Out with the Old, In with the New (Wave)

LA's SSQ--did they borrow those suits from Devo?

If there’s one thing that any artist hates, its when someone tries to label his or her work.  Most artists of any note feel that labels pigeonhole their work  into categories that, while they might be convenient for the uninitiated, are often misleading or downright wrong. 

Nowhere is this more prevalent than in music. When was the last time you heard an artist or band say, “Yeah, we’re pretty much your basic emo group”? or “All we play is doom metal, nothing else”?  Never, obviously, because musical artists always resist being easily categorized and hope that their sound transcends boundaries. 

The problem is, labels ARE convenient, and CAN be accurate.  Praying Mantis, Savage, and Bronz really ARE bands that play “New Wave of British Heavy Metal”—they’re not punk, they’re not blues, they’re not jazz. 

But labels can also be vague, and perhaps no label in modern rock music is more vague than NEW WAVE.  What, exactly, IS new wave??  It initially meant punk, which is why acts as disparate as the Clash, the Dead Boys, and Devo were initially considered “new wave”.  Part of this stems from the fact that record labels, radio stations, and even bands themselves started using new wave to distinguish their music from punk, which (particularly in the U.S.) initially had strongly negative connotations associated with it.  Seymour Stein of Sire Records was one of the famous proponents of this “new wave vs. punk” dichotomy, and starting in the early 70’s new wave started referring to bands that were less rough edged, political, and amateurish and who retained some element of pop marketability.  Ironically, “new wave” began to refer to the SECOND WAVE of bands that surged upward in the wake of the FIRST WAVE of punk bands; these bands often intentionally softened their sound and/or look so as to not be lumped in with their punk compatriots. 

But still, what IS (or was; its widely considered that new wave died sometime around 1985 or so, though it has been resuscitated a couple of times since) new wave?  Do the bands typically subsumed under this label have anything in common sonically or otherwise?  According to Allmusic, New Wavers “approached pop music with the sardonic attitude and tense, aggressive energy of punk”.  Wikipedia states that “music that followed the anarchic garage band ethos of the Sex Pistols was distinguished as ‘punk’, while music that tended toward experimentation, lyrical complexity, or more polished production, came to be categorized as ‘New Wave’”.   The Wikipedia entry for New Wave goes on to state that  “The New Wave sound of this era represented a break from the smooth-oriented blues and rock & roll sounds of late 1960s to mid 1970s rock music . . .  the music had a twitchy, agitated feel to it . . . choppy rhythm guitars with fast tempos. Keyboards were common as were stop-and-start song structures and melodies . . . New Wave vocalists sounded high-pitched, geeky and suburban.”

I would agree with all of these definitions and descriptions, but one problem that comes out is that this is a pretty huge category; indeed, the Wikipedia definition concedes that by this broad definition, powerpop, mod/ska revival, post-punk, synth pop, New Romantic, and dance music all fit with varying degrees of success under the new wave banner.

The first new wave bands often WERE part of the “new wave”—specifically, they were the bands like Television, Blondie, and the Talking Heads, who while sharing the passion of their CBGB’s brethren were decidedly NOT playing short, fast, sloppy music; instead they were crafting songs with angular rhythms and quirky structures and time signatures in songs like “Foxhole” and “Psycho Killer” that clearly fits the Wikipedia definition above.  Later in the 70’s, Elvis Costello was also making new wave music in songs like “Pump It Up” and “Radio Radio”, as were the Cars, with “Just What I Needed” and “Let’s Go”.  The Knack were clearly a powerpop band but “My Sharona” often gets lumped into the new wave category. Tommy Tutone similarly approached new wave from the powerpop side, and their song “867-5309” was a huge hit too.  “Goodbye To You” by Scandal and “Jukebox (Don’t Put Another Dime)” by the Flirts, and “I Got You” by Split Enz are other examples of songs and bands who a few years earlier would have been considered powerpop and were now considered new wave.  Other bands that started in more in the punk fold made songs now considered new wave classics---I’m thinking specifically of the B-52s with hits like “Rock Lobster” , the Go-Go’s (“Our Lips Are Sealed”, “Vacation”, etc.), and Devo’s more synth driven songs (“Whip It”, “Jocko Homo”, “That’s Good”, “Beautiful World”).

I have to say, these are often the new wave songs I look back on with the most fondness.  I was a teenager in the late 70’s/early 80’s and this was a period where I was really starting to explore music on my own.  “Rock Lobster” and “Whip It” were HUGELY popular in my junior high, as were “My Sharona” and “867-5309”.

As the 80’s progressed, new wave became huge in both America and England.  While there was certainly a large number of bands in America lumped in (fairly, willingly or otherwise) to the new wave category, in England new wave became almost a cottage industry.  A glut of bands formed and in the wake of the success of MTV these bands were immensely successful in marketing their image as well as their sound, and for awhile it seemed like every English kid with a funny haircut, a weird band name, and a synthesizer could get a video on MTV And sell a million albums.  Some bands achieved some lasting success—Boy George and Culture Club made music that was influenced by Roxy Music and American soul; “Church of the Poisoned Mind” is still a song I like a lot.  Similarly, Duran Duran became an international phenomenon, as did Spandau Ballet and the Eurythmics.  Modern English had a HUGE hit with “I Melt With You” (though I actually like “Ink and Paper”, their much less successful follow-up single, much better). 

But bands with prolonged success were rare, and the early 80’s became more renowned for throwaway novelty songs and one hit wonders than perhaps any other rock era.  Kajagoogoo (“Too Shy”), Soft Cell (“Tainted Love”), Bow Wow Wow (“I Want Candy”), the Thompson Twins (“Love On Your Side”), Men Without Hats (“Safety Dance”), Haircut 100 (“Love Plus One”), Blancmange (“Living on the Ceiling”)—the list could literally go on and on and on and on. 

I have to admit, there are definitely some one hit wonder songs from this era that I still love, such as the Flying Lizards’ cover of “Money (That’s What I Want)”; “Life In a Northern Town” by the Dream Academy, “Heart and Soul” by T’Pau, “Kiss Me” by Stephen “Tintin” Duffy, “Living on Video” by Trans X, “Spaceage Love Song” and “Wishing” by Flock of Seagulls (arguably the ultimate ridiculous haircut band of all time), “The One Thing” by INXS, “Nowhere Girl” by B-Movie, “Electric Avenue” by Eddy Grant, “See Those Eyes” and “I Could Be Happy” by Altered Images, “Pass the Dutchie” by Musical Youth, and “Love is the Law” by the Suburbs, along with most of the “first wave new wave” songs mentioned above remain some of my favorite songs to this day.  To me, these songs are catchy and fun and I still enjoy listening to them.

In the 80’s, new wave also became a major part of movie soundtracks.  Nobody mined new wave for movies more than John Hughes—hell, one of his movies (“Pretty in Pink”) was even NAMED for a new wave song (by the Psychedelic Furs)!!  “If You Leave” by OMD and “Round, Round” by Belouis Some are two of my favorites off the soundtrack of this film, and I still like “I Go Crazy” by Flesh For Lulu off the “Some Kind of Wonderful” soundtrack.  I’m not sure if “Inside Out” by the Mighty Lemon Drops was ever featured in a film, but it sure sounds like it should have been—its catchy as hell and if you like poppy, upbeat 80’s new wave you should check it out.

