The NFL Draft concert series with Fall Out Boy, Motley Crüe, and Thundercat, explained by a young and an old

Working in the media space, you get a lot of public relations emails in your inbox each day. While you might want to write about each one that comes through, there simply are not enough hours in the day to touch on all of them.

However, sometimes a email — and in this case a subject line — comes through that just stops you in your tracks.

Like this one, which brought all work at SBNation to a halt for more time yesterday than we care to admit:

Every next word in that subject line is another step in a long and winding journey. A journey that, frankly, when you read it for the first time you cannot help but wonder how it will end.

The awe at the group of musical acts then gave way to a certain ... bewilderment from some of our younger writers.

“Motley who?”

So as part of our ongoing effort to keep our readers as well-informed as possible about everything that is happening in sports welcome to our latest installment of “a young and an old,” at SBNation. In this installment Mark Schofield — one of our resident “olds” — will try and help JP Acosta — our leading “young” — make sense of the 2023 NFL Draft Concert series and, in particular, Mötley Crüe.

Mark: Okay JP. So, let me preface this discussion this way: The 1980s were a very strange and different time. You have to consider the bigger national — and frankly global — landscape. The United States was locked in a Cold War with the Soviet Union, a clash that kept the spectre of nuclear nightmare over all our heads. We even looked to Sylvester Stallone and Sting to help ease tensions between the two nations, hoping cooler heads would prevail. A period of economic growth led to concerns over an economy that could slide back into recession. Technological advancements led people in many industries, such as journalism, teaching, customer service and more to wonder if their jobs would soon become obsolete. And spring football was in the air, thanks to the USFL.

Wait, what?

Anyway a new era of music was upon us, with a wave of bands that were described at the time as “heavy metal,” but could be considered more “rock” by today’s standards. They would also, over time, become known as “hair metal” bands thanks to the combination of musical influences, and grooming styles.

One of the biggest — and first — such bands to hit the scene? Mötley Crüe. Hailing from California, their mix of energy, sound, and elaborate live performances soon took the music world by storm. Their first two albums, Too Fast for Love and Shout at the Devil, had a much harder edge but it was their third release, Theater of Pain, that saw the Crüe start to morph into the glam/hair band they eventually became.

With me so far? Any questions?

JA: First question: why are they Mötley? Why is Crüe spelled like that? And what on Earth is “hair metal”?

As SB Nation’s resident young, I’ll admit: I know of Mötley Crüe but have never heard a single song. I will say, naming an album Theater of Pain kinda rocks and if their songs go as hard as their album names then I’m in

MS: All fair points. Certainly Theater of Pain is perhaps their best album title, perhaps with Generation Swine a close second, which was their release in 1997. We’ll also put the self-titled Mötley Crüe to the side.

As for the band’s name, it was an idea of one of their founding — and current — members Mick Mars. When Mars was in another band, they were described as a “motley looking crew.” Mars loved that description, but jotted it down as a “mottley cru.” They came up with Motley Crue, and added the umlauts at the suggestion of singer Vince Neil, as the band was drinking the German beer Löwenbräu at the time. So you have a German-looking name with the suggestion of drinking beer and partying? Everything to get suburban kids like me into the nearest Newbury Comics.

As for the “hair metal” aspect. If you can picture a fusion between heavy metal and pop music, which gets suburban mall rats like me into the nearest music store, then there is your answer. This wave of music is perhaps best known for the idea of the “power ballad,” when a band from this genre suddenly drops something a bit slower and softer, trying to tap into their emotional side.

Perhaps the most famous from Mötley Crüe? “Home Sweet Home.”

JA: Wait, they did power ballads too? I only think of power ballads when I’m describing Disney songs.

MS: Oh absolutely? Like, here’s the official music video for “Home Sweet Home:”

A: Yes this is still a banger. B: Yes, there is A LOT going on here. And C: Again, the 1980s were odd.

So, does that clear things up? At least somewhat?

JA: That music video sure is something, but yeah I got the gimmick down now.

MS: Okay cool. Also, just know that the band members are rather well-known for their private lives. Lives that became rather public. Perhaps the most notable here is drummer Tommy Lee. Just, please promise me you will not Google him while working or while using any Vox Media technology. Because, well, that’s probably not the safest play.

JA: Too late already typing.

(/searches Wikipedia)

I regret everything.