Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCCVI--The Heartbreakers: Born to Lose

 Now that we've completed the magical mystery tour, I'm going to milk No Thanks! The 70's Punk Rebellion for another power pop punk gem....

Unfortunately, the history of the Hearbreakers is a tale too often told in the annals of rock and roll--extremely talented band never quite gets the break they need...and a helping heap of drug addictions finished whatever chance they might have had.  They formed in 1975 from the remnants of the New York Dolls and Television (though Richard Hell lasted but a short time) and played until 1980, though they reunited twice, in 1984 and 1990.  They were widely regarded as an amazing live band, but it did not translate for their one and only studio album.  Original members Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan died in 1991 and 1992 respectively, and while it's uncertain as to whether they were drug related, the drugs certainly played a part.  Other original members Walter Lure (who went on to be a stockbroker on Wall Street--WTF?) and Billy Rath (who became a substance abuse counselor) have both since passed as well, though they both eventually conquered their drug addictions and lived to relatively ripe old ages.  

(Not so) Fun Fact:  From the When You Know God Hates You Files:  the Heartbreakers only LP suffered greatly from poor sound quality, and the band members tried several times to go back into the studio to remix it but were unable to improve it.  A few years after the band broke up, the LP was released on cassette, and the sound quality improved markedly, leading many to believe that the production problems were actually an album pressing problem from their label.

"Born to Lose" was released in 1977 on their album L.A.M.F.  Neither the single nor the album hit the charts.  For the two of you who are wondering, L.A.M.F. stands for "like a mother fucker," a popular addendum to New York City graffiti in the 1970's. 

For me, there's a frenetic energy to the best punk singles, and "Born to Lose" has that in spades, shaking like a tree in an earthquake that hits ten on the Richter scale.  It's simple stuff, just guitar, bass, and drums, but the band plays all of them with an exuberance that makes you want to thrust your fists into the air around you again and again the entire time you're listening.   There's one of those special moments in the chorus when Thunders screams "I said hit it!" before the band sings "born to lose" that takes the song up another notch, and makes you understand why the band was so beloved when it performed live (you can just imagine the entire audience screaming "I said hit it!" every time it comes around).  It's a three minute nihilistic ode to New York City that captures the 70's punk explosion in all its power and fury.  And most certainly makes you thankful for its very existence.

Lyric Sheet:   "I've nothing to do/I've nothing to say/Only one thing that I want/It's the only way/I said hit it/Born to lose..."

Enjoy:

251,000+ Dead Americans Because of Donald Trump's Incompetence

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCXCIX--Pere Ubu: Final Solution

Another week, another song featured because I first heard it on No Thanks! The 70's Punk Rebellion.  I'm sure I've mentioned it a time or two (or ten) before, but I cannot stress enough how essential this album is--if you like your music with an alternative bent you've got to give it a listen or two (or ten)...

Unfortunately, every now and again here on Friday Night Jukebox I feature a band whose Wikipedia history is, shall we say, not all that entertaining.  I'll take nothing away from Pere Ubu, though--they formed in 1975 in Cleveland, Ohio and lasted until 1982, at which time they took a five year hiatus before reforming in 1987 and they are still performing and touring to this day.  And that's all without ever having a single or an album that so much as sniffed commercial success, let alone hitting any of the charts.  Lead singer and keyboardist David Thomas is the only member to have lasted from beginning to end, though many others in the band (I counted 29 current and former members) have come and gone a few times.  For their career, Pere Ubu has released 18 studio albums (the latest in 1979), 8 live albums, 3 compilations, and six (!) box sets.  They've also released 19 singles and EPs.  The band has collaborated with other artists and has had more side projects than I cared to count.  Any way you slice it, the band has managed to make a living playing music for just about thirty years and that's a whole hell of a lot more entertaining than any job I've had.

"Final Solution" was released as a stand alone single in 1976, and was added to their 1985 compilation Terminal Tower.  As noted above, neither single nor album came anywhere near the Billboard charts (though the single should have, goddamnit).

Though its title suggests it, "Final Solution" has nothing to do with the Jewish holocaust perpetrated by Nazi Germany during World War II--and instead is more of a reflection on teenage (or young adult) angst.  What stands out most for me is how far ahead of its time this song was--it was recorded in 1975 and you have to remember that at that time The Clash, The Ramones, the Sex Pistols, or even the New York Dolls were all little more than blips (if that) on the music scene.  The lyrics could have been written by any of the aforementioned bands (or frankly any punk band of the 70's) yet was written a couple years before punk exploded.  The music is...well, let's just say the drums are a punch in the gut, the bass is an angry thump of contempt, and the guitars are a back of the hand to the face.  Thomas' vocals are a bleak howl caught between a laugh and a kick in the ass.  And the kicker?  Turns out the "final solution" is...wait for it...rock and roll.  How the hell can you beat that?  An incredible song from an incredible era.

Lyric Sheet:  "Buy me a ticket to a sonic reduction/Guitars gonna sound like a nuclear destruction/It seems like I'm a victim of natural selection/Or maybe just another slide in another direction..."

Enjoy:

210,000+ Dead Americans

Fuck Donald Trump,

emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCLXVIII--The Runaways: Cherry Bomb

Because of (mostly) Joan Jett and (a little) Lita Ford, I was familiar with The Runaways by name...and thanks to No Thanks! The 70's Punk Rebellion I am now familiar with their most successful tune, which becomes the second entry from that album to join the exalted (or not) ranks of Friday Night Jukebox...

