M”tley Cre changed my life, it’s true. When I was in third grade, I was an avid New Kids on the Block fan – you could almost say I was a fanatic. I owned all their records, had a T-shirt and one of those gigantic buttons that you could either put on your shirt or prop up on your desk.

Then I heard “Dr. Feelgood” by the Cre and it blew my mind. That opening riff to “Dr. Feel-good” is still to this day one of the heaviest, sleaziest riffs in hard rock history. Needless to say, I soon started to invest in the Cre’s entire catalog and also completely ditched my teeny-pop roots for bands with huge hair and pentagrams on their kick drums. My obsession with Vince, Mick, Nikki and Tommy also led me into the darker, faster and heavier worlds of bands like Megadeth, Anthrax and Slayer. But it all started with M”tley Cre.

Before we get to the main point of this column, let’s get something straight. M”tley Cre may have been popular during the ’80s, but it is unfair to categorize them with all of those cheesy pop-metal jokes like Poison and Warrant. With a couple exceptions, the Cre didn’t play music anything like that and despised those bands that tried unsuccessfully to copy its style.

Then the early ’90s hit and we all know the story from here on out, don’t we? Bands such as Pearl Jam and Nirvana came along and wiped the slate clean, leaving ’80s metal bands in a heap of dust at the bottom of the trash can. And now you see all of these interviews and read all of these articles where musicians talk about how great it was that Nirvana came along and got rid of all that ’80s crap.

So here is the point of my column: Does anyone else think that the music world has for the most part become incredibly boring? I do. I think it’s gotten better since the height of the grunge phase, but we need some more rock stars.

The ’80s get such a bad rap because of all the excess and bad hair and sing-along metal songs. Take a look back at rock ‘n’ roll history and I think you will find much of the same, except for maybe the crates of Aqua Net. But there was always excess, lots of hair and great big rock n’ roll hooks.

Look at the ’60s and ’70s: Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. Excess to the max. And the list can go on for any decade. Look at Chuck Berry and Little Richard. I know the songs of Twisted Sister can’t be compared to those of Chuck Berry or The Doors, but hopefully you see my point about the rock star thing.

But then Kurt Cobain comes along with his green flannel shirt and all the sudden you aren’t cool any more unless you are an average off-the-street Joe who hates being a big rock star. Cobain gets all of this credit for ending that despicable period of music – I say, “Shame on you, Kurt Cobain.”

And I have heard the line that the music that the bands in the ’80s produced was simplistic. Well, I’ve got news for you – it ain’t exactly like Nirvana wrote epic orchestra pieces.

But the quality of music isn’t my point. Otherwise, it just turns into an argument of opinion on whether a band is good or not. Music has become lame since those days. Look at all these “emo” bands you have running around today (down with Dashboard Confessional) – they are perfect examples. Or how about these hard rock bands like Default and Pressure 4-5 that sound like they have one single guy singing for all of them? Weezer: great tunes, but four of the most boring dudes ever to pick up instruments.

I want fire, nudity, guitars being smashed and mountains of heroin. I want my musicians getting arrested for picking up hookers or pulling out their privates on stage. There are some rockers out there keeping the spirit alive. Marilyn Manson never fails to shock people, and Kid Rock loves being a rock star and has no shame for it. And you can’t forget about Courtney Love or Eminem.

I’m going to end this column with a quote from Vince Neil that sums up what I am trying to say. A little background first. Once upon a time, Neil was fired from M”tley Cre and the rest of the band tried to adopt a more serious image to align themselves with the “alternative bands.” During an interview with MTV, the reporter asked the band about the abundance of hair spray, fire and women that the group used in its videos. Nikki Sixx became irate and stormed offstage with the rest of the band.

In the band’s autobiography, “The Dirt,” Vince Neil says this about the situation: “If I had been on MTV when they asked the band about chicks, fire and hair spray, I wouldn’t have gotten defensive like Nikki. I would have said, `You know what, we are about fucking fire, we are about chicks, and we are about hair spray. And that’s a whole lot better than being about boredom.’ “

Trevor Fisheris a senior in journalism and mass communication from Knoxville. He is the arts and entertainment senior reporter for the Daily.