Does MÖTLEY CRÜE’s ‘Kickstart My Heart’ Open With Riff From SWEET’s ‘Hell Raiser’? SWEET’s ANDY SCOTT Weighs In

In a new interview with Emilee Capogni, SWEET guitarist Andy Scott spoke about the similarities between the opening riff of MÖTLEY CRÜE’s 1989 song “Kickstart My Heart” and the 1973 SWEET track “Hell Raiser”. He said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): “I’ll tell you who played [‘Kickstart My Heart’] to me the first time. We were gonna go and see MÖTLEY CRÜE and SKID ROW in Sweden. I was in Sweden producing a band called SHA-BOOM and [the guys from the Swedish band] EUROPE came into the studio and they said, ‘Come with us tonight. We’re gonna see MÖTLEY CRÜE.’ They said, ‘Our keyboard player went to see them last night in Gothenburg and we’re gonna see them in the ice hockey place in Stockholm.’ I said, ‘Yeah, as long as these guys are okay.’ And [they] said, ‘Oh, they’re coming with us.’ So we all got in taxis and cars and lobbed up there. And when we were on our way there, one of the guys, on a portable player, played me the start to ‘Kickstart My Heart’. And he wouldn’t tell me who it was. I went, ‘Well, somebody’s using my guitar riff.’ I said, ‘You know, it happens.’ And when we got to the gig, they started the whole show with the stripper, which is what we did in the ’70s, and the first song they played was ‘Kickstart My Heart’. And we used to do ‘Hell Raiser’. And the whole of EUROPE, the band, who were in the audience when we used to play in Sweden back in the ’70s, were all laughing now looking at my face, me going, ‘Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Good. Lovely.'”MÖTLEY CRÜE bassist and main songwriter Nikki Sixx has admitted to being a SWEET fan in the past, writing in his book “The First 21″ that he tried to get SWEET singer Brian Connolly to be the frontman of Nikki’s pre-MÖTLEY CRÜE band LONDON.”How hard could it be for the top band of the Strip to find a new singer?” Sixx wrote. “‘Fuck Nigel Benjamin,’ I told the guys. ‘We’re going to get Brian Connolly!’ Brian Connolly was the voice behind ‘Ballroom Blitz’ and ‘Solid Gold Brass’. He’d left SWEET by that point and recorded one single, but a solo album had not materialized. I called Uncle Don and asked him, ‘Can you help me get ahold of Brian Connolly from SWEET?'” Nikki added that he still has the letter he wrote to Connolly.Released as the second single from MÖTLEY CRÜE’s “Dr. Feelgood” album, “Kickstart My Heart” reached No. 27 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States in early 1990.”Hell Raiser” is actually credited to the Chinnichap songwriting team of Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, who also wrote hit songs for MUD, Suzi Quatro and many others.Three members of the original SWEET — Brian Connolly, Steve Priest and Mick Tucker — have since died while remaining bandmate Andy Scott is still alive and has formed his own version of the group, which tours the U.K. and Australia.Andy Scott (guitars/vocals) is joined in his version of SWEET by Paul Manzi (lead vocals),Lee Small (bass guitar/vocals),Tom Cory (guitars/keys/vocals) and Adam Booth (drums/percussion).Before he died, Priest had the right to use the SWEET name in the U.S. and Canada, whereas Scott toured a version of the group in the U.K. The pair were estranged for decades, but resumed contact in the 2010s.The Scott-led version of SWEET released a new studio album, “Full Circle”, last September via Metalville Records. According to a press release, the LP will be SWEET’s final studio album ever.[embedded content][embedded content][embedded content]