On With The Show

Album: Too Fast For Love (1981)
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Songfacts®:

  • According to the Motley Crue biography The Dirt, "On With The Show" is about Nikki Sixx renouncing his given birth name (Frank Feranna Jr.) and essentially "killing" his old self after his father told him something along the lines of, "I have no son." The opening line sets the stage:

    Frankie died just the other night
  • This song was included on Mötley Crüe's 1981 debut album, Too Fast For Love. They didn't have a record deal, so they set up their own label, Leathür Records, to distribute it. The band was building a legend in Los Angeles not only for their music, but for their debauchery - all those salacious adventures told in The Dirt.

    It didn't take long after the album release for Crüe to sign with Elektra Records, which remixed it and gave it a more professional release (better artwork, some promotion) in 1982. Over the next few years, the band became immensely popular and Too Fast For Love started selling, eventually going Platinum in America.
  • Nikki Sixx wrote this song with lead singer Vince Neil. Sixx was the primary songwriter in the band; many of the songs on Too Fast For Love he'd been working on with his previous band, London.
  • "On With The Show" plays in the 2019 movie version of The Dirt and is included on the soundtrack album issued to accompany it.

Comments: 5

  • R72 from MichiganIt’s true that in several interviews since getting sober has said that that was the killing off of his birth name and identity, especially since his father left when he was just basically a toddler, but in even recent interviews and some as old as 10 years ago, I don’t recall him ever talking about wanting to commit suicide And that was early on when he was using drugs when that song was written so he didn’t actually overdose I believe until later in the 80s for the first time and second time and give him a ton of credit or not only getting clean by giving back to the community And being able to write in detail his stories so that he can help others and all the work that he does with youth in LA sharing his story to try to let them know if he can do it then anyone can because being left for dead in a dumpster and then pronounced it in an ambulance another time That’s rock bottom but to hear him not be better and talk about how grateful he is and blessed is truly amazing and unfortunate that I was able to see them in Detroit and 97 and took my 18 year-old son to see them three years ago in Milwaukee when they had headlined with Def Leppard and was all still the original band members Because that happens to be my sons all-time favorite group as is mine and I’m 52 so and I have to say that time has not been kind to with the majority of that band, but he still ran around that stage with energy like a bad ass
  • Chirs Holmes from Baltimore MdPrimal Scream is my favorite Crue song but this is Still bad ass!
  • Andy Bright from FloridaLove that song. Too fast for Love is easily my fave Crüe album. 54 now. Still on my regular playlist. Looking forward to the rescheduled stadium show in 2021. I missed the farewell tour. I won't miss this one!
  • Monica from Largo, FlHi, I actually asked Nikki Sixx about this song backstage. He said something totally different than was said in "The Dirt". He told me that he was considering committing suicide at the time it was written. Why he said something else in the dirt, no idea. The song rocks!
  • Michael from Tupelo, MsOne of the crue's best songs... i always loved the first cd best.
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