My first-ever experience with Motley Crue was back in the 1981 or so, well before the band signed with Elektra.

I just 16, a student at Birmingham High in Van Nuys, and one afternoon I was driving by the old Country Club in the heart of the San Fernando Valley and noticed a long line of young metal heads waiting hours before the show for the doors to open.

I had never seen kids lining up so far in advance for a club show, and I looked up at the marquee and saw “Motley Crue.”

That was enough to know Motley Crue would be big one day. Very big.

Eventually, I heard “Public Enemy No. 1,” “Livewire” and “Take me to the Top,” and was instantly transformed. The changes in the songs and the musicianship were mesmerizing, and like so many others I fell in love with Vince Neil’s sweet, distinctive voice.

I never got a chance to see Motley Crue live until the “Shout at the Devil” tour at the Fox Theatre in San Diego back in the ’82 or ’83. I was in the second row and pumping my fist. The sound was distorted, it was so hard to make out the lyrics, but what an amazing band. I bought a souvenir t-shirt that night featuring the Motley Crue logo, a pentagram, and a bleeding skull, and I wore it proudly for many years.

One day, a little kid saw my shirt and got scared, and I thought that was kind of cool.

It was a few years later before I first got to know Vince Neil, hanging out with him and others backstage at the Hollywood Palladium for a benefit gig.

We were all drinking beer after the show, and I remember him being a nice guy. We all left together through the back exit at the end of the night, and some fool was waiting by the backstage door with a few others and surprised Neil by exclaiming, “Hey Vince Neil? Motley Crue sucks.”

I thought Neil would just ignore the guy, but Neil totally stood up for himself. I remember word for word EXACTLY what Neil said to the guy: “So do you, you dumb-looking motherfucker.”

What a cool answer.

Then some guy in Neil’s entourage doused the guy with a beer and said, “Here, take a shower.”

That was that. What a vivid rock and roll memory.

Motley Crue

-- I guess the band that really started it all in terms of L.A. pop-metal, and opened the door in the first place for bands like Motley Crue, was Quiet Riot.

Even before Quiet Riot was a household name, lead singer Kevin Dubrow was somewhat of a legend in Hollywood. He had a really cool image that included a Rod Stewart-style rooster haircut, and he had been trying to first make it under the name Dubrow before eventually striking it rich with Quiet Riot.

A stumbling block occurred when all of Quiet Riot except Dubrow disbanded to form the backing band for Ozzy Osbourne.

When Quiet Riot finally hit the public consciousness with “Metal Health” – what a great song, and a great album – I was so excited to see them live at the Forum supporting ZZ Top.

For me, that bill was upside down. I was there to see Quiet Riot, and I still remember exactly where I was sitting in section 14 just a bit too far to the side of the stage.

Quiet Riot

-- Hollywood crowds can be so jaded. I remember one night at the Hollywood Palace when L.A. Guns was playing. As the band took its bows at the end of the night, guitarist Tracii Guns inexplicably took his clothes off and was up there naked with his you-know-what hanging out.

No one even noticed or remarked about it. It was like a normal thing. So weird.

When Jim Morrison did it two decades earlier in Miami, it was national news.

Tracii Guns