Greatest Hits

If Decade of Decadence was Mötley Crüe’s wild victory lap, Greatest Hits is the band sobering up just long enough to count the trophies. Released in 1998, this updated compilation tightens the focus on the chaos and charisma that defined their first decade — and, crucially, reminds listeners why their brand of sleaze metal still sells arenas.

The tracklist reads like a crash course in excess: “Dr. Feelgood”, “Girls, Girls, Girls”, “Kickstart My Heart”, and “Home Sweet Home” all roar back to back, sounding as gloriously over the top as ever. But it’s the inclusion of two new songs — “Bitter Pill” and “Enslaved” — that give the record a touch of late-’90s relevance. Both tracks thrum with darker tones and a hint of industrial sheen, signalling a band trying, however briefly, to evolve beyond their Sunset Strip legacy.

Commercially, the compilation was a hit, climbing to No. 20 on the Billboard 200 and later reissued in 2009 with a reshuffled running order. It even nabbed Metal Edge’s “Best Compilation” award that year — a small but fitting nod to a band that’s always thrived on spectacle.

Greatest Hits doesn’t reframe Mötley Crüe so much as immortalise them: the decadent, dangerous, and endlessly quotable architects of hair metal’s most iconic moments. It’s loud, ludicrous, and entirely irresistible — just as it should be.