One of my current favorite new wave songs from a soundtrack is “Time To Win” by Gary Myrick, which was on the soundtrack for the Nicholas Cage movie “Valley Girl”.  Myrick was an unusual figure in new wave—he started in Austin Texas in the same scene that yielded Stevie Ray Vaughn but in the late 70’s he relocated to LA and formed his band the Figures.  Myrick’s music is unusual, pulling from new wave, hard rock, bar band rock, and blues.  His unique voice and unusual song structures made him almost like an American version of the Police (minus the Caribbean influences).  In addition to “Time To Win”, which is my absolute favorite song of his, I also have “Living Disaster”, “No Crisis”, “Here Come the Guns”, “My” Girl”, “Tattoed On My Forehead”, “I’m Not a Number”, and “Ever Since the World Began”, and they all rock with an edgy, new wave influenced hard rock sound unique to the early 80’s.

As punk and new wave hit America, established, pre-punk artists reacted to this new musical revolution.  Many stuck their heads in the sand and tried to ignore or even denigrate the new movement, but some artists listened to what this younger generation was saying and playing and incorporated some of these elements into their own work.  Often these artists were widely derided, either at the time or later, by rock critics who disliked the way these artists seemed to try to re-establish their hip credibility by glomming onto what was widely perceived as a passing fad.  I personally think this is asinine, and yet another reason why I think most rock critics are idiots.  In my opinion there’s absolutely nothing wrong with exploring new sounds and trying to add fresh musical perspectives to your work.  The Rolling Stones songs “She’s So Cold” off Emotional Rescue and “Tattoo You” and “Hang Fire” off Tattoo You had an edgy, new wave-y sound.  Jimmy Buffett’s “I Don’t Know” (from the “Fast Times At Ridgemont High” soundtrack) is a synth driven new wave pop song and I absolutely love it.  Olivia Newton-John, best known for her pop singles of the early/mid 70’s and for playing good girl Sandy in “Grease”, released some edgier, new wave-influenced music in the late 70’s—I still love “A Little More Love” off Totally Hot—and some even more synth-heavy music in the 80’s such as “Strange Twist of Fate”.  Linda Ronstadt also got endless grief for her forays into new wave, most notably on her Mad Love album, which contained her cover of the Cretones’ “Mad Love”, her three Elvis Costello covers (“Party Girl”, “Girls Talk”, and “Talking In the Dark”), and her cover of Billy Thermal’s “How Do I Make You?”, but I like all of these songs.  Lindsey Buckingham was also criticized for his sparser arrangements and quirky songs on Tusk, Fleetwood Mac’s follow-up to their smash hit Rumours, but I absolutely adore the very new wave-y songs on that album, including “Not That Funny”, “I Know I’m Not Wrong” (which seems to presage his later solo work, most notably “Holiday Road” and “Go Insane”).  And finally, Billy Joel’s album Glass Houses was also heavily influenced by the modern rock trends, and songs like “You May Be Right” wouldn’t have sounded out of place on an Elvis Costello album.  “Its Still Rock and Roll To Me” is the best answer to critics on both sides of the punk and new wave debate, with Joel insisting that the new music wasn’t so new after all, just another part of the long history of rebellion and reinvention in rock and roll.  And “Sometimes A Fantasy” is still one of my favorite new wave songs of all time—it too incorporates the edgy rhythms and catchy beats of the best new wave.

In recent years I’ve become a fan of obscure 80’s hits.  That is, these were obscure to ME but to some people they were songs they heard on the radio or at high school dances.  Cetu Javu was a German synth band that carried on in the vein of early Depeche Mode; I ran across their song “Have in Mind” on YouTube while surfing some other, related videos and I love its lush, early 80’s New Ro/synth band vibe.  A while back I also got into another European 80’s band, Fischer Z; I have several of their songs, including “Going Deaf For a Living”, “I Smelt Roses”, and “Red Skies Over Paradise”, and they are all catchy, cerebral synth driven new wave, but my favorite song of theirs is “So Long”, which has a languid bass line and strumming, powerpop-flavored guitars, and John Watts’ distinctive vocals.  Its one of my favorite obscure songs.

Another song, this time one I had heard way back in my youth but had never heard again, is “Modern Lovers” by Fay Wray—I remember the weird video for this song being played on some local video show back in the early 80’s then I never heard it again.  But a couple years ago I found it on YouTube (though I can’t seem to find it again), a great blast of guitar-driven new wave.

Related to this, I also ran across a video on YouTube of the music video for “All Touch” by the Canadian band Rough Trade being played on the early 80’s SoCal video show MV3.  I remember watching this very episode back in the 80’s; seeing it now is like looking through a time travel window into the past.  I like the pulsing synths and hard edge to the vocals here.

In fact, Los Angeles, where I grew up, was huge on new wave, and several synth-driven new wave bands out of LA made it quite big nationally, including Animotion (with their one hit “Obsession”), Berlin, and Missing Persons.  Berlin’s best known hit was “Sex” but they had several other great songs, including “Masquerade”  off their first album Pleasure Victim and “Now Its My Turn” and “Fall” off their second album, Love Life.  Singer Teri Nunn had a terrific voice and range and “Now Its My Turn” in particular has a very dark, powerful vibe.  For a change of pace, check out “Rumor Of Love”, also off this album; its sung by keyboardist David Diamond.  I remember this song because it was on the jukebox (possibly as the B-side to “No More Words”, which was their big hit off this album?) at a candy/ice cream store where I worked in high school and it was one of the only semi-acceptable songs on it (the other two were “I Saw Here Standing There” by the Beatles and “Cat People by David Bowie!) so we played it endlessly. 

Missing Persons have received some renewed attention lately, mostly as a result of the fact that people older than 35 realize that most of Lady Gaga’s fashion sense seems to have been lifted entirely from Persons frontwoman Dale Bozzio.  Dale and husband/drummer Terry Bozzio met while working on one of Frank Zappa’s collaborative albums in the late 70’s and decided to form a band with also-sometime Zappa guitarist Warren Cuccurullo.  I like “Walking in LA” and “Mental Hopscotch”, and “Destination Unknown” is a long-running favorite, but as mentioned in a previous post I am currently OBSESSED with “Words”.  I truly think this is the PERFECT new wave song—Dale’s chirpy vocals, Terry’s insanely metronomic drumming, and Cucccurullo’s  fuzzy, roaring guitar riffs make this song just perfect to me. 

One synth band that few outside LA have heard of is SSQ.  They formed in the early 80’s and had one minor local hit, “Synthecide”, which is a great blast of early 80’s synth pop (the synths remind me of the song the nerds use to win the big talent contest at the end of “Revenge of the Nerds”).  This song was used in a couple different movies in the 80’s so you may recognize it; SSQ also had other songs on a couple other movie soundtracks too, including “Cavegirl, “Hardbodies”, and “Return of the Living Dead”.  A couple of these songs/videos are kicking around YouTube and are worth a gander.  Lead singer Stacy Swain changed her name to Stacy Q and had a couple very throwaway Madonna-wannabe pop hits in the mid/late 80’s, “Two of Hearts” and “We Connect”.

Starting in the 90’s and continuing into the new century, several bands have attempted to revive some of the lush, synth-heavy sounds of classic 80’s new wave.  Some of these bands, such as the Editors , Interpol, and the National, have adopted a sound that is more post-punk, drawn from bands like Joy Division and Gang of Four, than new wave, but others, like Bloc Party and the Killers have adopted some of the more pop elements of new wave. 

