Early Rumblings

The Dolls or an amazing simulation?  Yep, its the Hollywood Brats

In a previous post I mentioned how often it seems like an idea, once a culture is ready for it, seems to appear almost simultaneously in many different areas.  In the late 60’s, heavy metal grew out of the burgeoning “heavy blues”, and by 1970 several groups were exploring a similar sonic theme. 

But perhaps nowhere is this concept more salient than in the genre known as punk rock.  As nearly everyone now knows, punk grew out of a disenchantment with the established music industry, where technical proficiency, ever-greater studio polishing, and musical (and narcotic) over-indulgence became preferred over simplicity, rawness, and emotion.  Sonically punk had the most in common with the Detroit sound of the Stooges and the MC5 (and Frijid Pink, Death, Frost and the Up as mentioned in a previous post), the experimental drone and harshly realistic lyrics of the Velvet Underground, and the back-to-basics raw R&B influenced blues blasts of the New York Dolls.  By 1974 punk had become a viable sub-culture, but it was confined to one small locale, specifically the island of Manhattan in New York City and even more specifically to three venues, Max’s Kansas City, the Mercer Arts Center, and of course, CBGB’s.  By this point several seminal NY punk acts had formed and were gigging at these places, including Television (who grew out of the even-earlier Neon Boys), the Ramones, Blondie, Suicide, and the Patti Smith Group.

But even while this small scene was coalescing in New York, others were taking the musical message of the Stooges, Velvets, and Dolls and creating their own version of stripped-down rock.  There’s a famous saying, attributed to Brian Eno, that only 1000 people bought the Velvet Underground’s first album, but all of them formed bands, that captures how gravid the idea of punk was in the early 70’s, and how influential bands like the Velvets were despite their glaring lack of record sales.  The same quote and principle could of course be applied to the Stooges and the Dolls, neither of which toured much outside their regional fan bases and neither of whom experienced anything resembling success in terms of record sales, but both of whom had an outsized influence on the musical evolution of the late 70’s. 

With respect to the Dolls, it is particularly interesting how, at the same time the Dolls were coming together in 1971, two other bands were exploring nearly identical themes, both musically and stylistically, in two far-flung parts of the globe.  I already discussed in a previous post LA’s Shady Lady, who also formed in ‘70/’71 in New York then moved to Los Angeles, and how they played three cord rock with blues flourishes similar to the Dolls.  They were followed in 1973 by the Berlin Brats, who sounded even more Doll’s-like, though by this time this was less surprising given that the Dolls did play LA several times during this period.  Right now the clanging, shimmering guitar sounds of “Vinyl” and “Juice” by the Berlin Brats makes these two of my current favorite songs.

Even more bizarre are London’s Hollywood Brats, who also formed in 1971 and who could have been mistaken both visually and sonically for the Dolls.  Like the Dolls, they played fast, raw 3 chord rave-ups, though with slightly less of a dominant blues guitar (Brats guitarist Eunan Brady, while good, was no Johnny Thunders, but then again who was?).  But even more amazingly, they DRESSED like the Dolls, and while the early 70’s were clearly a period of exploration of gender and sexuality, who else would have predicted that two bands located on two different continents would dress up in feather boas and glittery feminine clothing AND play raw, Stones-y rock??  The Brats only produced one album, which was recorded in 1973 but wasn’t released until 1980 but happily it is available on iTunes.  “Chez Maximes” starts with a tinkling piano playing “Ain’t We Got Fun?” then launches into a bluesy blast that’s as fast and fun and (sorry) bratty as “Looking For A Kiss” by the Dolls.  Singer Andrew Matheson’s vocals are, utterly unsurprisingly, lacking the Staten Island bray of David Johansen’s, but aside from this and the less overtly bluesy playing of guitarist Eunan Brady mentioned above, you’d be hard pressed to tell this apart from anything off either of the Doll’s two 70’s albums.  “Nightmare” lurches and chugs with a two chord amateurism but builds to a crescendo at the chorus.  Their cover of the Crystal’s girl-group classic “Then He Kissed Me” has a ringing guitar line and is good cheeky androgynous glam fun, while “Tumble With Me” has a keyboard beginning that almost sounds like early Sparks before launching into a roaring guitar blast, and the lurching country/blues rhythm wouldn’t sound out of place on the Stones’ “Sticky Fingers”; besides, you’ve got to love a song that contains the Everly Brothers ripoff lyric “so wake up little Susie” but follows it with the line “and stop pickin’ your nose”!!!!  This is my favorite song of theirs, a magnificent blast of Dolls-y fun.  But perhaps their most legendary song is “Sick On Me”, another Stones-y, Dolls-y raver with the famously gross lyric, “If I’m gonna puke, I’m gonna puke on you!”  Anyone who loves the Dolls is guaranteed to love the Hollywood Kids.

