In Defense of (Gen) X--the band, not the generation.

Kiss Me Deadly by Gen X

Perhaps nobody has been more vilified in the punk community than Billy Idol.  Its hard to deny that by the mid-80’s he had strayed pretty far from the original anti-corporate, anti-materialistic nihilism of the early days of the English punk scene . . . but then again, who hadn’t?  The Pistols themselves were notorious for collecting cash from major label record companies then being sacked soon thereafter.  Yes, Billy Idol courted fame a little harder than his peers but nobody was making music for purely artistic reasons. 

Billy Idol (real name William Broad) certainly has impeccable punk credentials.  He started off as a member of the Bromley Contingent, a group of London teens that included Siouxie Sioux (who soon formed the Banshees) and Marco Pironi (who would eventually play with Adam Ant) who were early followers of the Pistols.  The Pistols supposedly thought the Bromley kids were a bunch of trend-following suburban dilettantes, but then again the Pistols (and Johnny Rotten in particular) were renowned for hating pretty much everyone.  Plus what can you say?  The Bromleys recognized the brilliance of the Pistols at a time when 99.9999% of the rest of the world was out buying Styx and Kansas albums, so I definitely admire their early adopter stance.  Besides, if you’re going to criticize people for being suburban and/or middle class, you’d better be prepared to criticize pretty much everyone in the industrial world since by now most of us are at least one if not both of those things.  Punk has never been the exclusive domain of the poor; in fact, in America, and particularly in southern California, punk was much more a creation of suburban kids bored with the blandness and comfort of suburban life. 

  Like the other members of the Bromley Contingent, Billy Idol was soon encouraged to be a more active participant in the emerging musical scene.  With singer Gene October, he formed the band Chelsea in 1976 but quickly broke away and formed his own band, Generation X, with bassist Tony James and drummer John Towe (both of whom had played in the pre-punk band London SS) in 1976.  In 1977 after their first few gigs Towe was replaced by former Subway Sect drummer Mark Laff, a lineup that would stay in place through their first two albums.

Their first album, the self-titled Generation X, was released in 1978 and contains a number of terrific three chord pop punk anthems, including “One Hundred Punks”, “Wild Youth”, “Ready Steady Go”, “From the Heart”, and “Promises Promises”.  Perhaps the best, and best known, composition is “Kiss Me Deadly”, which is really more of a ballad.  Even at this early stage in his career Billy’s desire to be more than a growling, sneering singer is evident, and he’s obviously a much better singer than most of his punk peers.  Idol’s passion for the punk music scene is documented in many of the song lyrics, which often center around the joy and freedom of being young and/or punk.  “Promises Promises” is an almost bitter paean to the early days of punk and even pre-punk: (“where were you in ’75, when there were no gigs, we were jive?”; interestingly, the NWOBHM band Saxon espoused a similar sentiment from the metal end of the spectrum in “Denim and Leather”) while “One Hundred Punks” is a happy, goofy look at punk life (“A hundred punks run with London town, down Wardour Street to the Soho Sound, don't sleep all week only when they fall down ).  “Kiss Me Deadly” is more of a romanticized view of punk life on the edge and on the streets.  All in all, their first album is an outstanding document of late 70’s English punk.

But here’s where I have a major problem.  Nearly any rock critic or media outlet you care to examine will claim that this album was Generation X’s best, and that after this, disputes about the direction of the band led to confusion and progressively inferior albums.  I vehemently dispute these claims, and what other critics call “confusion” I call EVOLUTION.  Even by the time the first album had come out, that brand of pop punk was on its way out, both in England and elsewhere.  Generation X, like many other punk bands, were realizing that there WERE no real limits on what punk could be musically, so they began exploring other musical avenues of expression.

Nowhere was this more evident than on their second album, Valley of the Dolls, or even in their choice for the producer of this album, former Mott the Hoople leader Ian Hunter.  Most critics have very little positive to say about this album, and indeed as mentioned view the entire oeuvre of Generation X as one of diminishing returns recording-wise, with each one worse than the other.  I actually have the exact opposite opinion, and consider Valley of the Dolls a solid move forward from their relatively primitive beginning.  The choice of Ian Hunter as producer is evidence of a desire by Idol and company to move beyond the three chord anthems of their first album and into a more sophisticated and complex glam-influenced sound (interestingly, the seminal LA hardcore band Black Flag would be criticized for doing almost the exact same thing a few years later).  The most notable sonic change is the greater length of the songs and the addition of guitar solos, which were conspicuously lacking on their debut; the addition of Bob “Derwood”  Andrews allowed them to move beyond the simplicity of their debut. Hunter's production provides a crunchy glam sound to much of the album.

One thing that they continued from the first album was Idol’s fascination with documenting the excitement and energy that music and punk music in particular gave him.  Arguably the best songs on this album are lyrically in this vein, including “King Rocker”, “Valley of the Dolls”, “English Dream”, “Friday’s Angels”, and a song I consider to be not only one of Generation X’s best but one of the best “music songs” ever:  “Running With the Boss Sound”.  “Running With the Boss Sound” starts with what is, to me anyway, one of the greatest descriptions of the power of (punk) music to move and inspire ever:  “Yesterday, by the paper stand, I felt the power of another religion; (four) rebels with a cause came out of the sun and spoke the only language they’d been given.”  He’s clearly talking about the Sex Pistols and what a world-moving revelation it was to see them and hear their music for the very first time.  But the song goes on to praise heavy metal, ska, and really ALL forms of music for their ability to motivate and inspire.  “English Dream” is part brag about his own accomplishments as a punk musician (“When I first started out, hey shut all the doors; But I laughed at all the doors, and I kicked them down”), part exhortation to others to use his example as an inspiration, as the Pistols once served to motivate him to form his own band (“Hey kid look at me, you can make it real, you can get it if you want”).  Its all about the power of music to motivate and inspire, and how important it is for musicians to pass that inspiration on to the next generation.  Musically the song builds to two crescendos with Idol singing repeatedly “The English dream . . . don’t let me down!”