Cleveland Rocks

We have come for your children; the Dead Boys in '77

Its almost embarrassing to admit how long its taken me to get into the Dead Boys.  I’m not even sure why I haven’t really liked them till now—I’ve known about them for 30 years; I’ve been interested in early punk for that entire time; I’ve always liked their peers like the Ramones and the Dictators; I’ve been hugely appreciative of their inspirations, the Stooges, MC5 and the New York Dolls.  Everything is there but for some reason its only been in the past 10 years or so that I’ve really started to enjoy their music, and its only been in the past few months that I’ve become a major fanatic of it.  About 12 years ago I downloaded “Sonic Reducer” because I knew it was considered a punk classic, but it never lit a fire with me.  Then a year or two ago I bought a couple songs off their much-derided second album, We’ve Come For Your Children—specifically, “Ain’t It Fun” and “Son of Sam”, and I like both of them.  But just a few months ago I was going back and “backfilling” my collection and I happened to listen more closely to their first album and it quite honestly BLEW MY FREAKING HEAD OFF.  The chugging guitars, the hoarsely barked vocals, the fantastic rhythm section just finally hit me square between the eyes.  And I can hear their antecedents—the soaring Williamson-esque guitar of Raw Power era Stooges and the bratty attitude of the New York Dolls—and how the Dead Boys put them together into an updated package.  I’m especially blown away by the strutting, sneering, magnificent “Down In Flames”, which is by FAR my favorite song of theirs, and indeed is now one my favorite punk songs of all time.  In fact, if someone were to ask me to give them ONE song that really encapsulates what punk rock is, this might be it.  The chugging, strutting riff, Stiv’s harsh, crude lyrics—everything about this song is, well, young, loud and snotty.  It the type of peg-the-meter blast of strutting punk cock rock that to me just defines the genre.  To me, the Dead Boys are the one group to emerge from the Cleveland/Boston/New York punk axis of the mid/late 70’s that really encapsulated the music and feel of the Stooges and the Dolls into a younger, harder, brasher product.  I think a lot of people, myself included, wrote them off because they were renowned as being a band that pushed even the fairly loose boundaries of acceptability in punk—their music, their image, their wild stage shows were all cruder, wilder, more obnoxious.  But I’ve come to appreciate what they were doing and I actually have done a complete 180 in terms of my own opinion of this group.  Part of why I’ve changed my mind is that as I’ve gotten older I’ve ironically become LESS appreciative of the intellectual things people were trying to do, particularly in New York, within the umbrella of punk.  Television, Patti Smith, the Talking Heads—don’t get me wrong, they all made great music, but more and more I’ve come to appreciate the visceral, emotional punch of punk music more than anything else about it, and to me the Dead Boys are hands down the band that most epitomizes this.  The Ramones’ music was too simple; the Dictators were too goofy.  The Dead Boys are really IT.

Related to this, I’ve come to see the Dead Boys as the perfect missing link between Iggy and the Dolls on one end and the Pistols and Damned on the other.  I know it was the Ramones who are widely credited for lighting the fuse on English punk, but sonically the Dead Boys are really part of the continuum between Iggy/Thunders and everything else that came after to me much more than the Ramones, who to me were coming from a very different vibe, one that incorporated bubblegum and surf music and girl groups.

You know, related to this, and something I only just thought of while writing this post, is that I also see the Dead Boy's first album as the missing link between the Stooges and Motley Crue.  Crue famously claim that they were inspired by Iggy, the Dolls, T. Rex, the Pistols, the Damned, and so forth.  I've never heard them specifically mention the Dead Boys, but listening to "Down In Flames" its hard not to hear this as the missing puzzle piece between Raw Power and Too Fast For Love, most notably similarly strutting, sleazy, aggressive songs like "Piece of Your Action", "Live Wire", and "Too Fast For Love".   Other bands would mine the sonic territory between punk and metal, most notably (to me anyway) were Genocide.  If you haven't heard of Genocide, they were a sleazy punk metal outfit out of New Jersey.  Imagine what it would have been like if Darby Crash, instead of going to London following the breakup of the Germs and getting into New Romantic music, had instead got caught up in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal and returned and formed a sleazy metallic punk band with Nikki Sixx and you have some indication of what Genocide were like.  Song titles like "Stillborn", "Blow Job", "Manson Youth", and their magnum opus, "Die Wasted" also give you some indication of what they were like too.  All of these songs, as well as some live cuts, are available on YouTube if you're interested.

The other songs I love off their first album are “Ain’t Nothin’ To Do”, which lyrically is an update of “No Fun” by the Stooges but shares the strutting, chugging beauty of “Down In Flames”.  “Caught With the Meat In Your Mouth” begins with an almost blues/bar band feel but then zips along, almost reminding me of “LA Woman” by the Doors.   Off their second album, I like (In addition to “Ain’t It Fun” and “Son of Sam”) “I Don’t Want To Be No Catholic Boy”, “Dead And Alive” and particularly “Flame Thrower Love”, which come the closest to the burned-to-the-ground scorched earth attack of their first album.  I can only imagine how devastating this song would have been had it been produced by someone who brought out the fiercest aspects of the band like Genya Ravan did on their first album.

You know, I have tried SO hard to get into the other band to emerge from the breakup of Rocket From The Tombs, Pere Ubu, for over 20 years now with no success.  The song titles entice me—“Final Solution”, “30 Seconds over Tokyo”, “Heart of Darkness”—but I just don’t feel anything for this music.  I think its just too conceptual for me; I understand intellectually what they were doing (both lyrically and sonically), but it just has never moved my meter.

Recently, however, I was listening to some of ex-Ubu Peter Laughner’s solo work, and I DO like that.  Its clear he was absorbing the message and intent of bands like the Velvet Underground and reworking it into his own material.  “Amphetamine” is a great, introspective song that both musically and lyrically has a heavy Velvets influence but stands as a unique musical document in its own right.  Laughner tragically died in 1977 so we’ll never know what other things he was capable of.  Hard to imagine such a talented person only living to the way-too-young age of 24.

Anywhere U.S.A.

The American Clash?  S.V.T.'s sole album from 1981.

Once the powderkeg of punk was lit, first in New York then leaping the pond to London, it exploded everywhere.  While the New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and to a lesser extent Cleveland and D.C. punk scenes have been amply documented, it is now recognized that punk bands started forming almost anywhere with a critical mass of artists, scenesters, and degenerates.  Its my lifelong goal to document as many of these tiny, unheralded, obscure bands and scenes as possible, but I’m just starting to climb that mountain.  The subject of this post is three bands that sprouted up around the time punk exploded in America (at least underground) in ’77 and ’78.

The first is the Pagans.  I first heard of the Pagans 25 years ago but it was only with the advent of the internet and music file sharing that I was at last able to hear them first-hand.  The Pagans formed in 1977 in the wake of the big Cleveland pre/protopunk scene dominated by the Dead Boys.  Formed by vocalist Mike Hudson and guitarist Mike Metoff, the Pagans played a bottom-heavy, grunge-presaging form of garage punk.  In 1986, Treehouse Records released “Buried Alive” (the same year Plan 9 released the Misfits’ compilation Legacy of Brutality).  “Dead End America” surges and roars like early Ramones; “What Is This Shit Called Love?”, is another blast of pure Ramones musical adrenaline (it starts off with a Ramones’ count-off). Regrettably, this album is not available on iTunes but these songs can be found on YouTube.  The Pagans never received the recognition they so rightly deserved, which is a tragedy.

A band I’ve recently gotten into are Boston’s Real Kids.  They actually should have been included in my “protopunk” post, as leader John Felice was a founding member of Jonathon Richman’s Modern Lovers.  I haven’t mention Jonathon Richman or his place in the protopunk iconography (my apologies to anyone from Boston), for the simple and selfish reason that I’ve never been a huge fan of his music, which sought to combine the dissonance and feedback of the Velvet Underground with a uniquely optimistic and innocent lyrical craft.  Don’t get me wrong, I love “Roadrunner”, but other than that song (and to be perfectly truthful I think I prefer Joan Jett’s cover to the original!!  How’s that for blasphemy??) I’ve never really gotten into the Modern Lovers.  Anyhoo, Felice left the Modern Lovers in 1972 and formed the Real Kids soon after.  Sonically the Real Kids had a more melodic and lyrical sweetness compared to actual punk:  “All Kindsa Girls” sounds like a mash-up of punk, powerpop, and bar band R&B and is a fantastic song.  “Bad To Worse” is another marvelous blast of high energy rock; it almost sounds like it could be off the MC5’s second and more commercial album Back In the USA—just good, melodic, heavy rock and roll.  What it shares with punk is the snotty attitude and the lack of concern for fine craft.  “Now You Know” sounds even more melodic, reminding me of LA’s 20/20 or even the Flamin’ Groovies.  The Real Kids’first album, as well as a subsequent album Grown Up Wrong, are available on iTunes.

Felice continued to play with the Real Kids but then spent some time working as a roadie for the Ramones.  At around this time (circa ’76 or ’77) he formed the Taxi Boys, who continued in the same vein, if anything ramping up the melody and toning down the roar.  “Everybody’s Girl” is an excellent example of this more powerpop style and is a terrific song.  “I Can’t Kick” has a bar band, R&B flavor but is another masterful pop gem, while “Up Is Up” has a catchy guitar riff that sounds like early Kinks.  This is good East coast powerpop that is worth a listen.  Unfortunately nothing is on iTunes but all three songs are available on YouTube.

While not actually American, Canada's Teenage Head was an early adopter of punk.  They released two albums in '79 and '80 that sound exactly like the melody meets buzzsaw of the Ramones.  "Ain't Got No Sense" off their debut album (both their early albums are on iTunes, along with more recent work) is poppy punk with the Ramones guitar roar.  If you like the Bruddas you'll LOVE this.

One of my favorite bands of the moment mines a similar vein of powerpop-meets-punk-meets-60’s-mod-raveup as the Real Kids and the Taxi Boys, and that’s S.V.T.  Formed in San Francisco in 1978 by Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna bassist Jack Casady, S.V.T. were an incredibly, INCREDIBLY talented band.  As mentioned, their music straddled the line between punk, powerpop, and bar band R&B—high on energy but also amazingly gifted song writing and melody craft.  They released two singles in 1979 (“Heart of Stone/”The Last Word” is available on YouTube), an EP in 1980 called Extended Play (several songs from this are available on YouTube) and one full-length album in 1981 called No Regrets (which is available on iTunes), and I have yet to find a song on any of them that isn’t phenomenal.  This is truly a band that put together strong songs with the exuberance of punk/new wave.  The single version of “Last Word” is a fantastic punk/powerpop rave-up—Casady’s bass playing is particularly rumbling and marvelous, the drums are terrific, and Brian Marnell’s vocals are up-tempo and fantastic.  This song almost reminds me of what the Clash were doing sonically minus the political lyrics—this song should have been a massive hit.  “Heart of Stone” is slower, starting with guitar harmonies and then launching into Marnell’s soulful lyric “The closer I get to losing you, the more I see your heart of stone”.  This song is not punk (though it has the energy of punk) and edges closer to what the New York Dolls were doing in reviving the plaintive “I’ve lost you” lyrics and feel of 60’s Motown girl groups.  Its another major winner of a song to me.  “Bleeding Heart”, also from their LP, starts with clanging guitars then launches full-tilt into the lurching bass of Casady, followed by a New Wave-y guitar line and staccato vocals that remind me of early Elvis Costello.  “Waiting for You” starts with a swirl of guitars then launches into a punchy, up-tempo guitar and vocal attack before pulling back for an almost chugging, speedmetal refrain—I love the changing tempos of this song and the howling guitar solo by Marnell.  “No Regrets”, the title song of their album is another fast paced bar band punk rock rave-up that builds in intensity as the song progresses.  “Always Come Back” is another one of my favorites and is just an absolute joy, a raw blast of energy that starts slow and quiet but again ramps up the intensity—Casady’s bass again sets a magnificent tempo and I love how Marnell’s vocals build to his near-shouting in the second line of the second verse:  “Everytime I see her I want to tell her she’s mine, and we can run off to Anywhere USA, BUT I KNOW IT WOULDN’T WORK ITS NOT THAT WAY!  She’s got her own little world and I know she wants to stay”.  This is another high point in a career of high points.  "Love Blind" is another sweet, jangly ballad that hits the target sonically (to me at least).  If there’s ONE misstep it’s the cover of “I Walk the Line” by Johnny Cash, if only because its been done to death (even then).  But then on side two, we get “The Price of Sex”, “I Can See”, and “Red Blue Jeans”, all of which are equally fantastic.  I really can’t recommend this band enough—if you like the Plimsouls, the Clash, the Dolls, the Rich Kids, Gen X, or anything in between, you will LOVE this outstanding and sadly unrecognized standout band. 

To me, Casady’s willingness to embrace the new sound of punk was highly admirable—unlike many of his generation, he wasn’t shackled by restrictions and definitions of what rock was.  S.V.T. never achieved national fame but during their brief heyday (vocalist/guitarist Brian Marnell sadly, tragically died in a car crash in 1983), they were one of the most popular draws in the Bay Area (notwithstanding Casady’s Airplane and Tuna fans showing up and yelling out “punk” as a denigration of his attempt to explore the new music and sound).  In a better world they would have been huge national stars and an American answer to the Clash.  But sadly it didn’t happen.  Still, people in the know appreciate the beauty and energy of “Last Word” and “Always Come Back”.

The New York Doll Museum

Future Superstars Wicked Lester

In previous posts I explored the glam/glitter rock scenes in England and in Los Angeles, but of course everybody knows glam rock was big in New York too.  As the capital of American urban decadence, it would have actually been surprising had glam NOT been huge in the Big Apple. 

Obviously the biggest glam rock success in New York was the New York Dolls.  In fact, its hard to over-emphasize how important the Dolls were to the eventual NY and London punk scenes.  As mentioned in a previous post, it was his experience managing the Dolls during their final days, along with his admiration of Richard Hell, that prompted Malcolm McLaren to manage the nascent Sex Pistols (the Pistols, in typical form, eventually wrote a scathing song, “New York”, which denigrated their predecessors). 

The Dolls formed from the ashes of a previous band, Actress, which was formed in 1971 by Arthur Kane and Rick Rivets.  They asked Johnny Thunders to join as guitarist and singer, and he soon recommended Billy Murcia as their drummer.  Two Actress demos are available on iTunes on the New York Dolls Manhattan Mayhem compilation.  “That’s Poison” was eventually reworked by the Dolls into “Subway Train” and it shows that even from the start the Dolls were fascinated/obsessed with the simple, straightforward sounds of the 60’s, such as girl groups and R&B.  Johnny’s guitar sounds in fine fettle but his vocals leave a little to be desired; its not difficult to see why they soon asked David Johansen to join as lead singer.  “I Am Confronted” has a similar girl group sound, which just shows that for all their androgyny and roar the Dolls were at heart really just a reactionary 60’s throwback.  But as has been mentioned here in prior posts, a big part of punk rock music was a desire to return rock and roll to its more basic roots, and this was a big part of the Dolls’ appeal at the time.

