When I was a kid growing up in LA, we had two mega rock radio stations. The Mighty KMET and KLOS. KLOS is still around today. I’d heard songs from Shout at the Devil and I liked them.
Then I’d hear this other song on the radio and wonder who that was. Somehow I discovered it was Live Wire from the first Crue album. I was surprised as it seemed so different. They evolved and changed a lot from the first to second albums. First of all… the Riff is insane… super simple 2 chords, 1 and minor 3rd.
Everything about the song is amazing, riffs, vocals, drums, song structure and the ending is perfect! Of course I watched the video a million times as a kid… and we would all laugh when Tommy hit the cowbell and made the funny face. Rock on Mick and the rest of the Crue…
Check out my YouTube shorts including a full breakdown of “Public Enemy #1” over 5 clips.
Subscribe and hit the 🔔, I’m gonna do some full song breakdowns in the future.
“Public Enemy #!” Breakdown Part 2