But to me, Generation X’s finest musical moment was their final album, 1981’s Kiss Me Deadly, for which they shortened their name to Gen X.  By this time, Laff and Andrews had left to form the short-lived band Empire, and Idol and James decided to record with a punk “supergroup” of different drummers and guitarists, including Terry Chimes (aka Tory Crimes, formerly of the Clash), James Stevenson (former guitarist for Chelsea) Steve Jones (of the Pistols), Steve New (of Rich Kids), and John McGeoch (who’s distinctive guitar was an essential element of the seminal post punk bands Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Visage, and Public Image Ltd.).  It isn’t clear who played on which songs, though it seems likely that McGeoch played on “Heaven’s Inside”, which is a standout track and contains his shimmering, chiming, clanging guitar sound.  Lyrically this song again explores the theme of achieving one’s potential (through music or otherwise) that Idol explored on “English Dream”.  “Heaven’s Inside” is my all-time favorite Idol song and is probably top 5 in terms of my favorite songs of all time.

But there’s really very few musical mis-steps here.  Overall the sound is lusher, more complex, more introspective.  In short, more post-punk than punk, which is understandable given the time frame.  By 1979 punk was on the wane in England and elsewhere, and most musicians were exploring what came next.  Songs got longer, playing got more professional, rhythms became more complex and song structure left behind much of the simplicity of the 2 minute anthems of the Ramones, and new and different sonic textures and landscapes were being explored.  Emotions other than anger and rage and themes beyond youthful rebellion were integrated into the basic ideal of punk being music that was innovative and new.  McGeoch’s first band, Magazine, had been a pioneer in the emerging post-punk sound.  Formed by Howard Devoto after his departure from the seminal Manchester punk band the Buzzcocks in 1977, Magazine made music that had more complex textures (but was still edgy and fragmented like most early punk) and syncopated rhythms.  McGeoch’s playing with Siouxsie and the Banshees, particularly on such classics as “Christine” and “Spellbound” have been cited by a vast number of punk and post-punk and alternative musicians as being hugely influential and are perhaps the shining examples of McGeoch’s shimmering but ominous guitar sound.

Kiss Me Deadly incorporated these new and more complex musical directions, as well as the lusher elements of the emerging New Romantic movement.  “Stars Look Down” is an excellent example of a song that brings together the harsh guitar of punk with the slicker and more romantic feel of post-punk.  This song too sounds like McGeoch was involved though its not certain.  It’s a lush love song and another fantastic cut.  Like “Heaven’s Inside”, this is a song that is optimistic and positive, and indeed the entire album is like this.  “Triumph” is a song about a punk kid succeeding in love; “The Untouchables” is another nostalgic, romantic paean to the past (Idol would re-record it for the EP he made prior to his eponymous solo smash), and “Happy People” is a slow, low key, almost dub song.  Only on “Revenge” and is any bitterness or rage evinced, but even here the lyrical prickliness is tempered by the slow rhythms and smoother guitar sound.  “What Do You Want” is the only song with any serious growl guitar-wise but it too has a safer vibe.  And of course, this is the album where Idol recorded his first and hands-down best version of his solo hit “Dancing With Myself”, with its bass-heavy sound and feedback-drenched ending. 

Ignored by almost everyone on its release and generally reviled by most critics since, Kiss Me Deadly has been all but forgotten by everyone but a few Idol fans and punk completists.  But to me this is an excellent post-punk musical document, one I’d put up against Unknown Pleasures (and I’m a HUGE Joy Division fan), First Issue, or Pink Flag.  People have unfairly denigrated this album because it goes astray from the two chord simplicity of early punk, and they assume that this was simply a hastily assembled group of wannabe pop songs.  But if I had to choose ONE album which I could listen to the rest of my life, this one might be it, because it does so many things and does them so well. 

Pretty Vacant

Rich Kids

Malcolm McClaren returned from his disastrous period of managing the New York Dolls, in their last drug-induced collapse, in April 1975 determined to form a band that would be a living piece of confrontational performance art.  He famously agreed to manage the Sex Pistols, who were coalescing around Steve Jones and Paul Cook, two kids who were hanging around his clothing store.  The rest, of course, is history; the Sex Pistols came to personify the rage of an entire nation, not just against the stagnant English music scene of the time but against the entire stifling, conformist culture of England in the mid 70’s. 

I still consider the Sex Pistols to be the greatest band of all time, in part because of what they represented and in part because of their amazing music.  To me, “Pretty Vacant” is the (anti) rock anthem to end all anthems; just hearing Steve Jones’ ringing guitar lines at the beginning is enough for me to break out in chills. 

Numerous other bands of course followed:  the Damned (“New Rose” is another song high in my personal all-time top 500 list; I love the tribal drums and Captain Sensible’s roaring guitar), the Clash, the Stranglers, and so forth.  I don’t think I need to go on about these bands or others than people are likely familiar with.

However, many members of these bands had been playing in earlier bands throughout the 70’s in what has come to be called the “pub rock” movement, bands like Ducks Deluxe, Brinsley Schwarz, and the 101ers.  Pub rock bands often played a stripped-down rock/R&B that had echoed the simplicity of the garage rock, mod, and even powerpop movements.

One such pre-punk band was the Doctors of Madness, who formed in 1975 and were heavily influenced by the Velvet Underground, the Band, David Bowie, and Roxy Music (who, next to Bowie and T. Rex, are probably the band that influenced the nascent English punk scene the most).  They released two albums in 1976, Late Night Movies, All Night Brainstorms and Figures of Emancipation.  Their sound integrated these influences as well as folk/traditional and even prog rock.  “The Noise of the Evening”  sounds almost like “Fly Like an Eagle” by the Steve Miller Band, but with a much more fuzzed-out guitar sound.  “Suicide City” sounds like Bowie crossed with the Band, and “Doctors of Madness” has a frantic edge the presages punk and post-punk art rock. 

