Tracks 1. Betray 2. It Follows 3. Think Again 4. Look Back and Laugh 5. Sob Story 6. No Reason 7. Little Friend 8. Out of Step 9. Cashing In Note to self: do not listen to hardcore punk when you are battling a headache. This album is only 20 minutes, which is perhaps the only nice thing I can say about it. It offers the very worst of punk: unintelligible lyrics that are screeched at maximum volume. Now, I know I am not being particularly objective here, considering my crankiness. But I can't think of a worst criticism of an album than it makes sick people feel worse. Next up: Van Halen! RATING: 2/5
Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
The Dead Kennedys
1980
Tracks 1. Kill The Poor 2. Forward To Death 3. When Ya Get Drafted 4. Let's Lynch The Landlord 5. Drug Me 6. Your Emotions 7. Chemical Warfare 8. California Uber Alles 9. I Kill Children 10. Stealing People's Mail 11. Funland At The Beach 12. Ill In The Head 13. Holiday In Cambodia 14. Viva Las Vegas You can already tell from the band name that is going to be a tasteful album. Here is another unremarkable punk album with the typical childish agenda. At the very least, we get an interesting cover of "Viva Las Vegas." Bands have been making some weird cover choices lately. I don't have a whole lot more to say about this album, as it seems like something that has been done so often. Songs like "I Kill Children" are just ridiculous. It's like they tried to figure out what the most upsetting thing for people to hear would be and then added some dismal music in the background. Is that art? I hope not. Peter Gabriel is next, so hopefully conditions will improve. RATING: 2/5
Tracks 1. Love Song 2. Machine Gun Etiquette 3. I Just Can't Be Happy Today 4. Melody Lee 5. Anti Pope 6. These Hands 7. Plan 9 Channel 7 8. Noise Noise Noise 9. Looking At You 10. Liar 11. Smash It Up (I) 12. Smash It Up (II)
I keep thinking we are done with this genre and getting disappointed when another punk album comes along. I just have to accept that I will never be done with this type of music; in fact, a punk album will probably play at my funeral. I don't hate the genre, but by 1979 it is certainly a case of been there, done that. So it is pretty much exactly what you expect from a punk band. Lots of noise...noise, noise. I suppose the lyrics were a bit more specific than the usual "everything is terrible and there is nothing we can do about it" spiel you get from these albums. "Anti Pope" took on organized religion while "These Hands" are about clown stranglers. Well, that last one might be open to interpretation. Two more albums until we are done with the seventies! RATING: 3/5
Tracks 1. Family Entertainment 2. Girls Don't Like It 3. Male Model 4. I Gotta Getta 5. Wrong Way 6. Jump Boys 7. Here Comes The Summer 8. Billy's Third 9. Jimmy Jimmy 10. True Confessions 11. She's A Runaround 12. I Know A Girl 13. Listening In 14. Casbah Rock This is the first piece of writing I am doing today, so I promise you won't get the usually complaint that I am burnt out from writing movie reviews. This is largely because the movie I am going to watch today hasn't loaded yet, but hey. It still counts. There have been some good albums lately but I have held back on giving any the full five star rating, mostly because I have commitment issues. This was absolutely fantastic, though, so I have to go all the way. It is odd that this is classified as punk, as it actually seemed quite poppy to me. I mean, there were songs about girls on it! They weren't even angry, which was refreshing. I love the song "She's A Runaround" as I found the lyrics particularly relatable, given my current situation. I also enjoyed "I Know A Girl," which was actually a really sweet song. Can I call a punk band sweet? Overall, an amazing album. My only complaint was that it was so short ("Casbah Rock" was only 50 seconds), but I suppose it's not a bad thing to leave wanting more. RATING: 5/5
Tracks 1. What We Do is Secret 2. Communist Eyes 3. Land of Treason 4. Richie Dagger's Crime 5. Strange Notes 6. American Leather 7. Lexicon Devil 8. Manimal 9. Our Way 10. We Must Bleed 11. Media Blitz 12. The Other Newest One 13. Let's Pretend 14. Dragon Lady 15. The Slave 16. Shut Down (Annihilation Man) This is the only album made by the band Germs, as the vocalist Darby Crash committed suicide a year after its release. As such it makes for a pretty disturbing record. Well, I guess I should say more disturbing than usual, as punk is always supposed to be somewhat disturbing. I have actually been appreciating punk albums lately, but this was just everything that is wrong with the genre: screaming vocals, asinine lyrics, and intense narcissism. This feels like a step backwards, as the genre had been developing in a positive direction before this. I suppose it got its place on the List because of Crash's early death. I don't have to lot more to say about this album. I will just limp away now with my earplugs in, mumbling about kids and their music. RATING: 2/5
Another Music In A Different Kitchen
Buzzcocks
1978
