Mötley Crüe - Kickstart My Heart

What this video is

Released in 1989 as the second single from Dr. Feelgood — Mötley Crüe's commercial peak and best-selling album — 'Kickstart My Heart' arrived at the absolute zenith of glam metal's MTV dominance. The song's title references bassist Nikki Sixx's near-fatal heroin overdose, transforming a personal trauma narrative into an anthemic, arena-ready celebration of survival and excess. Filmed at the Whisky a Go Go — the…

Why it matters

A canonical text of late-1980s glam metal visual culture, 'Kickstart My Heart' represents the genre's most successful fusion of raw live-performance energy with MTV-optimized rapid editing. Its documentary-rooted aesthetic — real venue, real audience, real concert energy — set a template for…

The director

Wayne Isham (b. December 2, 1958, Vinita, Oklahoma) is an American music video and film director who attended the University of California, Santa Barbara. Inspired by David Bowie's 'Ashes to Ashes,' he became one of the defining directors of the MTV era,…