"Kickstart My Heart" is a song by American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, originally released on their 1989 album, Dr. Feelgood. The track has been used in various media, and was also included on the soundtrack album to the 2019 biographical film The Dirt.
Background
In a 2015 interview, Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx related the origins of "Kickstart My Heart,” which he wrote while the band was already working on Dr. Feelgood. Sixx was playing acoustic guitar in his house while scribbling words on a piece of paper. When the group’s former manager read the words, he encouraged Sixx to share it with the rest of the band. Sixx was reluctant, but eventually did show the band and the track came together quickly. The phrase "kickstart my heart" supposedly refers to Sixx's overdose incident where a paramedic injected his heart with adrenaline; Guns N' Roses drummer Steven Adler disputes the accuracy of the story, saying he revived Sixx before the paramedics arrived. 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. The song's ending features a prominent example of talkbox effects. Released as the album's second single in 1989, "Kickstart My Heart" reached #27 on the BillboardHot 100 chart in the United States in early 1990.
Music video
1989 video
The video clip was shot at the Whisky a Go Go on October 5, 1989 during Mötley Crüe's warm-up show before embarking on the Dr. Feelgood world tour. Sam Kinison is featured at the start of the video in a short cameo as the band's chauffeur. As part of their cross-promotion with the Mötley Crüe Final Tour and to celebrate the song's 25th anniversary in 2014, Dodge remixed the music video, replacing some of the action scenes with footage of Dodge's performance cars on the track.
2011 video
In 2011 Mötley Crüe made a new video for the song which included multiple clips from their U.S. tour with Poison and New York Dolls. Soon after the band issued the following statement: "We documented the whole tour, top to bottom 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."
The song was featured on the Brütal Legend licensed soundtrack.
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.
The song was featured in an opening montage to the 2006 Will Ferrell comedy/sports movie . The song was used to cover Ricky's first wins and rise to being No.1.
The song was featured in the closing scene of the 2007 action movieShoot 'Em Up.
The song was featured in the S.W.A.T. episode titled "Pamilya".
The song was featured on the ' soundtrack.
The song was featured in the 2019 Netflix biopic The Dirt and was also included on the film's soundtrack album.
The song was featured in the 2019 film Hellboy.
The song was featured in the 2019 film '.
The song was featured in an episode of The Office entitled "Traveling Salesman" where Dwight Schrute air guitars to this song in his car before a sales call.
The song was featured in the Supergirl episode titled "The Quest for Peace".
The song was featured in a trailer for Cars, Shorts, Monsters University and .''