Tracks 1. Fast Cars 2. No Reply 3. You Tear Me Up 4. Get On Our Own 5. Love Battery 6. Sixteen 7. I Don't Mind 8. Fiction Romance 9. Autonomy 10. I Need 11. Moving Away From The Pulsebeat My, we are getting quite self aware with these album titles. Also: Buzzcocks. Teehee. I suppose this qualifies as a punk album, but is nothing like the punk albums that I have been used to listening to. They sounded a lot less angry and almost...sweet? There was a sadness behind the lyrics that usually isn't present in punk. In "I Don't Mind," they say "I used to bet that you didn't care/ But gambling never got me anywhere/ Each time I used to be so sure/ Something about you made me doubt you more." That is shockingly sincere and sad. I bet they wear turtlenecks in their free time. And really, who can't relate to "Fiction Romance" where he talks about how real love is never like anything in fiction? That should have been my jam in high school. I also appreciated the talent behind the vocals. Definitely an improvement from yesterday. RATING: 4/5
Crossing the Red Sea With the Adverts
The Adverts
1978
Tracks 1. One Chord Wonders 2. Bored Teenagers 3. New Church 4. One the Roof 5. New Boys 6. Gary Gilmore's Eyes 7. Bombsite Boy 8. No Time to Be 21 9. Safety in Numbers 10. New Day Dawns 11. Drowning Men 12. On Wheels 13. Great British Mistake Now this is finally some punk I can get into. The band has the same anger and frustration of the Sex Pistols but the musicians are actually talented! This felt like one of the smartest albums I have heard in a long time. The opening track is "One Chord Wonders" and immediately sets the tone of the album with lyrics like "I wonder how we'll answer when you say we don't like you, go away." It's self deprecating, fun, and never falters. The message in each of the songs are rather uninspired (everything is terrible blah blah blah), but that's punk for you. I actually found the songs to be quite melodic, considering the genre. A wonderful album that has completely reconsidering punk music. And a female bassist? How mythical. RATING: 4/5
Tracks 1. Ghost Rider 2. Rocket USA 3. Cheree 4. Johnny 5. Girl 6. Frankie Teardrop 7. Che Ah, Suicide. Aptly named, since anyone who listens to this album probably thought fondly of their own mortality about half way through "Frankie Teardrop". I can't be the first one to make that joke. Actually, come to think of it, maybe I am, since everyone seems to adore this album. Which is absurd. Sometimes I feel like I am being pranked with this List. It is basically screaming. Well, that's not completely true. Sometimes there are sex sounds set to music. But "Frankie Teardrop"? That's just screaming. It seems like this is what the inside of an extremely troubled teenage boy's head would sound like. Perhaps this is for them. Still, I can't see anyone getting enjoyment out of hearing this. Remember when we were listening to the Beatles and Joni Mitchell? I can't either. RATING: 1/5
Tracks 1. Reuters 2. Field Day For The Sundays 3. Three Girl Rhumba 4. Ex Lion Tamer 5. Lowdown 6. Start To Move 7. Brazil 8. It's So Obvious 9. Surgeon's Girl 10. Pink Flag 11. Commercial 12. Straight Line 13. 106 Beats That 14. Mr Suit 15. Strange 16. Fragile 17. Mannequin 18. Different To Me 19. Champs 20. Feeling Called Love 21. 12XU I knew we would hit a snag eventually in this string of great albums. This album legitimately gave me a headache. There was absolutely no talent behind the vocals and the music was incredibly loud and obnoxious. I don't have too much to say about this album, except that after such a great patch, this was extremely disappointing. The songs were sometimes only thirty seconds long, but I could have had sworn it was just one long, drawn out track. I seriously considered taking a break since my head was pounding so much. I stuck it out, though, and was counting down the seconds. A sucky suck fest that essentially broke my brain. Hence the term, sucky suck fest. RATING: 1/5
Tracks 1. Janie Jones 2. Remote Control 3. I'm So Bored With The USA 4. White Riot 5. Hate And War 6. What's My Name 7. Deny 8. London's Burning 9. Career Opportunities 10. Cheat 11. Protex Blue 12. Police And Thieves 13. 48 Hours 14. Garage Land I expected a lot of these songs to sound familiar, since The Clash is such a well known band. However, I only recognized "White Riot". It was an exciting moment, since for the first time I could actually understand what they said: white riot! I wanna riot. White riot! Something...something...you get the point. I have really been enjoying our punk kick lately. It is always fun to have punk music blaring while you do manual labor (which for me means taking out the trash). Still, this album was a bit more special to me than the usual punk music. Maybe it is because this album actually thoughtful content and was more than just catchy screaming. I would recommend listening to "Police and Thieves" if you want to listen to a song with meaning. Definitely worth its place on The List. RATING: 4/5
1. Blitzkrieg Bop 2. Beat On The Brat 3. Judy Is A Punk 4. I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend 5. Chainsaw 6. Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue 7. I Don't Wanna Go Down In The Basement 8. Loud Mouth 9. Havana Affair 10. Listen To My Heart 11. 53rd And 3rd 12. Let's Dance 13. I Don't Wanna Walk Around With You 14. Today Your Love Tomorrow The World
I know a lot of my readers have been scanning this blog lately, trying to find at least one artist or album that they recognize and can actually enjoy reading about. So here is a band that we probably all know and like. I say we probably all like them because the song "I Wanna Be Sedated" is damn infectious and anyone who says differently will be on the receiving end of a hissy fit by yours truly.
