Merry-Go-Round

The inspiration for this song was a bizarre incident Crüe bass player Nikki Sixx witnessed when he was living in Seattle. He saw a guy with a mental condition being taken away by authorities when he refused to get off a merry-go-round. "He was about 22-23 years old and had about four kids and had all these pressures," Sixx explained. "He regressed to being a little kid. He was out there playing on the merry-go-round and he just lost it — too many pressures."

This is a track from Too Fast For Love, Mötley Crüe's debut album, which they released independently. Nikki Sixx was the primary songwriter in the band, and many songs on the album, including this one, he had in the works before Mötley Crüe even formed. The album got the attention of Elektra Records, which signed the band and gave the album a proper release. It went on to sell over a million copies in America when the band took off and fans sought out their back catalogue.

"Merry-Go-Round" was included on the soundtrack to the 2019 Mötley Crüe biopic, The Dirt.