Romeo Void - Never Say Never

Romeo Void. I literally know no other songs by them. I'll listen to more right now, but only after I post this. This is all I needed to think they were amazingly awesome. I still love this song. That opening riff and lines - "If time itself was his demeanor, there'd be no sunlight or a glimmer of sunlight landin' on the street" - always grabs me.



"I might like you better if we slept together" - yeah, I can see that. Only one way to find out?

These, too:

"Old couple walks by
As ugly as sin
But he's got her
And she's got him"

And that's all that matters.

The Plasmatics - The Damned

This is probably the first thing I ever saw of The Plasmatics. That's all it took to get me hooked right in.



Performance art metal-punk.

Sham Pistols - Natural Born Killer

At one point, the Sex Pistols had broken up and then Sham 69 broke up.

So Steve Jones & Paul Cook (Sex Pistols) joined up with Dave Tregunna & Jimmy Pursey (Sham 69) teamed up and made music.

Here is Natural Born Killer.



It's not clear what they were called, if anything, but they've been retroactively named the Sham Pistols. Which is as accurate as it is ironic, really. They really rock in a way that's very much a blend of the two bands. You can hear so much of the Jones/Cook blend you got in the post-Rotton pistols music with that later Sham 69 vocals.

Missing Persons - 3 songs

The first time I encountered Missing Persons was on MTV with this video:




I was blown away by the look, the sound, that head cock and squeak that the lead singer made - all of it. I loved them.

The next song was Destination Unknown:



I thought they were really cool. As I got older I moved away from New Wave music. Years later I got some CDs from the period that included Missing Persons doing Walking in L.A.:




I tracked down some of the songs I hadn't heard for years, and listened again. I was really impressed with the musicianship, the lyrics, and the presentation. Then I found out that Dale and Terry Bozzio were in Frank Zappa's circle. It made a lot of sense - their talent level, the way they had a whole package together and made such good, smart music. FZ had good people in his circle.

Only a few months ago a younger guy I train and I were talking. He's being getting into FZ, so I mentioned Missing Persons. He didn't know them until I mentioned they had a singer and drummer married pair that were connected to FZ. He know instantly it was Terry Bozzio. So this post is partly for him. And this is for my friend E-chan, who I have been chatting to recently about FZ. Enjoy.

Happy Birthday Stiv Bators!

It would have been Stiv Bator's birthday today.

So here is "Don't Worry Children" off of the Lords of the New Church album "Is Nothing Sacred?"

Andy Shernoff - Who Will Save Rock and Roll? (Acoustic, Live)

No, seriously. Andy Shernoff singing Who Will Save Rock and Roll live, acoustic, solo:



Great lyrics. I named this fucking blog after that song, so you know I like it. I didn't know I'd like it acoustic and without the Manitoba snarl on it. It still works.

The Undertones - Male Model (live)

Here are the Undertones doing one of my favorite tracks, live on The Old Grey Whistle Test. This is "Male Model."

Stinky Toys - Free From Love

This is the French band Stinky Toys, from 1979, doing Free From Love.



I heard of these guys thanks to Jon Savage's book England's Dreaming. Back when I read it in college (during my 2nd year, I remember distinctly) they were only a name on a page. Thanks to YouTube, I can go back and watch them sing the songs I'd read about decades ago.

They're pretty good. I'd probably queue them up with my tracks from Gang of Four, Souxie and the Banshees, and The Slits.

Uncle Tupelo - Factory Belt

I posted a cover by Uncle Tupelo the other day. Here is an excellent original song of theirs, Factory Belt:

The Darkness - Solid Gold

Don't sing along to this too loud at work.

AC/DC backbeat, pure Darkness lyrically.



Heh, "sacred promise" indeed.

John Lennon - Working Class Hero

This would have been John Lennon's 77th birthday.

I Wanna Destroy You (Uncle Tupelo, Robyn Hitchock)

I've blogged about this song before, because it's so damn awesome.

Here is the original version by the Soft Boys and the one by the Circle Jerks.

Today it's a cover version by Uncle Tupelo:



and a live version by Robyn Hitchcock himself:

Thee Michelle Gun Elephant - Birdman

The same Japanese guy who introduced me to Maximum the Hormone also introduce me to Thee Michelle Gun Elephant.

If you've got 9 minutes, this is a good way to get introduced to them as well: