'77 Redux

The Exploding Hearts, R.I.P.

The one thing about late 70’s powerpop and punk music is that its so great that it has almost never gone out of style, and plenty of bands have continued to use bands from this era as their sonic inspiration.  In a previous post I talked about how powerpop merged with indie to produce indiepop, which was very popular in the 90’s.  But recently I downloaded a bunch of stuff from the 2000’s that takes this fantastic era as its inspiration as well.  My one concern with this music is that it can occasionally edge toward the snarkiness of indie and emo, which I detest.  I’m not looking for snarky stuff by a bunch of arrogant pissants, and so its really necessary to take things on a band by band and even album by album basis.  A case in point is Chicago’s Poison Arrows, who grew out of some earlier bands most notably Thumbnail and Atombombpocketknife.  I recently downloaded “Sticky Situations” and “Wild Hearts Beat Free”, which both sound like fantastic takes on late 70’s LA powerpop a la the Zippers, the Nerves and 20/20 (“Sticky Situations” has the same rhythm to it as “Cherie”, one of my favorite 20/20 songs), with perhaps just a slight dollop of the bluesy edge of Johnny Thunders’ Heartbreakers.  However, in checking out their other releases, I find it just too emo for me.  If you like classic LA powerpop, check out these songs but I wasn’t thrilled by anything else.

I can’t find any information on the Street Brats, other than that they’re also from Chicago, but they are clearly mining a English punk sound as informed by early stuff like the Damned and Slaughter and the Dogs as well as later stuff like UK Subs.  I just downloaded “Seventy-Seven Fallen Angels” and it’s a refreshing blast of speedy punk with catchy melodies.  I will likely be exploring more of this stuff soon.  “Destination Nowhere” has a similar fast-but-catchy feel.

The Downtown Struts, another Chicago band, play fast, furious pop punk; it sounds a little like English ’77 bands like Cockney Rejects or Sham 69, with a little of the Alarm thrown in and the shouted, shared lyrics of early Clash, and reminds me somewhat of the Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs.  Their recent mini-album Sail the Seas Dry has 5 songs and not a single one is anything but terrific (I especially like “Little Mexico”).  Some of their earlier work incorporated country influences and sounded like the Rolling Stones or Replacements; “All Outta Love” from 2008’s Make It Cry, Boys is another rave-up I like a lot.

Portland Oregon also seems to have a very active ’77 punk/powerpop scene.  Like the Street Brats only a little less melodic are the Riffs, who play a really authentic English/NY/Cleveland punk that’s heavily influenced by two of my favorite bands, the Dead Boys and Sham 69.  I have “Death Or Glory” off the album of the same name.  “Poison Boys” also off this album has a little more of a glammy, Stooge-y feel (maybe it’s the pounding piano, which reminds me of Scott Thurston’s work with Iggy and Co. on Raw Power).

Guitarist Terry Six was the only band survivor of a car accident that killed the rest of the Exploding Hearts, who played a very catchy style that pulled from ’77 LA powerpop and ’77 London punk/mod—their song “Modern Kicks” has a raw, Who and Kinks quality (as filtered through the Jam) but the melodies and hooks of the Nerves.  I really like this song, along with “Rumours in Town” and “Boulevard Trash”, but really its hard to pick a song off their only studio album Guitar Romantic that isn’t good.  In 2006 their record label, Dirtnap (which has also put out stuff by the Briefs of Seattle who play in a similar vein to the Riffs; Steve E. Nicks and Stevie Kicks of the Briefs also play in a new wave/powerpop outfit called the Cute Lepers; I like “Terminal Boredom” off their appropriately named album Can’t Stand Modern Music), put together a compilation of singles, demos, and other outtakes called Shattered that’s almost as outstanding; I recently downloaded “Shattered” and “We Don’t Have to Worry Anymore”, they both just really evoke the wonderful music being made in Los Angeles, New York, and London in the late 70’s.  They also do a magnificent cover “Walking Out on Love” by Paul Collins’ Beat!!!   This band was considered by many in underground rock circles to one of the best and most promising bands in the nation (if not the world) for how skillfully they fused the influences of their antecedents with their own considerable songwriting and musical talent to craft arguably the best powerpop released since 1979.  What a tragedy that they were killed so tragically young.

After this tragedy, Terry Six joined Colin Jarrel and Gabe Lageson of the Riffs to form the Nice Boys, and they carry on in a similar manner, playing magnificent powerpop anthems that keep the spirit of bands like 20/20 and the Shoes alive and kicking.  This is another album where there’s literally not a bad track on it, and every single one of them would sound perfectly fine nestled up against “Yellow Pills” or “There She Goes”.  This music is much less punky and has its roots in the classic powerpop of the Raspberries and the Flamin’ Groovies.  If it has a fault its that their self-titled album (which is available on iTunes) is so consistently good that no single song jumps out—its hard not to just buy the entire album.

An Atlanta group, the Heart Attacks, hews closer to the late 70’s punk ethic, mixing the snotty first wave punk attitude of the Dead Boys and Heartbreakers with the glammy, sleazed-out feel of Hanoi Rocks; its in fact very similar to the work of D Generation and the Manic Street Preachers in the 90’s.  “You Oughta Know By Now” starts with a excellent Cheetah Chrome-like riff that spirals into a glam punk blast, with multiple vocalists coming in and out.  Good stuff.

Atlanta’s Biters play a heavily pop-infused powerpop that harks back to the powerpop idols like the Beatles and Kinks but with the exuberance of second-generation powerpoppers like the Zippers and the Motors.  Guitarist and vocalist Tuk was formerly of the Heart Attacks and formed this new band in 2009; their 2010 mini-album Its Okay to Like Biters doesn’t have a single bad song on it.  “Beat Me Baby” has that early, “I Saw Her Standing There” Beatles feel; “Hang Around” rocks a little harder but still has super infectious melodies and harmonies coating this crunch.  I actually ended up buying every song on this album because I love it so much.

Gentleman Jesse is the amazing powerpop side project of Jesse Smith, leader of Atlanta’s Carbonas; like the Biters and the Nice Boys, they play a marvelously authentic brand of 70’s powerpop with punk influences that is just amazing.  Gentleman Jesse also has the edgy new wave feel of early Stiff records legends like Nick Lowe and Elvis Costello on songs like “Black Hole” off his debut album Introducing Gentleman Jesse.  “Highland Crawler” clangs and chimes and has a foot stomping rhythm.  “Wrong Time” sounds like “Now” by the Nerves but as remade with a new wave edge by the Attractions.  I also love “I Don’t Want to Know (Where You Been Tonight)” off their 2009 3-song album of the same name.

California’s Soda Pop Kids sound like they are as influenced by protopunk as much as punk; “Put On Your Tight Pants”  has a blistering, bludgeoning guitar riff and rhythm that sounds like something the MC5 or the Dolls would be proud to call their own.  “Electric Blood” starts with a terrific repeating guitar riff, after which the rhythm section comes bashing in, then the whole thing gallops off like the Dead Boys or the Ramones.  “Saturday Every Day” starts like a cross between “Saturday Night” by the Sweet and “Blitzkrieg Bop” by the Ramones, with vocals that hint at Tom Verlaine’s from Television.

I’m sure I’ll find more but for now these dozen or so bands have re-ignited my optimism for the musical future.  There’s absolutely nothing wrong with stealing from/being influenced by someone as long as that someone is good.  All of these bands draw heavily on some classic influences but have added their own voice to the mix and created some original music (even if it does sound a lot like stuff you’ve heard before).