After leaving/being kicked out of the Dolls, Rick Rivets went on to form the Brats (also known as the NY Brats).  Not surprisingly, their sound hovers very close to that of the Dolls themselves, a mix of 60's garage rock a la the Human Beinz, 70's Stones licks, and girl group/bubblegum harmonies.  "Be A Man" is uploaded on YouTube and showcases this heady combination.

The Dolls famously only recorded two albums, their self-titled debut and Too Much , Too Soon.  I own a lot of songs off both albums, but honestly the regressive,50's/ 60’s worshiping aspect of the Dolls is something I just don’t find that fascinating.  The only Dolls song I really enjoy is “Puss in Boots”, which is the only song where I feel like they cut loose from their retro sound and craft something that sounds truly new.  Johnny’s guitar solo (and blistering blues licks throughout) howl with real fire and energy.  The other thing I like about this song is how you can hear how the Sex Pistols blatantly ripped off the rhythm of the verse section for their song “Liar”.  Another favorite is "Looking For a Kiss", with its sleazy come-on and pouty strut.  But I've also come to love "Chatterbox" (which was covered more recently by the Chelsea Smiles), "Human Being" and its braying guitar and honking sax, the mid-tempo "Subway Train", and "Pills".

By 1975 the Dolls were in a state of near collapse.  Jerry Nolan (who replaced Billy Murcia on drums after Billy OD-ed during the Dolls’ London sojourn in 1973) and Johnny Thunders were heroin addicts and Arthur Kane was an alcoholic.  But Malcolm McLaren came to their rescue, if only briefly, giving the band new outfits, sending them to detox, and getting them to write new material.  All was for naught, as the Dolls broke up while on tour in Florida soon after.  But before their tragic demise they played a series of concerts at the Hippodrome in NY in 1975; amazingly, while the resulting live album (released in 1984 on the label Fan Club) isn’t available in iTunes, film footage exists of one of these shows and its been posted on YouTube.  The footage and sound are a trifle muddy but much better than expected; they show a band that still had incredible blues/rock chops live.  There are two original songs, “Red Patent Leather” and “On Fire” and a cover of “Somethin’ Else” by Eddie Cochran—perhaps this is where Sid Vicious got the idea to cover it himself 3 years later?

After the breakup of the Dolls, the various members went on to different group and solo projects.  Arthur Kane formed the Killer Kane Band with Blackie Lawless (who would eventually form W.A.S.P. after playing in Sister, Circus Circus, and with Nikki Sixx in London).  Blackie had joined the Dolls for a couple Florida gigs after Nolan and Thunders departed.  “Mr. Cool” has an almost dirge-y feel to it and sounds more like the proto-metal ballad Lawless would eventually make it into when he formed W.A.S.P.  “Blackhaired Woman” sounds even more metallic, again demonstrating more the future direction of Lawless than the prior direction of Kane. 

Kane’s second project, the Corpse Grinders, with former Actress compatriot Rick Rivets, was much more in line with the prevailing punk aesthetic of the time.  My favorite song of theirs (which is available on iTunes and is also posted on YouTube) is “Mental Moron”, a sleazy piece of punked up glam.  “Rights, 4 Whites” is faster and punkier and is also good.

Drummer Jerry Nolan joined Johnny Thunders and Richard Hell in the Heartbreakers, who released the seminal NY punk document LAMF in 1977.  “Born To Lose” and “Chinese Rocks” (which was actually written by Dee Dee Ramone) are the best songs, blues-drenched, sloppy punk anthems to failure and drugs that stand up well against anything the Dolls recorded.  Nolan died of complications from years of drug use in 1992.

Johnny Thunders released a seminal solo album, So Alone, in 1978.  “London Boys”, his answer to “New York” by the Sex Pistols, is one of the best songs, the roaring guitars and snotty lyrics propelling it nicely.  Most people like “You Can’t Put Your Arms Around a Memory”, but I find it maudlin and old fashioned.  Johnny continued to gig and record but never achieved anything better than these two early post-Dolls releases; he died a few months before Nolan.

Rhythm guitarist Sylvain Sylvain also continued to record and release new material through the 80’s and 90’s.  His 1980 solo album was a respectable addition to the post-Dolls material; “Teenage News” has a rockabilly feel, while “What’s That Got To Do With Rock and Roll” has elements of doo wop and swing.  His 1998 release (Sleep) Baby Doll was highly acclaimed; “Pencil, Paper and Glue” has a chiming guitar sound and soaring harmonies that sounds like a cross between a 50’s ballad and 70’s powerpop. 

David Johansen released a couple of solo albums; 1978’s eponymous release hewed closest to his Dolls work, but cleaned up the sloppiness and added a layer of studio polish.  It sounds like some of the same stuff the Rolling Stones were working on at the same time, having elements of funk and even disco.  “Funky But Chic” has a groovy beat and Johansen’s trademark bratty Jagger-esque vocals.  “Cool Metro” sounds like how the Dolls might have sounded had they been more professional and less sloppy and is my favorite solo song of his.  In the 80’s Johansen created the Buster Poindexter persona and had some minor hits. 

Murcia, Nolan, Thunders, and Kane all passed away, but in 2007 Johansen and Sylvain reunited, recruited some new players, and released two albums under the New York Dolls name.  Obviously hardliners will insist that it isn’t the Dolls without Thunders’ trademark sloppy blues licks, but the music is competent and Dolls-like enough to satisfy older fans still wanting something more.  “’Cause I Said So” is my favorite and is actually an excellent facsimile of the Dolls during their heyday.

One of Johnny Thunders' best friends, and one of the last people to see Nancy Spungen alive, Eliot Kidd had a mid-70's NY rock band the Demons that sounded like a much more polished version of the Dolls, and indeed were signed to the Doll's label, Mercury, but alas had about as much chart success as the Dolls.  Nothing is available for purchase by this band but three songs are up on YouTube, "It'll Be Alright","I Hate You", and "She's So Tuff".  "It'll Be Alright" starts with a snarling, catchy riff and settles into an almost jangly, very melodic song; you could almost see this breaking through and being a hit in the mid-70's.  "She's So Tuff" is a similar catchy rocker, with backing harmonies and hand claps that give it that girl group vibe the Dolls were always striving for.  "I Hate You" almost starts like "Street Fighting Man" and is lyrically pretty harsh, particularly for 1977 when it was released.  The bluesy guitar solo is classic Thunders stuff.


The Dolls weren’t of course the only band to come out of the NY glam scene of the early 70’s.  Another band would take the glam image, strip it of its feminine aspects, add monster movies, comic books and kabuki theater to the mix, and become perhaps the biggest band of the decade.  That band is of course Kiss, but before they formed Kiss they were in a band called Wicked Lester.  Wicked Lester, formed in 1971 by Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, recorded an album for Epic Records which was never released, but now several of the tracks from this album are posted on YouTube (Kiss included them in their boxed set from a few years ago and these are available on iTunes).  Several Kiss songs were actually initially developed by Simmons and Stanley in Wicked Lester, including “She” and “Black Diamond”.  “Long Long Road” is a tender ballad, with acoustic guitars and a nifty harmonica solo and even backing horns, and is more mellow than anything Kiss released (except of course “Beth”).  “What Happens In the Darkness” has a funky guitar line and maudlin vocals and sounds a lot like stuff coming out of black and R&B in the early 70’s (kind of like “Papa Was A Rolling Stone” and “Mercy Mercy Me”).  Its hard to believe that from these humble beginnings they would become the biggest band in the entire world within 5 short years.