The Runaways formed in 1975 in Los Angeles, and while their time together may have been short, they certainly made their mark.  Joan Jett, Lita Ford, Cherie Currie, Sandy West, and Jackie Fox would be the most famous incarnation of the band (there were a few replacements along the way) that would last until 1979.  During that time they released four studio albums, 1 live album, and in the years since, have released 8 compilation albums.   Their standing as the first all girl metal band is firmly entrenched, though the band had very little commercial success outside of Japan (Japan absolutely adored this week's featured tune and gave them a Beatlesque welcome to The Land of the Rising Sun--so many cool kids in Japan!).  After their break-up, Joan Jett had a great deal of success with several top ten hits, and eventually was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.  Lita Ford had a top ten hit with a duet with, of all people, Ozzy Osbourne.  The other members remained in music or left the music industry for other careers (Fox became a lawyer).  Sadly, Sandy West passed away in 2006 from complications from lung cancer.  Their influence on female bands and artists (including the Go-Go's Courtney Love, the Donnas, and White Flag), as well as on the punk and alternative movements, is widely acknowledged.

"Cherry Bomb" was released as a single in 1976 from the Runaways quite aptly named debut LP The Runaways.  Neither the album nor the single had much commercial success, though the single did make it to #106 (with a bullet!) on Billboard's "Bubbling Under" (the Hot 100) chart.

"Cherry Bomb" was originally written by Joan Jett as a vehicle for Cherie Curie to audition for the band's lead vocalist (the band didn't know the song Curie actually wanted to do--oh the joys of youth).  The song is your basic "I'm not Mommy and Daddy's little girl anymore" tune (none of The Runaways were out of their teens when the song was released), and Curie sings it with all the exuberance you would hope for from a liberated teen.  Ford (lead guitar) and Jett (rhythm guitar) play off each other well and produce a staccato effect (with help from West on drums) that gives "Cherry Bomb" the bad ass feel that the song's protagonist is projecting.  And when you throw in a catchy as all hell chorus, replete with a head banging stutter, we have a winner.  In the end it's a stellar piece of youthful exuberance, made all the more powerful by the fact that it's an all female rock band from a time when women were fighting like hell to be accepted into virtually every male dominated profession in America, including rock and roll musicians...and The Runaways succeeded quite nicely.

Lyric Sheet:  "Hello Daddy, hello Mom/I'm your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee

Friday Night Jukebox, Vol. CCLXVI--The Modern Lovers: Roadrunner

A couple of years back I was browsing through our local library's music selection and came across a four CD collections called No Thanks! The 70's Punk Rebellion.  Featuring 100 songs by 75 different artists, the collection captured my fancy for the next year (highly recommend it).  Over the coming years (yes, years) numerous songs from the set will be featured here, but I chose this week's first because, frankly, over the last ten years I cannot think of a tune that I enjoyed more (the first year I heard it, it was my #1 most listened to song on Spotify)...and it was fitting that it was originally released about the time my musical adventures began because it reminded me of exactly why I've devoted so much of my life to those adventures.

There probably is one, but I can't think of another band that had the kind of influence The Modern Lovers did and yet only released one album.  Led by Jonathan Richman (the original incarnation also featured David Robinson who would go on to fame with the Cars, and Jerry Harrison who would eventually help to form The Talking Heads), the band began in 1970, recorded most of the songs that would make their history in 1971 and 1972, broke up in 1974, regrouped in 1976 (and released the album that contained the aforementioned songs from '71 and '72), and broke up for good in 1988.  The only constant in the band was Richman, who would go on to release 8 more albums as Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers, and 17 solo albums, though Richman turned away from rock and roll and mostly performs folk music with acoustic instruments these days.  The band also released three live albums.  They are considered forerunners of the punk, new wave, alternative, and indie movements, and their songs have been covered by Iggy Pop, David Bowie, the Sex Pistols, and Joan Jett.  Oh, and they're from Massachusetts....

"Roadrunner" was released as a single in 1976 from their debut, and only, album, the ever so cleverly titled, The Modern Lovers.  While neither the single nor the album came anywhere near charting, "Roadrunner" ranked #274 (and should have been much higher) on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All-Time, and the album was ranked #381 on their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All-Time.

Fun Fact:  The Modern Lovers have another song on the above compilation called "Pablo Picasso" in which they rhyme "Picasso" with "asshole."  Why that gives me such glee is a wonder, but it is the little things in life sometimes, ain't it?

It's easy to forget that in the end, for all its merits, rock and roll is a lot of fun--and that's more or less the premise of "Roadrunner."  A paean to Massachusetts, rock and roll, and driving at night with the (AM) radio on, the song's exuberance is a celebration of enjoying the moment...with the radio on.  I've tried and tried to come up with an adjective for Richman's vocals, but the best I could do was droll...but it works so well within the song that that's all that really matters.  The song is also a tribue to the Velvet Underground's "Sister Ray" (Richman was heavily influenced by VU).  From Harrison's swirling keyboards, to the driving drums and the thunderous guitars, with Richman's witty repartee as he extols driving around Boston while listening to music, until he asks the band to join in and the band chants "Radio on!" around Richman's vocals you know you are in the midst of utter brilliance.  It's a lovingly strange song for a lovingly strange time (Richman reportedly wrote it 1970 at the age of 19--there ought to be a law outlawing greatness at the age of 19).  And to think I missed it for forty years--but believe you me, I've been making up for lost time ever since I first heard it.

Lyric Sheet:  "Roadrunner once/Roadrunner twice/I'm in love with rock and roll and I'll be out all night..."

Enjoy:

Fuck Donald Trump,
emaycee