Saints of Los Angeles is the ninth studio album by the Americanhard rock band Mötley Crüe, released on June 24, 2008. It was the first full-length studio album with the band's original lineup since 1997's Generation Swine, following the return of long-time drummer Tommy Lee, and their final one before their three-year hiatus from 2015 to 2018. Saints of Los Angeles debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard chart, selling about 100,000 copies in its first week. It debuted at No. 14 on the Australian ARIA chart, No. 5 in Sweden, No. 3 in Canada, No. 47 in Italy, and No. 9 in Finland. The album's first single, its title track, was their second highest charting single in the US mainstream rock charts, peaking at number 5. However, subsequent singles fared less well: "Mutherfucker of the Year" peaked at number 29 and "White Trash Circus" at number 37 on mainstream rock charts.
Writing and music
Bassist Nikki Sixx stated in his blog that he believed the band were "on to some of the better songs we've had in years". A tentative working title – The Dirt – was eventually scrapped. "The album is loosely based on The Dirt," said Sixx. "Each song is like a mini-story, and you can plug it into the book. Some of it's funny, some of it's serious and in-your-face. It's like a typical, successful Mötley Crüe record." The album features production and songwriting from members of Sixx's other band, as singer James Michael and guitarist DJ Ashba are involved in almost every song. Frequent Aerosmith collaborator Marti Frederiksen also was heavily involved with the songwriting process.
Track listing
Singles
The first single, "Saints of Los Angeles", was released on April 11 and started airing on radio stations on April 15, 2008. The song was given further promotion through the music video gameRock Band, being released as downloadable content on the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store on the same day. A video for the single was premiered at a press conference by the band on April 15. The song was performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and the Late Show with David Letterman. Jacoby Shaddix from Papa Roach, Josh Todd from Buckcherry, Chris Brown from Trapt, and James Michael from all make cameos at the end of the video. This act had also been done as the band performed the song on their previous Crüe Fest tour. The song was featured in commercials and in promos for X-Games 14. The single version of "Saints of Los Angeles" does not include the backing vocals and the introduction from the gang vocal version. The title track was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance but lost; it was Mötley Crüe's third nomination. Their previous nominations for "Dr. Feelgood" and "Kickstart My Heart" in the same category saw losses to Living Colour. The January 2009 issue of lists Mötley Crüe's "Saints of Los Angeles" as fifth on its list of "Rock Band’s Five Most Unexpectedly Rockin' Downloadable Songs". "Mutherfucker of the Year" was the second single to be taken from "Saints of Los Angeles".
