More Protopunk

The English Stooges?  Crushed Butler in '70 or '71.

WOW.  Its amazing what you can find when you are just poking about somewhat aimlessly.  Yesterday I was fooling around on YouTube, watching videos by bands like the Dogs, the seminal Detroit/LA protopunk band I discussed in a previous post, when I found several new and interesting things.  First, there was another pre-punk, Stooges-influenced band named the Dogs.  They were from Iowa, supposedly took their name from the Stooges classic “Now I Wanna Be Your Dog” and were active from ’73 until ’77, when they released a single, “Rot N’ Roll” b/w “Teen Slime”.  “Rot N’ Roll” is a bottom-heavy slice of Detroit protopunk, with obvious MC5 influences in its chugging but melodic guitar line and big rhythm section, as well as Iggy’s yelps and howls from “TV Eye”.  “Teen Slime” is more conventional rock and roll in its structure but also has big blasts of James Williamson-like feedback/solos and eventually dissolves into falsetto shriekings.  These songs are available on YouTube and someone has put up a band page on Angelfire if you’re interested in a truly obscure corner of pre-punk America.

The other band I stumbled upon through these searches is Crushed Butler, who were a legendary protopunk/metal band from London that formed in 1976.  In 1998, Dig The Fuzz Records released an album that compiles sessions they made between 1969 and 1971, and they sound like an amalgamation of the Stooges, Black Sabbath, Blue Cheer, and Sir Lord Baltimore—“Factory Grime” is incredibly heavy, with the big, fill-heavy drumming of Sir Lord Baltimore or possibly “War Pigs” era Sabbath and Asheton-like guitar riffs.  “Love Is All Around Me” has a repetitive bass/guitar riff and a sing-song-y vocal and a huge, catchy chorus backed with blasts of feedback.  This is really amazing stuff.  Anyone who likes the punk/metal heaviness of these other bands, or is simply interested in this unsung pioneer band, should check them out.

Crushed Velvet went through several personnel changes, and eventually changed their name, first to Tiger and then to Helter Skelter, who released “I Want You” in ’72 or ’73, which carried on in the same acid/protopunk/protometal/freakout vein (this song is posted on YouTube).  The Blue Cheer influence is really strong here.  In 1974, guitarist/singer Jesse Hector formed the Hammersmith Gorillas, who released a cover of the Kinks’ “You Really Got Me”, which is a crude blast of mod noise like the original (only sloppier and noisier).  “Leavin’ ‘ome”, the B-side, is a catchy, heavy, melodic blast that evokes the heavy blues of groups like Free.

And finally, there's Third World War.  Formed in England in 1970, they played a rough brand of highly radical political rock.  Their work isn't available on iTunes yet, but several songs, including "Ascension Day" "A Little Bit of Urban Rock" (which sounds a little bit like "American Ruse" by the MC5), and "Teddy Teeth Go Sailing" are posted on YouTube.  To me, their sound is less overtly punky sounding, falling somewhere between Captain Beefheart and Zappa on the one hand and the Edgar Broughton Band on the other, but their highly revolutionary politics fit in well with the ethos espoused by the MC5's White Panther Party.