“Bastard” Mötley Crüe

In 1983, Mötley Crüe dropped Bastard, a song so brash, unapologetic, and full of spite that it might as well have come with a warning label: "This track is not for the faint of heart—or for those who believe in rules, decency, or anything resembling 'good behaviour.'" It’s the musical equivalent of a leather-clad rockstar kicking down the front door, grabbing your drink, and demanding to know why you haven’t yet embraced the chaos.

Lyrically, Bastard is a love letter to bad behavior and the sort of self-destructive tendencies that only a true rock 'n' roll band can pull off. The title alone says it all—if you’ve ever been called a “bastard” and thought, “Yeah, you’re right, but I’m too busy being awesome to care,” then you’ll feel right at home. It’s a song that doesn’t just flirt with rebellion; it makes out with it in the back of the tour bus with the curtains wide open.

The track opens with a gritty, in-your-face riff that lets you know right away this isn’t some soft ballad about heartache and moonlit strolls. No, no. This is the soundtrack to smashing your way through a crowd of boring people at a dull party and announcing to the world that you have arrived and the party is about to start. This is the anthem for anyone who’s ever been a little bit too loud, a little too brash, and definitely too drunk to care. It’s also the perfect soundtrack for that time you punched your boss face because they asked you to work overtime on a Friday. (Spoiler: you didn't actually do anything about it, but you thought about it with a lot of conviction).

But what makes Bastard truly iconic is how completely unapologetic it is. There’s no sugarcoating here. No “oops, I messed up” moments. Just a straight-up, "Yeah, I’m a mess, deal with it," wrapped in the sort of heavy guitar riffs and snarl that only Mötley Crüe can deliver. The song doesn’t want you to understand it, it wants you to feel it—like a boot to the face of conformity with a bottle of tequila in hand.

Bastard is the song that plays when you throw caution, manners, and maybe even your dignity out the window. It’s about owning your bad behaviour like a badge of honour and strutting through life like you don’t give a damn. And honestly? If that doesn’t make you want to throw on some leather pants and shout “Hell yeah!”, then you’re probably not ready for the full Mötley Crüe experience. Rock on, you bastard.