Once punk broke, literally thousands of bands either formed or changed their sound to the new one.  One such band was the Boys.  Formed in 1976 by a factory worker “Honest” John Plain, drummer Jack Black (not THAT Jack Black) and bassist “Kid” Reid, they were later joined by former Hollywood Brat keyboardist Casino Steel and former London SS guitarist Matt Dangerfield.  The Boys played a bouncy, Ramones-influenced pop punk that should have been a huge hit had it not been for record label incompetence.  Their first album, The Boys, contains a number of highly infectious romps, such as “First Time”, their paean to losing one’s virginity.  Their song “I Don’t Care” is terrific, high energy punk powerpop, and they do a solid cover of “Sick On You” by the Hollywood Brats.  “Tonight” and Tenement Kids” are two other catchy, bouncy punk songs from this first album.  Their second album, Alternative Chartbusters has since been recognized as a powerpop/pop punk classic.  “Brickfield Nights” almost hints at glam like Wizzard and Mud.  “Taking on the World” is another two minute, two chord sing-along anthem.  “Do the Contact Hustle” almost sounds like mod revivalists such as Purple Hearts, while “Neighbourhood Brats” is clearly a shout-out to the Ramones, even containing a girl-group lyrical flourish (“And then he kissed me”). The Boys remain a lost chunk of English pop punk.

A band I can’t find any information on are the Donkeys.  I discovered them while searching out old Boys songs on YouTube;  several of their singles are posted, including “What I Want”, which sounds very similar to the Boys in that its infectious, sing-along 70’s pop punk.  They apparently came out of Wakefield, West Yorkshire. (based on a comment someone posted on a YouTube song of theirs).  “No Way” is even smoother, with catchy, slick vocals and a little less overtly punky guitar.  Good stuff; if anyone has any info, let me know.

The band Eater gained some fame when Kurt Cobain proclaimed them one of his favorites.  Formed in 1976 by four high school kids, they released several singles in ’77 and ’78, including the biggest hit “Thinking of the U.S.A.”, which is your basic Pistols-influenced punk but also held a little bit of an Oi sound. 

Similarly, Slaughter and the Dogs were one of Manchester’s first punk bands.  Their single “Cranked Up Really High” is a blast of North Country attitude and became a skinhead/Oi classic. 

But by far my favorite English punk band of all time (besides the Pistols) are the Rich Kids.  Formed by Glen Matlock following his departure from the Pistols in 1977, the Rich Kids also included Midge Ure (who had played with Glasgow pop band Slik and then formed an early punk band known as PVC2 and would go on to form synth pioneers Ultravox), Rusty Egan (who would go on to be a leader of the post-punk New Romantic movement as producer and DJ) and Steve New.  Again, any and all Pistols songs aside, my favorite English punk song of all time is “Ghosts of Princes In Towers”, the name of their first single and their one and only album, and it is a simply magnificent song, soaring, sneering, strutting glam punk pop at its absolute best.  You’d be hard pressed to find a more fun and catchy 70’s punk song than this; the best version is actually the one played live on the English program Revolver, which someone has kindly posted on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTubfc48iPU.  I love the rumble and pound of Egan’s drums and Matlock’s bass, plus the give-and take vocals between Midge Ure and Steve New.  This is one of my absolute favorite songs, but the album contains many other winners, including their other big single “Rich Kids”, which surges and lurches on some nice clean 70’s guitar; their cover of PVC2’s “Put You In the Picture”, which has a rumble and growl but is much speeded up compared to the original; “Burning Sounds”, which almost sounds like early Jam (only slightly less bass-heavy); “Cheap Emotions”, which reminds me of late era Dead Boys but with sweeter vocals; “Hung On You” which has a strutting guitar line similar to that of the Hollies’ “Long Cool Woman In a Black Dress”; and “Young Girls” which has a Boys-like quality, with fast vocals and a syncopated rhythm similar to early 80’s new wave.  I consider Rich Kids, and this album, to be one of the best bands/albums to come out of the English punk movement; it was a pity they were never bigger. 

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. 

The Raspberries and 70's Powerpop

The Raspberries

Overlapping and influencing both the glam/glitter rock period of the mid-70’s and the rise of punk of the late 70’s was powerpop.  The term “powerpop” has a generally broad application but refers to songs that focus the fusion of strong melodies and harmonies with a strong (but not domineering) guitar-driven sound.  The ultimate inspiration of nearly all powerpop was the Beatles, with their vocal harmonies and catchy guitar riffs, but other elements of early 60’s pop, including the jangly guitars of the Byrds and the soaring vocal harmonies of the Beach Boys were also big influences.  However, it was the early mod-inspired work of the Who that really gave powerpop its guitar edge (the term “power pop” was reputedly even coined by Pete Townsend), while several other mid-60’s English bands, including the Faces, the Move, the Nice, etc., also contributed to the development of the powerpop sound.

Powerpop overlaps somewhat with bubblegum (also known as bubblegum pop) in that both genres share an emphasis on soaring vocal harmonies, sweet melodies, and catchy hooks.  The difference, of course, is in the crunch:   powerpop usually retains a fairly prominent guitar element which can occasionally be almost heavy or rough, while bubblebum typically avoids or at least downplays the guitar contribution.  Moreover, unlike powerpop, which was produced by actual bands, much of bubblegum was “artificial” in that it came from “groups” which were crafted for the sole purpose of giving the sound an image.  One of the biggest bubblegum groups, the Ohio Express (who hit it huge with their song “Yummy Yummy Yummy” in 1968, which was covered by L7 on the SST Melting Plot covers compilation) were essentially a fabrication cobbled together to serve as an outlet for the songwriting skills of Jerry Kasenetz and Jerry Katz, two songwriters who essentially named and created the bubblegum genre.   Other bubblegum acts were even more fictitious, and were based on groups explicitly created for a TV show such as the Monkees and the Partridge Family; cartoon groups such as the Archies, Josie and the Pussycats, and the Banana Splits; and groups based on existing TV shows such as the the Brady Bunch.  Hell, in the late 60’s and early 70’s it was hard NOT to find a Saturday morning cartoon show that DIDN’T feature  some musical component (which was usually very bubblegum in nature); most people of my age have fond memories of eating bowls of Cap’n Crunch with Crunchberries while watching chase montages of Scoobie Doo and Shaggy outwitting that week’s supernatural villain to the catchy refrain of some bubblegum song. 

