Mötley Crüe Blood-Filled Vinyl May Rise in Value

News

By RC Staff

15 August 2023

Heard of Mötley Crüe? While the hair metal band’s biggest years are behind them, they’re still a huge name in rock music. In between stints in rehab, overdoses, DUIs, and deaths, the band found time to make a few records, one of which was “Shout at the Devil” in 1983. Forty years later, they’ve put out a special re-release of this album on vinyl, but not just any vinyl. For their 2023 repress of “Shout at the Devil”, Mötley Crüe is shipping a vinyl record with real blood injected in the plastic. How’s that for edgy?

Blood-Filled Shout at the Devil Vinyl

Resellers love vinyl. If you haven’t tried your hand at flipping records, you’re missing out on a lot of money. Vinyl is a way for bands to produce physical, tangible, and very collectable versions of their music for fans to fight over. We’ve written an entire guide on how to get started reselling vinyl, but all you really need to know is that it’s quite lucrative.

Special edition, limited production vinyl records are the best, and that’s exactly what we’re looking at today. Mötley Crüe has announced that they are producing an extremely limited pressing of their 1983 record “Shout at the Devil“. The gimmick? Real blood has been injected into the PVC.

“Shout at the Devil” is the record that catapulted Mötley Crüe into fame, and it came out during the height of the Satanic Panic of the 80s. It permanently cemented their status as metal icons, and also made the enemies of mothers and schoolteachers across the world.

As such, it’s only appropriate that the re-release would be appropriately shocking. The 2023 repress of “Shout at the Devil” includes all the songs from the original album on a single LP, and is packaged in a fairly lowkey sleeve. A pentagram and the band’s name is the sole adornment on the cover, with a picture of the band from 1983 on the back.

Incidentally, this isn’t the only reissue of “Shout at the Devil” coming out this year. Mötley Crüe is also putting out a box-set edition of the record for $230, which includes a host of LPs and singles, though none of them are filled with blood.

Speaking of which, what’s the deal with this blood? Whose is it? And is it worth anything?

Whose blood is in the Mötley Crüe Blood-Filled Vinyl?

Good question. Believe it or not, we actually don’t know whose blood is in Mötley Crüe’s “Shout at the Devil” Blood-Filled vinyl. We know it’s blood, it’s probably human blood, but we have no idea whose it is.

Did a record packer accidentally cut their hand and come up with a bright idea? Did the band members all poke a hole in their thumbs and mix it all together? Did they just buy a couple pints off the Red Cross? Honestly, we don’t really know.

To that end, the value of the record is hard to estimate. In a reddit thread, fans of the band discussed what they thought the record was worth, and the identity of the blood donor was frequently brought up. If it was Nikki Sixx or Tommy Lee’s blood, then people found the idea interesting.

That said, if the blood actually came from a band member, it seems like it would be advertised more heavily. Instead it seems like the distributor is just using the idea of a blood-filled vinyl record as a gimmick, and is content to let people draw their own conclusions where it came from.

Mötley Crüe Blood-Filled Vinyl Price and Availability

If all this talk about blood and the devil is getting you excited, good news. The Mötley Crüe blood-filled “Shout at the Devil” vinyl is still available to buy through Newbury Comics for $250. Editions are limited to 250 total copies.

Records are expected to ship in October, and is available to US customers only.

Will Mötley Crüe Blood-Filled Vinyl Records Resell?

Time for the million dollar question. We’ve talked a lot about what this record is and why it exists, but unless you’re a hardcore Mötley Crüe looking to score one for personal use, you’re probably only interested in what it’s worth on the aftermarket.

Since the records have yet to sell out and probably won’t sell out for another few weeks, we don’t have any sales data to show. This is going to be a look-before-you-leap situation, and if you’re considering buying one of these records to resell, you’ll be taking a risk.

What we can say is that there is a market for fluid-filled vinyl. Back in May, we covered Fall Out Boy’s novel “Crynyl” pressing, where real human tears were injected into the records. This release was extremely well-received among fans of the band, and a few sales at $2,000 or more were recorded.

So a market for Mötley Crüe’s blood-filled vinyl may be there. But there’s an important difference between the two records: Fall Out Boy’s Crynyl record was made with tears from the actual band members, while the provenance of the blood in our “Shout at the Devils” vinyl is unknown.

In the long run, that uncertainty may end up tanking the value of these records. It’s one thing to own a record with Nikki Sixx’s actual blood in it, and another if it’s just some Joe Blow’s. It’s metal, sure, but is it worth $250 or more further down the road?

If you’ve got money to spare, consider buying of these. There’s only 250 in total being produced, so any surge in demand could lead to them shooting up in value. This is probably going to be a fairly risky item, and one that will need to be held onto for a while. If that sounds off-putting, we recommend taking a pass on this one.

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