Other bands were taking the two chord onslaught of the Stooges as their sonic starting point. Perhaps none were more amazing than Brisbane, Australia’s the Saints, who formed in 1974 on the far side of the world but released one of the first bona fide punk singles, (I’m) Stranded, in 1976.  Their sound is the two chord freight train sound of Raw Power Stooges and the Ramones’ first album.  In fact, “(I’m) Stranded” literally sounds like the musical missing link between “Raw Power” and “Beat On the Brat”.  Nearly everything off their first album I’m Stranded occupies the same wonderfully basic sonic geography—“”One Way Street”, “Wild About You”, and “Nights in Venice” (the latter sounds very similar to the work were doing by 1977) are my favorites.  Their second album, 1978’s Eternally Yours, contains some other excellent, roaring tracks, including “Lost and Found” and “Private Affair”, which again sound like a mash-up between Iggy and the Stooges, the Ramones and the Dead Boys.  “This Perfect Day” is a trifle more mellow (but not much) and gives a glimpse of some of the more restrained musical territory the Saints would explore in their third album and into the 80’s.  As such it sounds more like “We Want the Airwaves” or something off We’ve Come For Your Children by the Dead Boys.

(I had the extremely good fortune to visit Brisbane last year and it’s a beautiful, wonderful city; for the life of me I just can’t envision people making heavy intense 60’s Detroit/70’ NYC style music).

By the way, anyone doubting the punk prehistory of the Saints is encouraged to listen to The Most Primitive Band In The World, a recording of a live Saints show featuring many of the songs above and others off their first album that was recorded in . . . 1974.  Keep in mind, this was before the Ramones’ first album, before Patti Smith’s first album, and even Raw Power had only been out for less than a year.  Incredible.

Like the Saints, Radio Birdman formed in Australia (in Sydney, another incredible city I was lucky enough to visit last year) in 1974 and played a wild, raw, Stooges-influenced (their name comes from a lyric from “1970”) style of music, but one also containing a soupcon of the surf guitar sounds of bands like the Ventures, keeping in line with the beach culture of this city.  Wild frontman Deniz Tek’s frantic vocals and guitarist Rob Younger’s swirling guitar soar and loop on the aptly named “Into the Maelstrom”, their biggest “hit”.  “Hand of Law”, another classic, again fuses Dick Dale-like guitar flourishes with a rumbling bass line, while “Murder City Nights” has a crisper, 70’s guitar feel (but still a subway train bass line rumble).    I have to confess, its taken me a long time to get into the Birdmen, their sound is just so unusual, but I've come to appreciate them as the punk pioneers they were.  As mentioned in a previous post, Denez Tek went on to form several other proto/punk bands after Birdman broke up in ’78, most notably New Race with Ron Asheton from the Stooges and Dennis Thompson from the MC5.

Meanwhile, back in the States, other bands were also pursuing a Stooges-influenced sound.  Only recently was I introduced to an amazing band, Figures of Light (after reading about them in Joe Carducci’s book “Rock and the Pop Narcotic”).  Formed in 1970 by future Rutgers  film professor Wheeler Winston Dixon, the Figures of Light can almost be seen as a leftover 60’s garage band.  Smash Hits, released in 2007, is available on iTunes and compiles some of their early 1970 live work as well as some more recent live and studio cuts.  “Its Lame”, their first single (released in 1972) has a very garage-y feel, like the Count Five or the Standells and is a very captivating musical relic. “I Jes Want To Go to Bed”, the B-side, is a proto-slacker anthem (“I don’t wanna be well fed, I don’t wanna be well read, I don’t wanna end up dead, I just wanna go to bed”) that evokes a similar Nuggets feel, with its primitive, cymbal-heavy rhythm and repetitive, reverb guitar line.   “Nothing To Do” sounds like nothing so much as the Ramones or the Misfits (only without the horror rock lyrics) but with a garage-y vocal.  This is very weird and fascinating stuff.

