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Looks That Kill

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For the 2020 American dark comedy film, see Looks That Kill (film).

"Looks That Kill"
Single by Mötley Crüe
from the album Shout at the Devil
ReleasedJanuary 4, 1984
Recorded1983
GenreHeavy metal, glam metal
Length4:07
LabelElektra
Songwriter(s)Nikki Sixx
Producer(s)Tom Werman
Mötley Crüe singles chronology
"Shout at the Devil"
(1983) 		"Looks That Kill"
(1984) 		"Too Young to Fall in Love"
(1984)

"Looks That Kill" is a song by American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe. It was released in 1983, on the group's second album Shout at the Devil. It is released on January 4, 1984.

Background

Written by bassist Nikki Sixx, the track was released as a single on January 4, 1984. It spent 10 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, peaking at #54 and #12 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks.[1]

Mötley Crüe played the song live for the first time on October 31, 1982 at the Concord Pavilion in Concord, CA.

Music video

The music video was filmed at A&M Records' main sound stage. It features the band in a post-apocalyptic setting where they trap a group of women in a cage while performing the song. In the middle of the video, the warrior queen (played by Wendy Barry) appears to release the women before confronting the band. The band follows and surrounds her, but she disappears, leaving a flaming pentagram on the ground.[2]

Track listing

  1. "Looks That Kill" – 4:07
  2. "Piece of Your Action"

Personnel

Legacy

  • The song was covered by the punk band Diesel Boy and appeared on the compilation album Punk Goes Metal.
  • The main riff is identical to the main riff of the Dokken song "Young Girls" on the Breaking the Chains album, which was released two years prior to Mötley Crüe's Shout at the Devil. The song is also very similar to "You Don't Have to be Old to be Wise" released by Judas Priest in 1980.[1]
  • The main riff came in at #41 on Guitar World's list of best riffs/solos.
  • It is used on the radio station "V-Rock" in the 2006 video game, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. Due to copyright issues, this song was excluded from the European release of the game.
  • Until 2012, political talk radio program The Savage Nation included "Looks That Kill" in its opening sequence, including the lyric, "Now, listen up."
  • Cover version was released as a bonus track on Static-X's album Cult of Static.
  • It appears in Guitar Hero 5.
  • The pre-chorus guitar riff is strikingly similar to the dungeon theme to the video game Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. The song was released four years prior to the game's release.
  • British hard rock band Chillpace covered the song in October 2019, changing the lyrics to be about the climate change movement.

References

  1. ^ "Allmusic (Motley Crue charts & awards)Billboard singles".
  2. ^ "The Girl in the Video: "Looks That Kill" (1983)". Noblemania. July 13, 2014. Retrieved March 25, 2019.


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