One almost legendary 70’s NY glam group was Eric Emerson and the Magic Tramps.  Emerson, spectacularly attractive and bisexual, was an important scene maker and actor involved in Andy Warhol’s Factory as well as the Max’s Kansas City scene.  His band, the Magic Tramps, were essentially the Max’s house band.  Nothing is available on iTunes and only one song, a live cut called “S&M Leather Queen”, was available on YouTube for awhile but sadly seems to have been removed now.  The sound is raw but it reminds me of some of the melodic, piano-heavy stuff Iggy did post-Raw Power, with perhaps a dollop of Johnny Thunders.  Not bad, and too bad more isn’t available.

Another band from that era is Teenage Lust, about whom I can find extremely little on the internet right now.  There’s nothing in Wikipedia, and they don’t have an entry on All Music Guide, but I did find a few pages that describe them a little.  Apparently members Harold Black, Bill Lussenden, and Billy Joe White formed Teenage Lust as a side project from their usual gig, the Lower East Side, a band who backed up protopunk pioneer David Peel.  They played a glamified version of MC5 and Alice Cooper protopunk.  Back in the day they frequently opened for Iggy and the Stooges and the New York Dolls.  I’ve managed to find only one song, on YouTube, “Teenage Lust”, which sounds like a blast of Kick Out the Jams era MC5.

The Harlots of 42nd Street are another semi-legendary early NY glam band, who often played Max's and the Mercer.  I've only managed to find one of their songs anywhere; "Spray Paint Bandit" is on YouTube and it doesn't sound especially glam, more like the Dolls if they'd been a boogie woogie bar band instead.  Not bad but it doesn't give any insights into why they were such mainstays on the scene in the 70's.


While doing more research on this topic recently I ran across some links on YouTube connecting me from the Corpse Grinders to the Brats to the Rags.  Not much on them on the internet--nothing on Wikipedia or AMG, but I did find an interesting web site containing an interview with guitarist Joe Valentine and some more info on this band.  The members were  Joe Valentine-Sausa - guitars, Don De LaPena - drums, Joe St John - singer, Ron Blanchard - guitars, Steve Fraser - bass. They played the same club circuit (the Coventry, Max's, the Mercer, Kenny's Castaways, 82 Club, etc.) as the Dolls, Teenage Lust, etc.  A couple songs are uploaded on YouTube, including the very Stonesy "Hold Me Tight"--the singer here sounds like a dead ringer for Jagger a la "Angie".  "Rock and Roll Shoes", also on Youtube, is much closer to the sound of the Dolls and is a higher tempo rocker. 


Jo Jo Gunne were technically from the West Coast but also get mentioned frequently as part of the NY Max's scene.  They grew out of the late 60's/early 70's band Spirit and several of their songs are available on YouTube.  "Run Run Run" again sounds more like boogie/bar band type stuff. 

While they don’t technically belong in a section about NY glam, New York’s Neon Boys deserve mention here if only because, like Actress and Wicked Lester, they have achieved a level of notoriety for having birthed a more well known band, in this case Television.  Formed by Billy Ficca, Richard Hell, and Tom Verlaine in 1972, they played a few gigs around NY before adding Richard Lloyd and changing their name to Television in 1974.  A handful of songs were released by Richard Hell on an EP in the early 80’s and a couple are floating around YouTube.  “Don’t Die” sounds like a mellower, more 60’s-influenced Television; “That’s All I Know” has a heavier, Stooge-y feel with a little taste of 60’s garage rock (like the Seeds or the Count Five). 

(I hate to admit it but I’ve never been a huge Television fan.  Marquee Moon I find boring and over-indulgent.  My favorite Television song is actually “Ain’t That Nothin’” off their second and less critically lauded album, Adventure).

One band I HAVEN’T been able to find anything by is Sniper, who, like the Neon Boys, are remembered mostly because one of their members went on to bigger and better things:  Joey Ramone of the Ramones started his singing career as lead singer of Sniper under the name Jeff Starship.  Sniper played the usual glitter clubs—the Mercer, Max’s, Club 82 and the Coventry—and recorded some demos after Joey left but to my knowledge they didn’t record anything while he was still singing for them.  Nothing seems to be on YouTube presently but my hope is that someone will unearth some footage or tape of them playing, digitize it, and share it with the world. 

Kill City, Where The Debris Meets The Sea

The Weirdos "Destroy All Music" single

“If New York punk was about art, and London punk about politics, LA punk was about pop culture, TV, and absurdity.”

-Greg Shaw, founder of Bomp Records, from “We Got the Neutron Bomb” by Marc Spitz and Brendan Mullen

The punk scene in New York famously coalesced out of several disparate fields, including experimental theater (David Johansen and Jayne County acted in plays by John Vaccaro with Jackie Curtis), underground poetry (Patti Smith, Richard Hell), avant garde classical (John Cale of the Velvets played with La Monte Young), modern/pop art (the Velvet Underground and their association with Andy Warhol), and of course the glitter rock movement (prior to starting the Ramones, Joey Ramone was singer of a late-era glitter group, Sniper).  Art was central to the evolution of New York punk.  However, in the bleak economic atmosphere of mid 70’s England, punk became politicized, and came to be a cry of rage against the stultification and pessimism surrounding England in the 70’s.  Sonically, most English punk was harder edged, taking its cues from the Ramones more than anyone (except perhaps the Stooges). But whereas the Ramones were inspired by early Who, garage rock, the Hollies, 60’s Motown girl groups, and bubblegum, English punk bands turned the amps even higher and left the feedback squealing a little more.

Los Angeles in the 70’s didn’t have the same eclectic art/poetry/theater scenes of New York, nor did it have the bubbling political rage of England.  Mostly what LA had was boredom.  LA in the 70’s was musically dominated by three related musical genres:  the singer/songwriter thing that grew out of the post-folk movement centered around the Troubadour Club in Hollywood; the country rock movement that followed the Byrds and Gram Parsons; and the peaceful, easy California sound as evidenced by Linda Ronstadt, the Eagles, and Fleetwood Mac. 

In some senses the glitter rock movement in LA had been a reaction to these other movements, and for a time it was the only alternative for kids who weren’t into mellow and smooth AOR music.  As mentioned in a previous post, glam/glitter rock was wildly popular in LA, fomented by scenemakers like Rodney Bingenheimer and Kim Fowley.  Rodney’s club the English Disco was ground zero for the glitter scene, playing the latest singles by the Sweet, Bowie, and T. Rex to ‘luded out kids, and occasionally offering live shows for local acts like Zolar X.  Glitter went bust in 1975 and Rodney shuttered his club but many of the players in the early LA punk scene had made the scene at Rodney’s before it closed.

