Kickstart My Heart by Mötley Crüe

So you overindulge so much, and wreck your health so badly, that you have to go through a scary procedure to save your life. What do you do for an encore? Write a rock anthem about it, of course.

Not for nothing were Motley Crue known as the hardest-partying, most irresponsible band on Sunset Strip, and it was bassist Nikki Sixx who was declared technically dead after one particular episode (if you’ve seen Pulp Fiction, you know what happened next).

Sixx went home and wrote this song, one of the catchiest in the entire Crue catalogue and the second Top 10 hit from the Dr. Feelgood album. He also decided he’d rather not go through that again, and now has two decades of sobriety under his belt.

A former teenage runaway, Nikki Sixx now spearheads fundraising efforts for the runaway foundation Covenant House.

This song gives you one of the most perfectly placed drum solos in all of Rock Band; you get to play it right after the line “I’d say we kicked some ass!”

You have to earn it, though, and the Expert drum part keeps you on your toes with a little of everything. The main locomotive rhythm is broken up by a lot of unpredictable tom fills, lots of double-time kicks, and a few snare rolls.

If you make it to the solo, you only have a few chorus repeats to stay afloat during afterwards.

Like the song says, still out there kickin’ ass.

"Kickstart My Heart" as performed by Mötley Crüe courtesy of Eleven Seven Music / Motley Records
Written by Nikki Sixx published by Cherry Lane Music Publishing Comany, Inc. (ASCAP)/ Mars Mountain Music (ASCAP)/ Warner Music (ASCAP)/ Sixx Gunner Music (ASCAP)/ Tommyland Music (ASCAP)/ Blonde Baby Music (ASCAP), Mars Mountain Music (ASCAP) administered by Cherry Lane Music Publishing Company, Inc. (ASCAP).