million copies. Elektra was about to go bankrupt at the time, and this saved their skin.”
Then, when our next album, Theatre Of Pain, was delivered, featuring 'Home Sweet Home', they rejected the album. They said, 'This is awful, and you have to take that song off the record. You're not a ballad band.' So we did the same thing.”
After releasing their first single, “Smokin' In The Boy's Room,” and achieving success, the band wanted to release “Home Sweet Home” as their next single with a music video. Nikki recounts that the record label wouldn't allow it: “They said, 'No way. No way.' So, we financed it, filmed the video ourselves, went to MTV, and the rest is history.”
Nikki Sixx concluded: “That song “Home Sweet Home” was never a hit single. They never played it on the radio, never promoted the song, and if it weren’t for MTV, when they used to play music videos, that song wouldn’t be the song it is today. But that song is kind of like our ‘Dream On’ [ Aerosmith ] or our ‘Stairway To Heaven’ [ Led Zeppelin ].”
Success of “Home Sweet Home”
Mötley Crüe insisted on the track because they knew fans supported rock bands' heavier music, which slowed down to generate strong emotions. Released in 1985, "Home Sweet Home" reached #89 in the US.
The last song played by Mötley Crüe on their Final Tour was “Home Sweet Home,” which has also been covered by other artists. The band themselves released a new recording in 1991 and a retrospective version in 2019 for the soundtrack of the biographical film The Dirt .
Mötley Crüe recently released a new version of "Home Sweet Home" featuring Dolly Parton . Part of the proceeds from the single will go to Covenant House , an organization very dear to the band members.