Another pre-’76 band that was exploring a harder edged sound were the Suicide Commandos.  Formed in 1975 in Minneapolis (future home of such outstanding post-punk acts as Husker Du, the Suburbs, the Replacements, and Soul Asylum), they released a couple EPs in 1976 as well as their first and most amazing album, Make A Record, in 1977.  It’s a bracing blast of short, fast, fun, sloppy Ramones-like punk.  “Shock Appeal” thrashes and bashes like the Misfits or early Clash or even the Dils and has a Ramones “one-two-three-four" countoff in the middle.  The lyrics range between snotty teenage shouts and more harmonious crooning.  A fun song.  “Attack The Beat” lurches on a syncopated, catchy beat, but one of my favorite songs is “Mosquito Crucifixion”, with its ominously rumbling bass beginning and guitars that roar and soar, and silly, Dickies’-seque vocal and lyrics. “Burn It Down” also starts with a rumbling bass and is another catchy, sloppy song that almost reminds me guitar-wise of the stuff the Flower Leperds did 15 years later.  These guys rarely get mentioned as the punk pioneers they were.

In Akron, Ohio, the Rubber City Rebels formed in 1976 and sported a very English punk sound (their guitar sound is almost reminiscent of Public Image Ltd.) but was also influenced by 60’s garage rock, the Stooges, and MC5 and the Dolls.  Three of their albums are available on iTunes, the earliest of which catalogs their early days in Akron (the band moved to LA in ’78 and became a popular draw at venues like the Whiskey and the Masque).  “Child Eaters” has an appropriately shocking lyrical content and a rumbling, Sex Pistols-like sound.  Other tracks like the self-promotional “Rubber City Rebel” (with its shrill guitar intro followed by a very James Williamson blast of guitar licks) is another standout, as is “Kidnapped”. 

Its worth noting that fellow Akron natives Devo also formed in the pre-punk, pre-’76 era as a conceptual band; their song “Jocko Homo” (“Are we not men?  We are Devo!”)  was featured in their 1976 conceptual film “The Truth About De-Evolution”.

To the west, two Cleveland groups, the Electric Eels and Rocket From The Tombs, were playing strange off-kilter art-influenced Stooges-like garage rock.  Nothing by the Electric Eels is currently available on iTunes alas but several cuts have been uploaded onto YouTube, including the Eels’ “Agitated”, which sounds like the Stones filtered through the Stooges.  This is a very heavy, sloppy song.  “Cold Meat” sounds like early Dead Boys (not surprising since Dead Boys singer Stiv Bators was very heavily influenced by Eels’ frontman Dave McManus) and has a lurching, sludgy sound similar to “Dirt” by the Stooges.  Other songs, like “Wreck and Roll”, “Cyclotron”, and “Anxiety” similarly display this sloppy, heavy Stooges-influenced sound. 

Rocket From The Tombs has a couple of albums on iTunes, most notably The Day Earth Met Rocket From the Tombs, which collects two early live performances, including authentic covers of “Raw Power” and “Search and Destroy” (nothing says “we liked Iggy before you liked Iggy” than a well-documented cover of a Stooges song) as well as a few originals that would ultimately see new life in bands formed from the ashes of RFTT, including “Ain’t It Fun” and “Sonic Reducer” (which would be recorded by the Dead Boys) and “30 Seconds Over Tokyo” and “Final Solution”, which would be made famous by Pere Ubu.  These two bands were formed after RFTT broke up in ’75 and were part of the first-wave punk that made Cleveland famous.  

In a previous post I mentioned the Dogs, who formed in Michigan in 1970, opening for many of the seminal Detroit bands of the era then relocated to Los Angeles in the mid-70’s and were heavily influential on the nascent post-glitter powerpop scene.  I’ve become a huge fan of the Dogs, and their incredibly heavy Stooges-influenced sound; right now, “Black Tea” is a major fave song for its bludgeoning sound.  Also, bassist Mary Dog doesn’t get nearly enough credit as the female punk pioneer she truly is.  On the LA punk scene of the late 70’s you’d be hard pressed to find a band that DIDN’T feature a female bassist (the Bags, the Eyes and the Alleycats being the most obvious examples) or drummer, (in the case of the Controllers), but Mary was the first.  A friend of Mary’s has a wonderful blog dedicated to the Dogs that is well worth checking out:  http://thedogs1970.blogspot.com/.  According to this site, the Dogs were in the studio in December recording new material for an album due for a March release.