"You're All I Need" is a power ballad[2] by American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. It was released as the third and final single from the band's 1987 album Girls, Girls, Girls.
| "You're All I Need" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by Mötley Crüe | ||||
| from the album Girls, Girls, Girls | ||||
| B-side | "Wild Side" | |||
| Released | 19 October 1987 (US)
| |||
| Recorded | 1987 | |||
| Genre | Glam metal | |||
| Length | 4:32 | |||
| Label | Elektra | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Nikki Sixx, Tommy Lee | |||
| Producer(s) | Tom Werman | |||
| Mötley Crüe singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Music videos | ||||
| "You're All I Need" on YouTube | ||||
The song peaked at 83 on the Hot 100, and 23 on the UK Singles Chart. Despite the controversy and its lack of chart success, the song is considered one of their best songs.[3]
Song meaning edit
The song was praised by Jon Bon Jovi as "the best ballad Mötley Crüe have ever written.”[4] When informed of this, Nikki Sixx laughed because of the gruesome meaning behind the song.[citation needed]
As Sixx would later relate in his Heroin Diaries memoir, "You're All I Need" was inspired by some real-life violent impulses. Convinced his girlfriend at the time had been cheating on him with actor Jack Wagner, who was then enjoying a taste of pop stardom with his hit single "All I Need," Sixx wrote his own song — then played it for his ex. "I took the cassette over to her apartment and I didn't say anything. I just had a little cassette player and I just played it for her, and she started crying, and I walked out the door," he later told Rolling Stone. "I was like, 'Well now, that's that.'"[5] However, the rest of the band praised the song and it was recorded for the Girls, Girls, Girls album. In Sixx's book, The Heroin Diaries, a journal entry states that Tommy Lee was playing the song on the piano, and Sixx wrote the lyrics for the piano part.[citation needed]
Music video edit
Shot in black-and-white, the video shows a man getting into a heated argument with his girlfriend, which ends with him killing her with a kitchen knife (off-screen). He then takes a picture of her off the wall, and throws it in the fireplace. After the murder, he begins having a breakdown, and destroys many objects in his house. Eventually, he is arrested by the police and is hauled away in front of many onlookers while Paramedics put the dead woman in a body bag. The band appears in the video through hallucinations. Even though the video was not particularly violent (except for the lyrics), MTV refused to air it, due to the realistic gruesome scenes.[3] The video was directed by Wayne Isham.[6] The DVD version of the video begins with a statement warning about the video's content.[7]
Charts edit
"You're All I Need" peaked at 83 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1987[8] and 23 on the UK Singles Chart in 1988[9]
References edit
- ^ "Motley Crue singles".
- ^ Hartmann, Graham (15 May 2012). "Motley Crue's 'Girls, Girls, Girls' – Readers Poll". Loudwire. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ a b "Motley Crue's 15 Best Songs: Critic's Picks". Billboard. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ Masley, Ed. "Best Motley Crue songs of all time". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved 8 June 2021.
- ^ "Why Motley Crue's 'You're All I Need' Was Banned by MTV". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 25 April 2021.
- ^ Bomb, Cherry (28 March 2020). "I Hate My MTV: A History of Heavy Metal Videos Banned By MTV". Metal Injection. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ Childers, Chad (21 March 2019). "20 Best Motley Crue Videos Ranked by 'The Dirt' Level". Loudwire. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ "Mötley Crüe". Billboard. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
- ^ "MOTLEY CRUE | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 22 June 2021.
