Mötley Crüe (#21) | Ozzy & Black Sabbath (#22) | AC/DC (#23) - Evan’s 111 Artists

It was the ice hockey and Bar Mitzvah days that brought me hard rock and long hair... beyond the mullet.

We would meet at the Wawa in East Windsor, usually between 2–5am, before the long commute to our games. My Dad always drove and most of the time we’d pile another player or two into his Buick Riviera with our massive bags in the trunk. He smoked three packs of Marlboro Reds a day, and when it was just the two of us, he hot-boxed me the whole way.

His sound system was pretty good and he’d typically play The Oak Ridge Boys (enjoy, and be warned this will stay with you), Seals and Crofts, Neil Diamond, Elvis or the Village People.

My Dad, always with a lighter in his left pocket and a pack or 2 of Reds in the other, always had the loudest voice at my games.

One morning our goalie “Bubba” asked if we could listen to his new tape. It was Mötley Crüe’s Shout at the Devil. This version of the title track live from the US Festival really captures the times.

It was early in the morning and still dark, we were driving deep into Pennsylvania, thankfully my Dad cranked it up and we listened to the entire album, which was pretty fucking amazing.

A few years later we jammed “Looks That Kill,” not sure we ever performed it though. I finally saw them live way later. Vince was tired, Mick was sick and hadn’t aged well. Not great. Tommy Lee remained vital though and always seemed to be around in my career. At one of our Grammy parties at the Hudson Hotel in NYC, he was a bit of a kissing bandit.

Me, Matt and Carl peak Bar Mitzvah season.

The toughest ice hockey team we played against was called the Gladiators. That was also one of the closer drives for us, to Cherry Hill, NJ, just outside of Philly. Three of their players’ dads played for the Philadelphia Flyers, which in its own right was a bit intimidating, but more importantly, when they came on the ice, they BLASTED Ozzy’s “Crazy Train” over the PA, REAL LOUD. They even dimmed the lights before the song started and we were already out there doing laps.

I already knew and loved “Iron Man,” “Paranoid” and “Changes,” but I had never experienced such intensity as this team coming out to “Crazy Train.”

After they kicked our asses we got to say hi to famous Flyer Bobby Clarke, who supposedly outfitted their team in Cooperalls, long black pants instead of the typical padded shorts.

While I never saw Sabbath or Ozzy live, I did go to two houses that Ozzy had lived in over the years. One was a beach house in Malibu owned by a red-hot music producer who became a (business) friend, and the other was owned by Christina Aguilera at the time in Beverly Hills. Remember that content shoot, Josh? It was NOT cold in the pool house!

My shag carpet was red, and so was my first and only electric guitar purchase at age 13 which I kept until I passed it on to a 13 year old in Colorado.

Right around when I got my electric guitar I bought the AC/DC cassette For Those About to Rock. This was very different than what I was hearing on the radio. The band logo was cool, especially on ¾ tees. The other images were dark and simple and the music had a ton of anthem-level sing-alongs. All of the tunes were straight-ahead, four-on-the-floor rock. Pretty sick shit, and the lead singer’s voice was a non-stop strain.

A few decades later, when I was early on at Clear Channel Radio, the industry was invited to attend a warm-up gig for their upcoming tour. It was at an arena in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, 3 hours or so from NYC.

It was a questionable decision to go given I was hosting 10 or so people in NYC for a few days of meetings starting the next day.

No problem. Guido would be waiting for me at my house in Montclair after work. We’d drive down, see the show, crash at a motel for 3 hours or so, and get back to my house by 6am. I’d shower and get into the city ready to get at it.

Fun adventure. We drank “deer blood” (Jäger shots) with some locals, did our best to enjoy a very uninspired show, slept a little, and started the drive back to Montclair at 3am. Guido was dead weight and had me pull over so he could puke a few times.

I showered and got ready to go into the city. He crashed and had to deal with the torment of a real young Rex and Luli who didn’t yet know (or care) what a hangover was.

← Back to Evan’s 111 Artists series

Play this live video of Crazy Train real loud

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“Dad, you always say this song is a F*CKING MASTERPIECE… make a list.”

Motley Crue, Ozzy & Black Sabbath and AC/DC masterpieces are listed below, and more on my 1k+ song Spotify Playlist — Evan’s 111 Artists

Shout At The Devil, Looks That Kill, Live Wire, Wild Side, Home Sweet Home, Kickstart My Heart, Merry Go Round
War Pigs, Iron Man, Paranoid, Heaven and Hell, Crazy Train, Bark At The Moon, Changes, Flying High Again, Goodbye To Romance
For Those About To Rock (We Salute You), Let’s Get It Up, Hells Bells, Shoot To Thrill, Let Me Put My Love Into You, Back In Black, Rock and Roll Aint Noise Pollution, Highway To Hell, Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap

My favorite days were going into Tribeca after traffic, walking Luli and Rex to the bus in Montclair.