The 1910 Fruitgum Company were perhaps the most successful bubblegum band, releasing 3 gold record singles and a number of other highly successful singles across the course of their relatively brief career.  Another front for the songwriting of Kasenetz and Katz, they represent one of the first in an ever-more-unfortunate line of boy bands that led through the New Kids on the Block, N’ Sync, and the Backstreet Boys (and the less frequent girl band concept best evinced by the Spice Girls).  Like most bubblegum, the songs of 1910 Fruitgum Company are better taken in small doses as they are just so relentlessly saccharine, but some of their later music has a slightly harder edge that actually approaches the boundaries of powerpop; songs like “Please Me, Tease Me” off 1968’s Goody Gumdrops and “Special Delivery” and “Indian Giver” (which was actually covered by the Ramones; most people don’t realize that the Ramones were in many ways nothing more than a fuzzed-out bubblegum band themselves so this cover actually makes more sense than you might think) off Indian Giver  have rumbling bass lines and audible guitars that make them much more palatable today.

Bubblegum arose, in the words of its creators Kasenetz and Katz, because “people were tired of hearing about violence, wars, riots, etc.”  Powerpop, like glam, arose as a reaction of sorts to the prevailing musical culture at the time.  Specifically, in the early 70’s powerpop represented yet another movement away from heavy, progressive, and/or blues based rock that was dominating FM radio at the time, back toward the catchy and simpler songs of the early 60’s British Invasion bands. 

One of the first of the 70’s powerpop bands, and arguably the most influential, was Big Star.  Formed in 1971 by singer Alex Chilton and singer/guitarist Chris Bell following the breakup of their previous bands, the Box Tops and Icewater, respectively, Big Star was one of the earliest bands to hearken back to the basic Lennon/McCartney sound.  Big Star’s music was very influenced by early Beatles and Byrds and even touched on the melodies of the Everly Brothers.  In 1972 they released the first and most acclaimed of their three albums, the ambitiously titled #1 Record.  The basic powerpop formula was evident from the very first song, “Feel”, which channels the catchy pop and soft early psychedelia of mid-60’s Beatles.  It starts with a slow, chugging guitar riff but quickly builds to Chilton’s Lennonesque vocals, eventually working in sweet background choruses and even some Memphis/Stax sounding horns.  “The Ballad of El Goodo” starts with shimmering guitar that moves into a more introspective vocal by Chilton but once again builds from there with crunching guitars and sweet backing vocals by Bell but remains more introspective than “Feel”.  “In the Street” is more upbeat and Chilton’s vocals are so high he almost sounds like a long-lost Bee Gee; musically this song feels more Byrds influenced, particularly on the chorus, which evokes “Bells of Rhymney”, but again the lush background vocals give it a Beatle-y feel as well.

Conflicts over the musical direction of the band led to Bell’s departure prior to the recording of their second album, Radio City, and thus the music on this album has a slightly harder edge.  “Back of a Car” has a Badfinger feel to it; the guitars shimmer and crunch but while Chilton’s vocals remain as smooth and sweet as ever, the lack of Bell’s even sweeter backing vocals is obvious.  Still, this may be my favorite song of theirs because of the way the guitars alternatively shimmer and pound and because Chilton’s vocals never sounded better.  “September Gurls” is perhaps their best known composition and continues on in a similar vein.  Again the Byrds influence is strong (it always makes me think of “Turn! Turn! Turn!”). “She’s a Mover” sounds like Chilton’s interpretation of “Drive My Car” by the Beatles, a little funkier with the guitar and heavier on the bass.  “Life is White” contains some excellent harmonica and the guitars here ring like a bell around Chilton’s soaring vocal. “You Get What You Deserve” has an almost Wilco-like feel in the guitar and accompanying organ.  Both albums are available as a combined album on iTunes and there isn’t really a bad track on either of them.  However, if I had to point to a flaw in the output of Big Star its that its so monotonously good (and most of the songs are so similar) that its hard to pick just one or two songs as standouts.  Big Star in my opinion never had a grand slam song or two, they just put out consistently good music, but this makes it hard for singles-oriented folks like myself to grab one or two songs and feel like I’ve got their “best”. 

Big Star broke up soon after the release of Radio City in 1974 (a third album was recorded but was only released in Europe and is out of print now), but other groups had taken up the powerpop flag.  Ohio’s Raspberries were perhaps the next most influential powerpop band of the early 70’s.  Formed from the ashes of two hugely popular Cleveland acts, the Choir and Cyrus Erie, they took the Beatles thing a step further, wearing short hair (at least for the time) and matching suits a la the Beatles in the early 60’s.  Their first, self-titled 1972 album had a bona fide hit in “Go All the Way”, which reached #5 in the charts and was certified gold.  This song starts with a blast of loud, brassy guitar, then settles into lead singer’s eerily McCartney-esque vocal, and like Big Star’s songs, it contains sweet, lush background vocals, but the guitars blast a little more than Big Star’s early work.  This song even features a call-and-answer “Come on; come on!” chorus that is lifted straight from “Please Please Me”.  “Come Around and See Me” is mellower, almost acoustic, sounding almost like “Norwegian Wood”.  “I Saw the Light” is also more quiet and has some beautiful piano accompaniment.  Some songs on this first album do rock a little harder; “Rock and Roll Mama” sounds almost like “Dixie Chicken” (the song from which the Dixie Chicks took their name) era Little Feat, while “Get It Moving” sounds like something off Bowie’s The Man Who Sold the World.