Anyway, I never actually heard any of their other songs. I only heard the above one because the character Spike in Buffy The Vampire Slayer mentioned it and in my effort to be his perfect woman, I looked it up.
Everyone, including me, seems to agree that all of their songs sound the same. Well, at least the melody they keep repeating over and over again is fun. I do have to say there are some subtle differences; at least, enough for me to decide that "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" is my favorite.
I will dock one star for their lack of originality but honestly, I had a lot of fun with this one. Definitely worth a listen and hey, it is only 29 minutes of your life.
RATING: 4/5
Does anyone know all the lyrics to "I Wanna Be Sedated"? I can only repeat the title in an endless loop!
Tracks 1. Next Big Thing 2. I Got You Babe 3. Back to Africa 4. Master Race Rock 5. Teengenerate 6. California Sun 7. Two Tub Man 8. Weekend 9. (I Live for) Cars and Girls I came to the sad realization awhile ago that sooner or later, I am going to have to face punk music. Today, that distant dread became a reality. And while the worst is yet to come, I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised with this album. All right, so the band is made up entirely by douches. I mean, the main singer's nickname is "Handsome Dick". And the album cover is..well… While I am not that fond of Handsome Dick's voice (which seems to alternate between singing and talking), some of the songs were actually really catchy. "Teengenerate" had a great instrumental beginning and everybody has heard "I Got You Babe." I was expecting to be hit with both racism and sexism. "Back to Africa" I imagined would make me cringe. However, pretty much all they say is that they want to go to Africa, so it actually wasn't too bad. As far as sexism goes, the songs are all pretty much about drinking and girls. My, how man has evolved. So I survived my first punk album (although I guess The New York Dolls could have been considered punk). Not a bad album, though not especially intelligent (i.e. "what I want to do , I do/Who I want to screw, I screw"). RATING: 3/5
Tracks 1. Personality Crisis 2. Looking For A Kiss 3. Vietnamese Baby 4. Lonely Planet Boy 5. Frankenstein 6. Trash 7. Bad Girl 8. Subway Train 9. Pills 10. Private World 11. Jet Boy Happy 300th album everyone! 30% there! I have gotten in the habit of being sickeningly sentimental on hundred marker posts and this one will be no exception. Way back in June when I reached 200 I talked about how I wasn't as excited about this project as I used to be. However, yesterday I was feeling majorly depressed. I sometimes go through slumps like this (just one of the many perks of being me). Anyway, I decided to listen to some music and I played "These Days" by Nico. At that moment, I felt an enormous emotional connection to a song; perhaps the most powerful connection I have ever felt to music. I would have never felt that if I hadn't begun this journey. So really, who cares if I have to sift through garbage (here's looking at you, prog rock) more often then in my other blogs? If I can find even one more "These Days" it will have all been worth it.
