Motley Crue are so underrated. The first two albums and Dr Feelgood are classics.Theatre Of Pain and Girls, Girls, Girls have some very good songs as well. Special mention to the John Corabi era Motley Crue album, that is a gem but for me not really a 'crue' album. If I were to pick one thing about Motley that's underrated is Sixx's songwriting. There is a great pop element in the early stuff (i.e. hooks and melodies), but it still feels "dangerous." The first 2 records are just brimming with energy, great tunes, hooks, and arrangements. I think the reason so many non hair metal fans hate bands such as Motley Crue, Bon Jovi and Def Leppard is because they were such phenoms and have enjoyed HUGE success. They (non hair metal fans) didin't like the music to begin with, and then had to watch the aforemetioned bands sell 10 million albums (or more) each, and get non-stop play for a full decade on most radio stations and MTV. I'm sure it was frustrating.
Personally, I cannot stand Grunge and my life music life was hell for about 3 or 4 years in the early to mid 90's when that stuff was all over the place. 1993 through 1996 seemed like a three-year funeral to me. In my opinion, the beginings of the so-called "hair-metal" revolution began in 1981(ish) when Ozzy and Randy released those two perfect albums. "Kickstart My Heart" is a great single. The Crue are rock legends! Motley Crue had the songs, the image and the attitude, and certainly deserve consideration as a great hard rock band. Things like massive popularity and substantial extra-curricular activities work against them when being viewed by critics. I enjoy their comically off-base covers... "Anarchy," "Street Fighting Man," "White Punks on Dope" and "Helter Skelter."
The Crue definitely have the rights to the 80s rock throne, or at least share it. There were few bands as big or bigger than them at the time. Maybe Ozzy and both Van Halen lineups. Some people like Dee Snider talk about Twisted Sister like they were KI$$ and simply owned the 80s. After their two big hits on MTV, the band put out two more records that they were so embarassed by, there are no tracks from them on their greatest hits record. This is a band that had a grand total of 5 records and broke up by like 1987! Personally, bands like Hanoi Rocks and the New York Dolls influenced the genre almost on image alone. I have tried countless times to listen to Hanoi Rocks and just don't like them. Their bad production could be part of it. Gotta love the NY Dolls, but after seeing the Bob Gruen DVD, I've learned that they were a pretty horrible band live and for any older folks out there that crap on Crue and Poison and other bands that were inspired by the Dolls simply because they don't like the music or the image, at least the bands from the 80s could actually play.
People rip on Mick Mars, but I must say out of the entire 80s genre, he's one of the few players that had his own sound and style. While everyone else is trying to do third generation Eddie Van Halen warmed over (which I am not knocking), he really had his own thing going on likely because he was much older than most of them and had different influences. Saying he is bad is like saying the Ramones were bad because they weren't great musicians. I will give them credit for getting back with Vince in 1997 and making a big enough splash that people cared enough that they could do a decent arena tour. They were even one of the first bands that would post photos on their website from the concert that evening. This was in 1997 when most bands probably barely had websites and digital cameras were not easy to come by. Definitely ahead of their time in that regard.
One other interesting thing about them is that they are probably one of the few bands EVER that the drummer and bass player are the focal points. Unfortunately, mostly for extra curricular activities not involving music, but in most bands, there are people don't even know the rhythm section's names.