The Raspberries’ second album, Fresh, was also released in 1972 and contains several more standout tracks, including my favorite, “I Wanna Be With You”, which is another Beatle-y blast; it may be the best song the Beatles never wrote.  “Let’s Pretend” is more sweet slick pop, with jangly Byrds-esque guitars.  Their third album, Side 3, is more overtly rocking and contains several songs that pump up the guitars while losing nothing of the sugary vocals.  The influence has slid closer to the harder edge of the Who here, which in many ways makes this one of their finest musical moments.  The songs lose their slightly too saccharine tone. “Tonight” and “Hard To Get Over a Heartbreak” blast and pound in ways that “Go All the Way” didn’t. “I’m a Rocker” has a strutting rhythm that sounds closer to the glitter of T. Rex, while “Money Down” sounds positively dirge-y.  Their final album, Starting Over, continues this harder rocking vibe; “I Don’t Know What I Want” draws from “I Can See For Miles”.  “Overnight Sensation”, though, is vintage Beatles/Badfinger all the way.  Eric Carmen went solo soon after this and achieved considerable success.

Another Ohio group, Blue Ash, never quite achieved the same level of success as the Raspberries or the same level of influence as Big Star.  They were less Beatles-influenced, and their sound sounds like a slightly cleaner and catchier variation on the New York Dolls (perhaps unsurprising since they were signed to the Dolls’ label, Mercury Records).  The music is more heavily guitar driven and contains blues flourishes like Johnny Thunders’, but the vocals are less bratty and Jaggeresque than David Johansen’s.   “Abracadabra” is perhaps their best known song and these Dolls-like touches are very evident here. Other songs elicit memories of 60’s garage bands like the Blue Magoos.   iTunes has a marvelous compilation of much of their work, which is undeservedly obscure and is well worth a listen.

The Flamin’ Groovies came out of San Francisco and in their initial, early incarnation were a rave-up blues, rockabilly and R&B band working against the grain of the prevailing hippie/psychedelia movement of the time. The Groovies would occasionally play shows with the Stooges, and while not quite as raw as Iggy and Co. their early work is much cruder and rootsy (but still excellent; 1971’s Teenage Head is considered a lost 70’s classic and is similar to the Stones’ Sticky Fingers).  However, following some personnel changes (most notably, the departure of wild front man Ron Loney) and the loss of their record contract in 1971, guitarist Cyril Jordan moved the band to England and took their sound in a much  mellower direction, in the process crafting some of the best powerpop of the day.  Their 1976 album Shake Some Action was a bona fide classic.  Less overtly Beatle-esque than Big Star or the Raspberries, it nevertheless contains a similar emphasis on well-crafted songs filled with catchy hooks and smooth vocals.  The title song is a standout track, one of the best of the entire powerpop genre.  Its slightly cruder and rougher than most powerpop, with guitars that alternately ring like gongs and rumble like a subway train, and the smooth harmonies of the chorus launch into the almost-shouted refrain.  It is one of the best songs you’ll ever hear.  “You Tore Me Down” and “I Can’t Hide” are two more fantastic tracks, a little less raw than “Shake Some Action” and VERY reminiscent of the Byrds.  As much as I appreciate the sweet, soaring music of Big Star and the Raspberries, to me the Flamin’ Groovies are the band that most effectively put the whole powerpop thing together—the music is sweet and catchy but not TOO sweet and catchy; both these songs retain a harder edge than most of the work of these two other bands.  “I’ll Cry Alone” starts with a melancholy guitar into which the vocal harmonies merge but this song doesn’t grab me as much as the first three mentioned off this album.  Their next album, Flamin’ Groovies Now, is mostly a cover album, with outstanding covers of the Byrds’ “Feel A Whole Lot Better” and the Rolling Stones’ “Blue Turns To Grey”, and none of the originals sparkle with quite the same shine as anything off Shake Some Action (though “All I Wanted” comes close).

Milk N’ Cookies was formed by front man Ian North in 1973 and released just one album (1977’s self-titled debut), but it has achieved a kind of cult status.  Their sound hovers in that vague netherworld between glam and powerpop (and presaged new wave), with high pitched vocals and catchy guitars.  “Tinkertoy Tomorrow” is an interesting track that sounds scarily like later LA Paisley Underground group the Three O’Clock.  Their sole album is available on iTunes and contains many similar songs.  In the late 70’s North moved to London and Cookies broke up; he went on to form the new wave bands Radio and Neo which retained a pop sound with obvious English punk influences.  “If You Gotta Go”, “She Kills Me”, and “Tran-Sister” by Neo are available on YouTube and highlight this new edgier sound.

Formed in 1974 by brothers John and Jeff Murphy and Gabe Klebe, the Shoes released a series of magnificent powerpop albums into the mid/late 70’s and beyond.  “Too Late” and “Burned Out Love” have fantastically new wave-y guitars but wonderfully sweet and catchy choruses.  An excellent 22 song compilation is available on iTunes and there really isn’t a bad song on it.

The Scruffs were a Memphis band that idolized Alex Chilton and released an outstanding album Wanna Meet the Scruffs? in 1977 which is now considered a lost powerpop classic.   Well, its no longer lost, its available on iTunes and contains several great songs, like the Lennon/McCartney/Chilton/Bell rave-up “Break the Ice”.

Even more obscure is Yipes!  Formed by singer/guitarist Pat McCurdy in the late 70’s, they released two albums (1979’s Yipes! And 1980’s A Bit Irrational).  There’s almost a Springsteen vibe to McCurdy’s vocals and song arrangements on songs like “This Is Your Life”, which along with “Good Boys” and “Me And My Face” are available on YouTube.

