Mötley Crüe’s “Kickstart My Heart” was inspired by The Sweet song

In 1989, Mötley Crüe released the album “Dr. Feelgood”, which quickly became the best-selling record of their career. It was full of hits and one of them was “Kickstart My Heart”, a song driven by an incredible guitar riff.

However, it wasn’t a riff originally created by the guitarist Mick Mars, it was from a song released in 1973 by the British Glam Rock group The Sweet.

Mötley Crüe’s “Kickstart My Heart” was inspired by The Sweet song

Released in 1973 by The Sweet, the track “Hell Raiser” was a number two hit in the United Kingdom charts at the time and it was the inspiration for Mick Mars. The guitar riff of both songs is almost identical and the big difference is the speed it is played, because of course, Crüe’s version os much heavier and faster.

The group was a fan of The Sweet and even before “Kickstart My Heart” the British band was an inspiration. The Sweet’s guitarist and singer Andy Scott even recalled in an interview Metal Express Radio in 2019 that the American band advertised in the early days that they were looking for a singer who looked like Brian Connolly, who was the other The Sweet singer and guitarist.

But before that Sixx even tried to get Connolly himself to be the frontman of one of his earlier bands called London. He recalled that in his book “The First 21” released in 2021. “How hard could it be for the top band of the strip to find a new singer? ‘Fuck Nigel Benjamin,’ I told the guys. ‘We’re going to get Brian Connolly!’ Brian Connolly was the voice behind ‘Ballroom Blitz’ and ‘Solid Gold Brass’.”

“He’d left Sweet by that point and recorded one single, but a solo album had not materialized. I called Uncle Don and asked him, ‘Can you help me get ahold of Brian Connolly from Sweet?'” Nikki Sixx said. He recalled that he still has the letter he wrote to Connolly.

Sixx tried to get Andy Scott to be the producer of Mötley Crüe in the early days

In the early days of the band, Nikki Sixx even tried to get Andy Scott to be the producer of their first album. He even sent the demos to The Sweet frontman at the time. But they didn’t work together since the American band ended up working with other producers.

Scott had the chance to see the American band live once. He recalled that night in an interview with Mitch Lafon in 2021 (Transcribed by Rock and Roll Garage). “So I’m sitting, waiting for Mötley Crüe to start. The stripper music starts and I go ‘Oh’. There’s these graphics on film and then they start the song ‘Kickstart My Heart’.”

“It’s the way we used to start our set with ‘Hell Raiser’. It’s almost the same guitar riff.  The guys from Europe are falling about laughing at my face going: ‘What?’ Andy Scott said.

“Kickstart My Heart” was released as a single at the time and peaked at number 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States.