The Night I First Saw Mötley Crüe

I still remember the first time I saw Mötley Crüe like it was yesterday. I was working my very first radio job at a rock station in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I was wide-eyed, sleep-deprived, and had never truly experienced an 80’s hairband show.

When the station announced we’d be taking a bus full of listeners to see Mötley Crüe on tour with Poison and Skid Row, I couldn’t have been any more excited. This was peak rock-radio energy: giveaway tickets, rowdy superfans, and a charter bus that had no business being as chaotic as it was. I was so excited to see Tommy Lee but turns out, he wasn’t on that tour.

Still, the excitement of seeing Crüe for the first time carried me straight onto that bus. It was absolutely nuts. The party started before we even pulled out of the parking lot. Drinks cracked open, strangers became instant best friends, and the energy was pure pre-show mayhem.

Then someone, somehow, threw an adult film onto the bus TVs. Suddenly the bus went from rowdy to rowdier, and I had that moment every young radio employee has at least once: How is this my job?

By the time we hit Atlanta, we were half deaf, half delirious, and fully ready for the show. The concert itself? was everything I hoped for, even without Tommy Lee.

On the ride back, the entire bus passed back, we all passed out like toddlers after a long day at Disneyland. I’d say that’s the night I truly understood rock and roll!

PS. Win tickets to see Motley Crue, Tesla and Extreme Friday, Sept 11th only on Houston’s Eagle!

Lana Backman