Kickstart My Heart

"Kickstart My Heart" is a song by the American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, originally released on their 1989 album, Dr. Feelgood. The song has been used frequently in media, including the trailers for Robert Rodriguez's family comedy Shorts, the Disney/Pixar film Cars and Shoot 'Em Up. It was also used in several TV spots for the action-comedy 30 Minutes or Less starring Jesse Eisenberg, and was included on the soundtrack for the film Take Me Home Tonight and the game Scarface: The World Is Yours. It was also featured on the "Traveling Salesmen" episode of The Office when Dwight is getting pumped before meeting a client. It was also in the movie Talladega Nights. The song has also been known to be used at several sporting events. The song is also featured in Gran Turismo 3 as well as in the 2012 Kia Optima Super Bowl commercial; most recently, it was heard in the trailer for Monsters University. It is featured as a track that can be selected on the Hollywood Rip Ride Rockit at Universal Studios Florida. British metalcore band Asking Alexandria made a cover of the song on their 2012 EP Under the Influence: A Tribute to the Legends of Hard Rock, and country group Rascal Flatts covered the song for the tribute album Nashville Outlaws: A Tribute to Mötley Crüe. It was also featured during the US Navy Blue Angels performances, being played as the Diamond Formation took to the air. The song was also used in 2014 commercials for the Dodge Charger and the 2015 Dodge Challenger Hellcat.

Meaning
The song was written by Nikki Sixx about a 1987 drug overdose in which he was declared clinically dead before being revived by cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Sixx described having an out-of-body experience during the overdose on Behind the Music. The EMT who administered both shots was a Mötley Crüe fan. The overdose occurred while Guns N' Roses and Mötley Crüe toured together. While the overdose took place in Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash's hotel room, Slash has stated that he had nothing to do with Sixx's overdose, and that Slash's girlfriend got Sixx the help he needed.

Music video
The video clip was shot in the Whisky a Go Go on October 5, 1989 during Mötley Crüe's warm up show before embarking on the Dr. Feelgood Tour. Sam Kinison is featured at the start of the video in a short cameo as the band's driver.

Kickstart My Heart '11
In tribute for their fans, Mötley Crüe made a new video for the song which included multiple clips from their US tour with Poison and New York Dolls. The video was shot by Bobby HeWitt. Soon after the band issued the following statement: "We documented the whole tour, top to bottom (the good, the bad and the ugly) and as we were looking through all the amazing footage, we thought how cool it would be to cut together a 'best of visual' for the fans who made this tour happen. This one is just for the fans, from us."

Kickstart My Heart '12
On February 5, 2012, "Kickstart My Heart" was featured in a commercial for Kia Motors during halftime at Super Bowl XLVI. This commercial also featured Brazilian model Adriana Lima, Pittsburgh Steeler Brett Keisel and ex-UFC fighter Chuck Liddell.

Riff
Released as the album's second single in 1989, "Kickstart My Heart" reached #27 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. The introduction is a classic example of a Floyd Rose bridge trick, in which Mick Mars drops three consecutive strings resulting in sound similar to a motorcycle shifting gears, borrowed from the similar-sounding intro to Montrose's "Bad Motor Scooter". The catchy guitar riff that immediately follows bears a striking resemblance to 1970s glam rock band Sweet's intro to their 1973 song, "Hell Raiser" (which itself resembles Led Zeppelin's 1969 song "Whole Lotta Love"). The song's ending features a prominent example of talkbox effects.

Personnel

 * Vince Neil – vocals
 * Mick Mars – guitar
 * Nikki Sixx – bass
 * Tommy Lee – drums

Covers
The song was covered by Great White and released on their 2009 greatest hits album, The Essential Collection

Rock Band music gaming platform
The song was made available to download on June 7, 2011 for use in the Rock Band 3 music gaming platform in both Basic rhythm, and PRO mode which takes advantage of the use of a real guitar/bass guitar, along with standard MIDI-compatible electronic drum kits/keyboards in addition to up to three-part harmony vocals.