Glitter was therefore the wellspring from which much LA punk eventually arose, but punk in LA was fed by two other sources.  The first was a direct connection to the Detroit sound.  Following the failure of Raw Power in 1973, the Stooges broke up, but all four members stayed around the LA area, continuing to play occasional gigs and make records.  Iggy played gigs at Rodney’s English Disco before it closed, and future Germs founders Darby Crash and Pat Smear would supposedly go around to Iggy’s hotel and talk with him and guitarist James Williamson.  In 1976 Iggy and Williamson also released “Kill City”, which collected some of Iggy’s last songs from the Stooges as well as a couple new tracks.  Ron Asheton formed his band The New Order in LA in 1975 with former Stooges bassist Jimmy Recca and former MC5 drummer Dennis Thompson, who had also relocated to LA in the mid-70’s.  The New Order played a few shows and recorded some demos and provided yet another link to a previous protopunk scene.  And finally, the Dogs had moved to LA in 75/76 and were playing around town, adding yet another Detroit connection.

Another movement that provided the foundation for the emerging LA punk scene was the powerpop movement.  LA’s powerpop scene was incredibly vital, with several bands forming and/or moving to LA in the pre-’77 era, including the Motels, the Pop, the Zippers, 20/20, and the Nerves.  These bands not only played powerpop with a harder, more streetwise edge, but they were also instrumental in the DIY ethic that emerged with punk of recording your own album (which the Nerves did) and booking your own gigs at independent halls (the Nerves, Motels, Pop, all did this, often playing with post-glitter groups like the Quick or Berlin Brats or the Dogs).

LA had one advantage that New York or London did not:  radio support.  Rodney Bingenheimer was hired in 1976 as a DJ at radio station KROQ, and Rodney, who had extensive connections with the London music scene, started playing the Ramones and the Sex Pistols as well as singles by any local artists (including the Runaways).  Over the next couple of years, KROQ began playing more and more punk/new wave music, providing a much-needed media outlet for local bands as well as exposure to the latest music coming out of New York and London.

By late ’76/early ’77, a critical mass was forming.  Three bands in particular were in the process of coming together:  the Screamers, the Weirdos, and the Germs.  The Screamers grew out of the counter-culture/drag performance troupes the Cockettes and Ze Whiz Kids.  Future Screamers lead singer Tomata Du Plenty visited New York with Ze Whiz Kids and played CBGB’s in 1974, getting exposed to the emerging punk scene in New York.  After returning to Seattle he formed the Tupperwares with future Screamer Tommy Gear (then known as Melba Toast; their drummer was a teenage Eldon Hoke, who would become El Duce and lead the Mentors); Plenty and Gear relocated to LA in 1976, added K.K. Barrett and David Brown, and changed their name to the Screamers.  The Screamers from the start were focused on the big picture, often limiting their performances to build excitement for the band, and attempting to create multi-media products such as videos (well before MTV).  Like the New York band Suicide, the Screamers opted to pursue a more technological vibe, with synthesizers rather than guitars, and like Suicide (and later Gary Numan’s Tubeway Army) they used synthesizers to create a sonic atmosphere of alienation, anxiety, and fear. 

Regrettably, the Screamers never recorded a full, commercially available album, but several of their songs (usually live versions or demos) are available on YouTube.  “Punish or Be Damned” is tinny and the synths sound almost silly now (like a cheap 80’s Casio), but Tomata’s snarling vocal and the occasionally ominous synth swirl give this song a dangerous edge.  “122 Hours of Fear” starts with a clanging synth line which becomes layered with more synth lines before launching into a breakneck rhythm and a synth line that almost sounds like farfisa organ. Tomata’s voice alternates between shouting and an almost goofy baritone.  “I Wanna Hurt” sounds like a synth cover of “Dirt” by the Stooges and is clearly the inspiration for Darby Crash’s “Sex Boy” (which the Screamers also covered), with its slow chugging rhythm.  Their masterpiece, however, is the nearly 10 minute long “Eva Braun”, which chugs and lurches behind Tomata’s repetitive lyric (“She’s the girl with the red glove on”). 

Forming on the heels of the Screamers were the Weirdos, who came together out of the Cal Arts scene behind brothers John and Dix Denney.  Visually the Weirdos set a standard for the emerging punk fashion, with their affected, art damaged visual vibe of cut-up and paint-splashed clothes.  Musically they played blistering Ramones-inspired punk that made them the most popular punk band in LA during their heyday.  Like the Screamers, the Weirdos never secured a major label record deal, but unlike the Screamers they did manage to record and release some music, including their first 3-song EP in 1977.  iTunes has an excellent compilation released by Bomp! In 2008 which collects their various singles as well as some early demos.  “Solitary Confinement” is the standout track, with its blistering guitar by Dix Denny and John Denney’s tortured vocals—this is Ramones-inspired LA post-glitter punk at its very best.  “Destroy All Music” is almost as good, with its rumbling bass and catchy refrain and super-fast tempo.  “Life of Crime” slows things down for a Raw Power-era Stooges feel, but it also has a 60’s garage rock aspect to it, especially John Denney’s “Aww-awww-awww” vocal).  Finally, “We Got the Neutron Bomb” starts with a buzzsaw guitar before launching into Denney’s goofball vocals.

The Germs were four kids who met while trying to meet Freddy Mercury at his hotel during a Queen tour.  Initially the Germs played sloppy, repetitive songs (which can be best heard on the live album Germicide, which is available on iTunes) heavily influenced by Iggy and the Stooges, but eventually they evolved into a tight, intense band who’s blistering sonic assault presaged the hardcore movement.  “Sex Boy” off Germicide is a pretty good example of their early work, as is their cover of the Archie’s “Sugar Sugar”.  “What We Do Is Secret” and “Circle One” show their (slightly) more professional side.   “Lexicon Devil” is more sophisticated still, showing off Darby’s increasingly sophisticated lyrics and a slower, almost jangly guitar sound (Jane’s Addiction did a great version of this song live, as a medley with the Doors’ “La Woman” and “Nausea” by X).  “No God” starts with a quaint, almost classical guitar piece before launching into another aural assault, but one tempered with background vocals that almost approach melodies during the break.  But perhaps the quintessential Germs song is “We Must Bleed”, with its descending guitar line beginning and Darby’s shouted, sneering repeated lyric “We must bleeeed!  We must bleeeeed!”  The Germs biopic What We do Is Secret is actually quite good so check it out.

Two other bands that started playing gigs in LA at this time were actually from the San Diego area.  The Zeros were several Hispanic kids who played crunchy, hard but melodic punk that sounded like Iggy and the Stooges and the Dead Boys.  “Hand Grenade Heart” has a catchy rhythm and pouty Iggy/Stiv vocals; “Don’t Push Me Around” is even catchier—these kids could play and knew their way around a lyric.  Lead singer Alejandro Escovedo eventually moved to Austin Texas and became a well-respected figure in the roots rock movement centered around that city, and guitarist Robert Lopez would achieve fame as the “Mexican Elvis”, El Vez. 

The second band was the Dils, led by brothers Chip and Tony Kinman, who sounded a lot like the Weirdos with their fast, sloppy goofball punk, but with lyrics that had a very communist bent.  “Class War” sounds like it could be the Weirdos except for the calls for a class war!  “I Hate the Rich” mines a similar vein lyrically and sonically, and “You’re Not Blank”, a snotty LA answer to Richard Hell’s “The Blank Generation”, has a melodic feel under all the fuzz and squeal of the guitar.  Bacchus Records has released two Dils albums on iTunes, their first studio effort Class War and the compilation Dils Dils Dils.