And now, to close the 1973s, we have The New York Dolls, precursor to the Sex Pistols. More yelling, more noise. The only thing that really sets this apart is that Andy Warhol was involved in the making of this album. Having just seen another one of Warhol's crappy films, I am not too happy with him at the moment. However, when he is involved with music, it is pretty fantastic, like with The Velvet Underground. Overall, obnoxious. But 300s! RATING: 2/5
Tracks 1. Search And Destroy 2. Gimme Danger 3. Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell 4. Penetration 5. Raw Power 6. I Need Somebody 7. Shake Appeal 8. Death Trip I am having a bit of an album marathon so that I can finally make it past both 1973 and the 200s. We are about to witness history here people! But before that, we must get through Iggy. And what a chore that is. This album's only goal seems to be to be as loud and incoherent as possible. I really could not understand what was being said at all. Apparently the studio thought so too, so they called in David Bowie to fix it up. According to the book, he stayed "true to the vision" and didn't mess with it too much. That being said, I now have such a low standard for albums after going through this journey that I really didn't hate it too much. I don't know if this is because I am appreciating music more or if I am just getting of sick of giving albums 1 star. I prefer to think the former. RATING: 2/5
The Stooges
The Stooges
1969 Tracks 1. 1969 2. I Wanna Be Your Dog 3. We Will Fall 4. No Fun 5. Real Cool Time 6. Ann 7. Not Right 8. Little Doll
I gave all my blogs a makeover; I hope you enjoy it! Also, check out the new label section to see the albums sorted by star rating, year, and genre. I actually got a request by a reader to do that (honestly, I am not pathetically making that up!).
So, the Stooges! Don't worry, I am not going to make any lame three Stooges jokes. I really hate those guys. Actually, I not only really hate them but I bet I would dislike their fans as well. If you are reading this and are of fan of the three Stooges, please comment and we can sort out this dispute.
I am really having trouble getting to the point today. This is another early punk album, very much like MC5. I was prepared to write a rave, but then I listened to "We Will Fall". I would have rather watched an episode of The Three Stooges. The track was a ten minute long "song" that sounded like a druggy death march. I watched a horrible, Czechoslovakian movie yesterday (I really have no life) called Alice that also played out like a bad acid trip and I am really sick of that kind of stupor being called art.
Anyway, the rest of the album was enjoyable, but I still must deduct a star for bad behavior.
RATING: 3/5
Kick Out The Jams
MC5
1969 Tracks 1. Ramblin' Rose 2. Kick Out The Jams 3. Come Together 4. Rocket Reducer No 62 5. Borderline 6. Motor City Is Burning 7. I Want You Right Now 8. Starship
Amanda : I was a total buzz kill with this album. It was fun, loud, and crazy; it was the birth of punk. So I, of course, just wished it would stop so I could put in some Frank Sinatra. I am just wild and rowdy like that. I can only imagine how shocking this album was in 1969 if I found it to be a bit too much in 2012. If you are totally into loud, obnoxious music you might find it enjoyable, but I thought it was too much. Side note: as you may have guessed, I was really cool in high school.
Black Monk Time
The Monks
1966 Tracks 1. Monk Time 2. Shut Up 3. Boys Are Boys And Girls Are Choice 4. Higgle-Dy-Piggle-Dy 5. I Hate You 6. Oh How To Do Now 7. Complication 8. We Do Wie Du 9. Drunken Maria 10. Love Came Tumblin' Down 11. Blast Off 12. That's My Girl
Amanda: If you have never heard of this group, do not be surprised. The Monks were an early punk band who never hit it big in the states. They don't exactly have the sound that would strike a lot of peoples' fancies; forgive the early 1700s term (I am reading Tom Jones).
This album had a really new sound, not just for people in 1960s but for me as well since I am not a huge punk fan. I really got into though. It made me want to push or kick something (in a good way if that is possible). They were really anti-Vietnam which is always appreciated by a pacifist. Very enjoyable especially after Bob Dylan.
RATING:
Brie: Even though "Monk Time" protested the war in Vietnam, it was far from a serious album. It was full of nonsense and loud instruments. I really liked on "Monk Time" (the song) when the singer shouted about his protest to the war. That was pretty cool and unexpected. "Drunken Maria" was also enjoyable.The Monks were actually a group of ex-US servicemen, so go figure. I couldn't really put my finger on exactly how to describe this album... I would say that it is 'radical' if that word can be applied in the political sense and the slang term simultaneously. "Monk Time" was even more punk than the Sonics, but I think I like the Sonics better. Don't get me wrong, I like punk (Patti Smith is one of my faves). I just liked the Sonics' songs more.
It wasn't my favorite, but I didn't hate it. I am very tired and feeling a bit under the weather today, so I probably would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't feeling so run down.
RATING:
By the way, sorry I couldn't be more articulate, as I said I am very, very tired.
