In 1983, Mötley Crüe were preparing the album that would transform them from a notorious Los Angeles club band into international stars.
Its name was Shout at the Devil.
But according to Elektra A&R executive Tom Zutaut’s account in The Dirt, that wasn’t the original idea.
Nikki Sixx wanted to call it:
Shout WITH the Devil.
That single word changed everything.
Zutaut later recalled being deeply uncomfortable with Sixx’s growing fascination with occult imagery. He claimed that after a disturbing experience at Sixx’s home, he warned him against continuing down that path. According to Zutaut, Sixx eventually changed the title himself.
WITH became AT.
And suddenly, the title could mean something very different.
When accusations of Satanism followed the band, Sixx pointed directly to that distinction. In a 1984 television interview, he told critics to actually read the title: it said Shout AT the Devil — not WITH the Devil.
The controversy wasn’t difficult to understand.
The original LP presented an embossed black pentagram, while its imagery and presentation deliberately played with the darker side of heavy metal.
But behind one of the most provocative album titles of the 1980s was a surprisingly small change:
one preposition.
Shout With the Devil never reached record stores.
Shout at the Devil did — and became the record that pushed Mötley Crüe into the mainstream.
The band’s official site dates its release to September 23, 1983.
Sometimes the story behind the noise comes down to a single word.
THE STORIES BEHIND THE NOISE.
SOURCES
https://www.motley.com/music/shout-at-the-devil?
https://www.loudersound.com/news/motley-crue-shout-at-the-devil-name-change?
https://ultimateclassicrock.com/motley-crue-shout-at-the-devil-song/?