Powerpop seemed to be an almost exclusively American genre, perhaps because in England glam rock filled this particular musical niche.  However, there was one English powerpop band of note, the Motors.  The Motors released two albums, 1977’s Motors 1 and 1978’s Approved By The Motors.  The songs, including “Dancing the Night Away”, “Sensation”, and “Forget About You”, have a punky edge but still retain the emphasis on sweet vocal melodies and soaring choruses that characterize classic powerpop.  Lead singer Bram Tchaikovsky went on to form his own self-named band in 1979 and released a couple of similar albums; “Girl of My Dreams” is one of his best solo songs and was covered by the Heavy Metal Kids later in their career.

Back in the states, Los Angeles was a hotbed of powerpop in the late 70’s in the run-up to punk.  Several now-legendary LA powerpop bands played the small circuit available to independent bands in late 70’s LA, including the Zippers, 20/20, the Motels, the Nerves, and the Beat.  As mentioned in a previous post, the Quick were a band that bridged the period between glitter and punk in LA. The Zippers released a two song single “He’s a Rebel” and “You’re So Strange” in 1977 that is clearly an antecedent to the emerging LA punk scene.  Formed in 1977 when Steve Allen and Ron Flint relocated to LA in 1977, 20/20 created some magnificent music in their early incarnation.  Alas, their albums aren’t yet available on iTunes but several songs can be found on YouTube (type in “20/20 power pop” to avoid getting videos of the TV show of the same name).  “Yellow Pills” is driven by a pulsing synthesizer but has extremely catchy Beatle-esque vocals that sound like the Beatles in their psychedelic phase.  “Remember the Lightning” is an incredible song, super catchy without the usual sticky over-sweetness of most powerpop and is highly recommended--this is literally my favorite song of the moment, its so catchy and wonderful I cannot get it out of my head (but in a good way).  This should have been a massive worldwide hit in '78.  “Cherie” is another solid rocking number that almost hints at fellow LA band The Long Ryders.  “Nuclear Boy” and “Out of My Head” off their second album Look Out! are also catchy tunes.  This may be one of my favorite pre-punk LA bands ever.

Most people are familiar with the Motels from their hits in the late 80’s, most notably the exquisite “Only the Lonely” and “Suddenly Last Summer”, but they had a long history prior to this.  Formed by singer Martha Davis in Northern California in the early 70’s, they relocated to LA by the middle of the decade.  Their first, self-titled 1979 album is available on iTunes and has several standout tracks, including the sparsely arranged but sweetly sung “Counting” and “Total Control” (which was later covered by Tina Turner).

The Pop released two albums of classic, Big Star-influenced powerpop in the late 70’s which are regrettably unavailable on iTunes.  Their song “Down On the Boulevard” sounds like classic Chilton powerpop, as does “You Oughta Know”.  “Saturday Night Hitchhiker” has a darker sound similar to Iggy Pop’s “The Passenger”. 

The Nerves achieved legendary status for the fact that they were instrumental in establishing the pre-punk “DIY” ethic in Los Angeles, booking their own show and tours (they even opened for the Ramones) and recording and releasing their own album; this blueprint would be followed by nearly every punk band in LA afterward, particularly as the traditional institutions were not open to them at the time.  The Nerves, like the Raspberries, wore matching suits and sang Beatlesque songs, but their songs had more of the punchy feel of early 60’s Beatles.  Songs like “One Way Ticket” and “Paper Dolls” rock like “Day Tripper”. “When You Find Out” sounds almost like “Love Potion #9”, while “Working Too Hard” has elements of “Gloria” by Them.  After they broke up in ’77, singer Peter Case went on to form the even-more-successful Plimsouls, who had a series of minor hits (such as “Oldest Story in the World”, “Everywhere At Once”, and “A Million Miles Away”, which was featured in the movie “Valley Girl”; the Plimsouls famously perform this song in a scene set at the Central Club, which eventually became the Viper Room, outside of which River Phoenix overdosed in the 90’s).  Paul Collins formed the band the Beat, who released two albums in the late 70’s and early 80’s of catchy powerpop (one of their songs, “There She Goes”, was also featured on the “Caddyshack” soundtrack, not to be confused with the jangle-pop version by the La's); “Walking Out On Love” sounds like it could have been recorded by the Rembrandts and been used as an alternate theme song for “Friends”.  “Rock and Roll Girl” has a cruder R& B feel, while “Don’t Wait Up For Me” is a fun, chugging rave-up and one of their best known songs.  Former Nerves guitarist Jack Lee ended up becoming a successful songwriter—he brought the Nerves” “Hanging On the Telephone” to Blondie, and wrote “Will Anything Happen" for that band as well).

And finally, no discussion of LA powerpop would be complete without mention of the Knack.  Derided as misogynistic one-hit wonders, the Knack in fact played a marvelous form of bass-heavy powerpop that drew heavily from early Who.  While admittedly the lecherous lyrics of hits such as the worldwide smash “My Sharona” and its follow-up “Good Girls Don’t” leave a little something to be desired (“and it’s a teenage madness that you know you can’t erase, ‘till she’s sittin’ on your face”), the catchy appeal of these songs can’t be denied.  My favorite Knack song is “Your Number Or Your Name”, a jangly, pleasant song with an appropriately pulsing bass line.

In the late 70’s, powerpop blended in with punk, and eventually formed the basis of new wave.  In fact, the boundaries between these genres is not crisp, and many bands can easily be categorized into two or more of them.  Powerpop shared with punk a desire to return to a more basic song structure; at its core, punk rock was a return to the rawer, more live and street feel of early rock and roll from the indulgent studio concoctions of the 70’s, and in this it shared with powerpop an appreciation of the honesty and simplicity of earlier musical times.  While the super-sweet Beatle-esque harmonies and lush production were definitely toned down, several pioneering punk bands shared a desire to fuse catchy songs with a rough-hewn guitar sound, including Blondie and the Cars.  Cheap Trick’s music shared some elements of powerpop (as well as glam, metal, new wave and hard rock). However, powerpop’s biggest influence may have been on post-punk—the jangly guitars and soaring vocals were adopted by many better-known bands in the 80’s and 90’s, most notably REM, the dB’s, Teenage Fanclub, Matthew Sweet, the Bangles, the Feelies, the Beat Farmers, the Smiths, and others. 