In the wake of these five bands, several other bands surged into the newly forming punk movement.  The Mau Maus were formed by Rick Wilder from the ashes of his Dolls-like pre-punk band the Berlin Brats.  The Mau Maus had a couple of memorable moments in the LA punk scene:  they were featured, along with the Dils, in the now-legendary “battle of the bands” scene in the Cheech and Chong movie “Up in Smoke” (The Germs also played but their part was cut out of the final edit).   Also, the Mau Maus were one of the bands Brendan Mullen set up rehearsal space for at his now-legendary club the Masque.  The Mau Maus never recorded an album but some of their songs are available on their MySpace page as well as YouTube.  “All Fall Down” is a blast of Dead Boys-like ’77 punk, while “Sex Girls In Uniform” (which I only have a chunk of) sounds more like Wilder’s previous band, the Berlin Brats and their inspiration the New York Dolls.  “Laugh Track” is also a partial track but also sounds like post-Dolls protopunk.  The Mau Maus were a very unheralded early LA punk band who deserve more attention.

The Skulls likewise never recorded in their heyday but were a hugely popular Masque band, and in 2002 lead singer Billy Bones released an album with Dr. Strange Records in which he re-recorded some of the Skulls’ early material as well as several new songs as well.  The Skulls played glitter-punk that was influenced by Iggy and the Ramones but often had a morbid lyrical bent that presaged both the goth and the horror-punk movements (which were surprisingly HUGE in sunny LA).  “Kill Me Kill Me Kill” and “Babies” are excellent examples of their “classic” sound and are fast, catchy goth punk; “Gold and Ruby Red” is an example of a more recent song, and it has a phenomenally heavy, chunky hard rock sound.

Another great post-’77 LA punk band was the Bags.  Consisting of the beautiful and talented Alice Armandariz  (aka Alice Bag)  on vocals, Pat Morrison  (Pat Bag) on bass, Craig Lee (who documented the early LA punk scene in the essential book “Hardcore California”) on guitar, and Terry Graham on drums, the Bags became one of LA’s most renowned bands.  The snotty “We Don’t Need the English” was a cry for LA independence from their most direct inspiration, the English punk bands of ’76 and ’77.  “Survive” has a hepcat, noir-ish beginning before launching into its superfast hardcore blast.  Alice Bag would play with Castration Squad (with two other doyennes of the LA punk Scene, Phranc from Nervous Gender and Dinah Cancer from Vox Pop and 45 Grave) and Cholita (with Vaginal Davis).  Pat Morrison played bass for several other seminal punk and post-punk bands, including Gun Club, the Sisters of Mercy, and the Damned (she married lead singer Dave Vanian in 1996).

“Survive” was included on the seminal compilation released by Dangerhouse Records, Dangerhouse Volume 1, which happily is available on iTunes and contains songs by several other terrific late 70’s LA punk bands.  The Alley Cats, led by Randy Stodola and Dianne Chai, released “Nothing Means Nothing Anymore” as a Dangerhouse single and it is included on this compilation.  Stodola’s leering, quavery vocals hector and quail while the music surges along.  Another song, “Too Much Junk” is included on Dangerhouse Volume 2, and has a peppy rhythm and a soaring, almost operatic vocal by Chai.  The Eyes contribute “Disneyland”, which has a peppy beat (drummer Don “DJ” Bonebrake would later join X), accompanying organ, and a snotty vocal. “Let’s Get Rid of New York” is another anti-Big Apple song by the Randoms. 

And finally, several bands formed in ’78 or ’79 who have now become legendary.   Nervous Gender was certainly one of these; NG played blaring, distorted synth music similar to that of the Screamers.  “Cardinal Newman” was their opus magnum, taking the atonality and shouted lyrics of the Screamers even further; its available on Nervous Gender’s 1982 album Music From Hell, which is on iTunes.  The previously mentioned Castration Squad played strident goth/horror punk; “A Date (with Jack)” and “No Mercy For the Dead” are typical offerings and are both on YouTube from CS’s appearance on the 70’s TV show New Wave Theater.  This band was a female LA punk super-group of sorts, with Mary Sims of 45 Grave (“Partytime” is still one of my all-time favorite LA punk songs) and Vox Pop, Alice Bag on bass, Elissa Bello formerly of the Go-Go’s on drums, Tracy Lea of Red Kross on guitar and Shannon Wilhelm on vocals (Phranc also occasionally added backing vocals).

Looking back over this list, its depressing how infrequently the early LA bands ever recorded more than some demos, singles, and a live version or two.  However, some did, and some even achieved some lasting fame.  The Dickies, as mentioned in a previous post, were “associates” (guitarist Stan Lee was supposedly their drug dealer!) of the glitterpop group the Quick, and even covered “Hilary” and “Pretty Please Me”, and were one of the first LA bands to get a record deal, with A&M in 1978.  Their goofy punk was extremely popular in LA and in England and they had a couple hits in both places.  My favorite of theirs has always been “Manny Moe and Jack” and “Stuck in a Pagoda with Trishia Toyota”.  X became deservedly lauded for their cerebral, roots/rockabilly-influenced take on punk; in some ways X can be considered the first POST-punk LA band; even though they were clearly part of the first wave of LA punk bands, sonically and lyrically their music was much more complex than most of the straight-ahead bashing their peers were doing.  The fact that X were a bit older than most of their punk “peers” is salient and probably contributed to their more intelligent and interesting (and longer-lasting) take on punk.   The fact that Ray Manzarek produced their first album, and played organ on such phenomenal tracks as “Nausea” and their cover of the Doors’ “Soul Kitchen” is also telling; like the Doors, X was far smarter, for more complicated, far more far-reaching than their colleagues, and to me X represented the band best suited to take the torch as the quintessential LA band.   I saw X in concert a couple years back and they were STILL a phenomenal band live. 

Fear was another LA band that achieved a small measure of fame, mostly for their crude and obnoxious take on punk, which was featured in the documentary “The Decline of Western Civilization”.  In some ways, songs like “I Love Livin’ In The City” are merely an extension of songs like “Heroin” by the Velvet Underground, exploring the seedier side of (urban) life. 

Finally, Red Kross evolved away from their kiddie punk beginnings (bassist Steven was only in junior high when they started!) to become one of the leading lights of the LA post-punk scene.  Perhaps because of their youth, Redd Kross were one of the first bands anywhere to glorify the trash pop culture of the 70’s, most notably on early songs like “Linda Blair”, “Solid Gold” and “Charlie” (as in Manson; they also covered Manson’s song “Cease To Exist”) and their cover of “Look On Up From The Bottom” from the movie “Beyond The Valley of the Dolls”.  Later they released a whole album of unusual and interesting covers called Teen Babes from Monsanto, which included Bowie’s “Savior Machine”; “Citadel” by the Rolling Stones;  “Deuce by Kiss; “Ann” by the Stooges; “Heaven Only Knows” by the Shangri-Las; and perhaps most memorably, “Blow You A Kiss In The Wind”, which was from the TV show “Bewitched”!!  I saw Redd Kross for the first (and thankfully not last) time in 1987 on their “Neurotica” tour and they were incredible (Frightwig opened and they were amazing too, especially their cover of “Punk Rock Jail Bait” by the Runaways), still one of the best concerts I ever saw.  My favorite song of theirs though is a snippet of a free concert they played at the Santa Monica Pier in 1982; they are playing “Somebody Wants To Love You" originally by the Partridge Family, and their version sounds NOTHING REMOTELY like the original, but is utterly joyous in its sloppy fun.  Check it out if you get a chance:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGPMa6k4mFk

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.