Facts About Motley Crue’s “Dr. Feel Good” Most Fans Don’t Know About

The studio album Dr. Feelgood of Motley Crue came out Sept. 1, 1989. It is viewed by most of their fans as the “band’s strongest album” to date. The legacy of Dr. Feelgood will never fade. It has been a long 31 years since the iconic album came out and closed the decade with a bang, but there are some several facts that, until now, you may not have known about the album. Here are some of them:

It was their first album recorded sober.
It was one of the band’s toughest times when they did this following Neil’s crash and Nikki Sixx’s death scare. When reality finally started to set in for Motley Crue that if they didn’t get their shit together their career would be over, the band cleaned up before getting into the studio and really channeled their energy into the music.

The original “Dr. Feelgood.”
The nickname “Dr. Feelgood” was originally given to Dr. Max Jacobson by the Secret Service during John F. Kennedy’s president who was known for administering amphetamine to prominent clients.

It inspired Metallica.
It is said that Tommy Lee’s stellar drum sound inspired Metallica’s Lars Ulrich to produce The Black Album.

It references their past.
The lines in the songs included actually referred to the past of the band.

The title-track was originally much different.
The one who wrote pretty much everything, Sixx, said:

“It had a whole different theme to it. It was called ‘Dr. Feelgood,’ but a whole different thing lyrically. In the end it was inspired by drug dealers.”

It got a shoe.
In 2008, Nike released a commemorative “Dunk High” sneaker that was colored to match the theme of the album cover.

It has all-star guest appearances.
There’s Aerosmith’s Steven Tyler sang backing vocals on the track “Sticky Sweet” and Cheap Trick’s Robin Zander guest sang on “She Goes Down” to name some.

It did well on the charts.
It peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and spent a total of 109 weeks on the chart. It also won Best Hard Rock/Heavy Metal album of the year at the 1991 American Music Awards.

Vince Neil on guitar.
Neil has not only played guitar on some songs during the recording of the album, but he also played it live with them.

It gives a nod to The Beatles.
The melody at the end of “Slice of Your Pie” is based on The Beatles’ track, “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).”