I have to be honest:  the hard core super-Beatles-influenced work of Big Star and the Raspberries is not my favorite stuff.  It’s a little too slick, a little to saccharine, a little too similar to the Beatles for me—my feeling is, if I’m going to listen to Beatle-esque, jangly/sweet pop tunes, why not simply listen to the Beatles?  But later powerpop, such as that by the Flamin’ Groovies and the Shoes, and especially the LA brand of powerpop as represented by 20/20, the Pop, the Zippers, the Beat, the Nerves and the Plimsouls, is one of my favorite genres of all time. 

LA Glam and Glitter

Shady Lady in their heyday.

In one of my recent posts, I talked about some of the more interesting and obscure 70’s glam bands I’ve found and like—Mud, Jobraith, Cockney Rebel, Silverhead, etc.  Glam never caught on nation-wide in America like it did in England, but in some regions it became quite big.  Los Angeles was a particular hot spot of glam rock and the scene was the starting point for several notable post-glitter genres in LA, including powerpop and punk. 

The history of LA glitter rock has to start with Sparks—yes, the same Sparks that gave us such 80’s new wave classics as “Moustache” and “Eaten By the Monster of Love”; before achieving international fame as a new wave band, Sparks was one of the most original, innovative and bizarre rock bands in history.  Sparks grew out of a previous band, Halfnelson, formed by Ron and Russell Mael and guitarist Earle Mankey in 1968; rock critic John Mendelsohn was their drummer for a time (he would go on to play in another seminal early LA glitter band, Christopher Milk; see below).  Hafnelson was strongly influenced by the British Invasion bands of the early/mid 60’s.  They recorded an album which was produced by Todd Rungren in one of his first production efforts outside his group the Nazz and which was eventually released in 1971.  This album was re-released as Sparks’ first album and is on iTunes; it may be one of the most unusual albums ever.  According to AMG, Todd Rungren famously said of Sparks that “ a lot of their stuff was strange, the words were strange and the whole approach was very left field”, and this album certainly underscores this.  This album spawned a hit, “Wonder Girl”, which is foot stomping, catchy glitterpop in the vein of the Sweet or the Bay City Rollers.  Other tracks veer between cabaret, show tunes, and even prog rock, with lots of bizarre studio sounds, electronic effects, and other weird stuff.  A very excellent album.  “No More Mr. Nice Guys” is a more rocking number that presages future Sparks songs like “Whippings and Apologies”.

  Curiously, a few songs from a legendary demo cut several years prior to their album’s release are also available on YouTube.  These songs are very organ heavy but already have in place many of the musical aspects that would make Sparks legendary:  complex/unusual lyrics, grandiose vocals, strange time signatures and song structures, etc.  “Landlady” in particular has an almost cartoonish feel to it, lots of organ, and hysterical lyrics (“Landlady, landlady, turn on the heat!!!”).  “Jane Church + The Factory” (Not sure if this is two tracks or one) is similarly bizarre, with more electronic effects and bizarre percussion. 

Their record company convinced them to change their name to Sparks, and throughout the remainder of the 70’s, Sparks would record and release albums of notable quirkiness, mixing everything from opera and sea chanties to straight out rockers.  The second, A Woofer in Tweeter’s Clothing, contains two of their best and strangest songs, “Moon Over Kentucky” and “Whippings and Apologies”, which have to be heard to be believed.  They are truly bizarre and were a clear influence on bands like Cheap Trick and Celebrity Skin.  This album is also available on iTunes. 

A second seminal LA glitter band was Christopher Milk, formed when John Mendelsohn and bassist Ralph Oswald left Halfnelson in 1970.  Christopher Milk made operatic, cerebral pop similar to that of Sparks.  They recorded two albums for United Artists but sadly neither is available online as of this writing.  Several songs are on YouTube and on the band’s Facebook site, however.  “Dynamite” sounds like it could have come off Sparks’ first album, especially the off-kilter Ron Mael-like warbling lyrics, and their cover of  the Beatles’ “I Wanna Hold Your Hand”, sung in faux-Dylan and Walt Disney’s Goofy styles, respectively, are interesting documents of this band’s bizarre musical vibe. 

Another LA glitter pioneer was Shady Lady, which was formed by vocalist Stefan Shady and bassist Gerhard Helmut in the late 60’s in New York before moving to LA , reputedly to elude some bad dealings with the Mafia in 1970.  They hooked up with guitarist Bones DeNault and drummer Billy McCartney and started playing the Whiskey and other LA clubs.  Their sound is eerily like that of the New York Dolls, with a bluesy, Stones-y vibe; legend has it that when he was forming the band in NYC in ’69, Stefan asked Johnny Thunders, whom he knew, to be his guitarist but Johnny was playing bass at the time and said no.   They supposedly recorded three albums worth of material but none of it was ever released.  However, several songs off these sessions are available for listen on their MySpace page.  “Ain’t No New York Doll” is an interesting song given that it sounds like it WAS recorded by the Dolls!!  A slow, bluesy rocker, it ends with a fast-paced blast that sounds very punk-like today.  “Down To Dirty” is another great, raunchy rocker that lurches along like early Stooges (both lyrically and musically it sounds like “Loose” off Fun House) or Alice Cooper.  It’s a terrific song and shows why the band was the toast of LA until their demise in 1973.  “Nightwitch” has a very Jaggeresque vocal and some rollicking piano and is another interesting track. 

