B-side "She Goes Down" Recorded 1988–89 Label Elektra | Released November 20, 1989 Length 4:48 | |
Genre Heavy metal, speed metal | ||
"Kickstart My Heart" is a song by the American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, originally released on their 1989 album, Dr. Feelgood.
Contents
Origins
In a 2015 interview, Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx related the origins of "Kickstart My Heart", which he wrote while the band was already working on Dr. Feelgood. Sixx was playing acoustic guitar in his house while scribbling words on a piece of paper. When the group’s former manager read the words, he encouraged Sixx to share it with the rest of the band. Sixx was reluctant, but eventually did show the band and the track came together quickly.
Music video
The video clip was shot in the Whisky a Go Go on October 5, 1989 during Mötley Crüe's warm up show before embarking on the Dr. Feelgood Tour. Sam Kinison is featured at the start of the video in a short cameo as the band's driver.
2011 video
In 2011 Mötley Crüe made a new video for the song which included multiple clips from their US tour with Poison and New York Dolls. Soon after the band issued the following statement: "We documented the whole tour, top to bottom (the good, the bad and the ugly) and as we were looking through all the amazing footage, we thought how cool it would be to cut together a 'best of visual' for the fans who made this tour happen. This one is just for the fans, from us."
Super Bowl commercial
On February 5, 2012, "Kickstart My Heart" was featured in a commercial for Kia Motors during halftime at Super Bowl XLVI. This commercial also featured Brazilian model Adriana Lima, Pittsburgh Steeler Brett Keisel and ex-UFC fighter Chuck Liddell.
Riff
Released as the album's second single in 1989, "Kickstart My Heart" reached #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. The introduction is a classic example of a Floyd Rose bridge trick, in which Mick Mars drops three consecutive strings resulting in sound similar to a motorcycle shifting gears, borrowed from the similar-sounding intro to Montrose's "Bad Motor Scooter". The catchy guitar riff that immediately follows bears a striking resemblance to 1970s glam rock band Sweet's intro to their 1973 song, "Hell Raiser" (which itself resembles Led Zeppelin's 1969 song "Whole Lotta Love"). The song's ending features a prominent example of talkbox effects.