10 Rock Songs That Artists Didn't Want To Record

At the end of the '80s, there was no other band on the LA scene who could touch Motley Crue. Despite the obvious brick wall they were about to run into with the alternative rock explosion in a few years, the Crue's Dr. Feelgood album gave them some of their biggest hits to date, with some of the meatiest riffs that had ever laid down. Then again, one hit may have been conspicuously absent if Nikki Sixx had had his way.

Long before any of the guys got sober, Sixx's ongoing heroin habit once resulted in his heart stopping for 5 minutes before an EMT revived him. Trying to document the experience, Sixx came up with Kickstart My Heart as just a ratty punk rock song for himself. When going through his material though, Motley's management thought that the song could be a hit.

While Nikki thought that the song didn't really fit on an album with songs like Dr. Feelgood and Don't Go Away Mad, the eventual track became one of the biggest hits Motley ever had. Once the rest of the Crue got ahold of the song, the punk rock experiment quickly became one of the most energetic tracks of their career, with Mick Mars delivering one of his greatest solos. We may trust artists to have good instincts, but sometimes you don't know when you have something magical until it's right in front of your face.