The New York Dolls sound was carried on by another LA glitter band, the Berlin Brats. Led by front man Rick Wilder, the Berlin Brats started in 1973 playing bluesy music that can barely be told apart from that of the Dolls.  Amazingly, an anthology of their work is available on iTunes; “Tropically Hot” sounds like it could have come right off Too Much, Too Soon.  “No Time for Romance” carries on this Dolls/Stones vibe, with a thundering bass line and terrific guitar licks accompanying the pouting vocal.  “I’m Psychotic” has a similar feel and sounds like a 60’s garage rock version of “Puss In Boots” by the Dolls.  “Vinyl” slows things down a bit, sounding a bit like “There’s Gonna Be a Showdown” or “Subway Train” or even “Chatterbox”, but I really love the shimmering guitar and pounding drums and catchy vocals here, its my hands-down fave by this woefully unheralded group.  The band could be faulted for being a bit too derivative of the Dolls, but hell, even the DOLLS didn’t make it big, so in my book anyone who was doing a similar thing wasn’t exactly doing it to become famous, they clearly believed in the sound. 

After the breakup of Shady Lady, drummer Billy McCartney changed his name to Zory Zenith and formed the band Zolar X with pianist/vocalist Stephen Della Bosca and bassist Bruce Courtois, who changed their names to Ygarr Ygarrist and Zany Zatovian, respectively.  Zolar X has achieved near-legendary status in the musical iconography of the LA pre-punk scene, and has undergone a renaissance of sorts, with a documentary on them, re-releases of their 70’s work along with newly recorded material, and many excellent videos on YouTube of them performing back in the day.  Zolar X reportedly came together when Zory/Billy walked into Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco and saw Ygarr and Zany had the same exact spaceman haircut as him!  Clearly they were meant to work together. 

Zolar X was a conceptual band in the most extreme sense of the word:  the band claimed to be aliens and wore alien outfits both off stage and on stage, rarely breaking character.  They even spoke in an alien language they invented.  It is reputed that Ace Frehley of Kiss developed his “Space Man” look from them; at any length, he was also an early supporter of the band.  Their sound centered on a crunchy, guitar-driven but pop-sounding space rock vibe taken mostly from the Ziggy Stardust mold, with lyrics centered on/obsessed with space, aliens, etc.  They frequently played at the English Disco and opened for many bigger-named glam groups such as Iggy and the Stooges, Jobraith, Silverhead, etc.  They recorded one album, which was released after the band broke up in the early 80’s amid escalating drug use and other conflicts; it was released posthumously and was then re-released on Jello Biafra’s Alternative Tentacles label in 2004.  Some of the best songs are the grandiose and driving “Timeless” (which almost sounds like pre-hardcore at times) and the equally fast and catchy “Jet Star 19”.  “Nativity” is a slower and heavier acid drenched rocker with strangled, soaring vocals that sounds like an out-take from Ziggy Stardust or like a cut from the "Phantom of the Paradise" soundtrack.  “I Pulled My Helmet Off (I’m Going To Love Her)” is more introspective, with large instrumental portions that build toward a hysterical and pounding ending.  But perhaps my favorite track from this era is the phenomenal “Parallel Galaxy”, a seven minute long opus that starts with a mellow, introspective guitar riff and builds to a pounding crescendo, though the high pitched, spoken word lyrics get a little silly.  A few years ago, Zolar X reformed and in 2007 they released an album of all new songs, X Marks the Spot.  “Retro Rockets” from this album is a fantastic blast of their guitar-driven space rocket rock (its one of my four year old son’s favorite songs) and is highly recommended.

Finally, the Quick formed in 1974 at the tail end of the glitter scene in LA, and their music represents a bridge from the glitter era through the powerpop era and into the punk period.  Heavily influenced by Sparks (Earle Mankey, guitarist of Sparks, would co-produce along with legendary impresario Kim Fowley their first album, Mondo Deco, which alas is not currently available digitally though a compilation Untold Rock Stories collects some of their best songs on iTunes), their songs shared that band’s quirky song structures; they were also influenced by the nascent powerpop scene in America, particularly the Raspberries, and many of their songs contain the lush vocal harmonies for which the ‘berries are renowned.  “No No Girl”, “Hillary”, their cover of the Four Seasons’ “Rag Doll”, and “Hi-Lo” are excellent examples of this Sparks-meets-Raspberries sound.  “Teacher’s Pet” is slightly more rocking, with big guitar flourishes accompanying the heavy glam boot-stomp rhythm and singalong lyrics.  “Pretty Please Me” starts with wailing guitar harmonies and then settles into a driving, punchy rock blast with less saccharine vocals; this song is arguably their best and achieved some airplay on LA’s definitive alternative rock station KROQ.  It was also covered by early LA punk band the Dickies (and Redd Kross); indeed, Stan Lee, guitarist for the Dickies, was supposedly the Quick’s drug dealer in the mid-70’s, and learned how to play guitar from Steve Hufsteter in between drug deliveries.   The Quick can therefore be seen as a direct musical bridge between the glitter rock of Sparks and the punk of the Dickies. 

After the Quick broke up in 1978, several members went on to other projects of note.  Vocalist Danny Wilde went on to co-form the Rembrandts, who achieved everlasting fame/notoriety for recording “I’ll Be There for You”, which was adopted as the theme song for the sitcom “Friends” in the 90’s.  Guitarist Steven Hufsteter would later become a founding member of the Cruzados. 

Glitter rock was already dying in LA even before the Quick formed; in fact, it even had a funeral, at Rodney’s English Disco, when famed glitter DJ Chuckie Starr was ceremonially carried in a coffin to the service.  But it lived on in the powerpop and punk movements in LA.  The Berlin Brats played several gigs with emerging powerpop bands like 20/20, the Zippers, and the Nerves; the Brats broke up in ’77 and Rick Wilder formed the Mau Mau’s, who were one of the first Masque bands; the Dickies formed in ’77 and started playing goofy cartoon punk that was heavily influenced by the Quick.  And many of the first-wave LA punk bands, including the Germs, the Skulls, and the Weirdos, were heavily influenced by the sound and look of the glitter rock movement.