Feelin' Kinda Froggy

NINE POUND HAMMER - Smokin' Taters!

Yee Haw! Yet another chance to bitch about the musical wasteland that was the early nineties. With the majority of punk having become a bad joke, it was almost inevitable that ya'd hafta turn to bizarre hybrids that breathed some new life into its rapidly decomposing corpse. So... how about some Southern Hostility straight outta Lexington, Kentucky??! I've oft-heard this here hooch referred to as "cowpunk"-- whatta load of shit! I don't hear a trace of Rank & File or Blood On the Saddle or any o' their collegiate kin in Nine Lb. Hammer's reverently redneck rantin' & ravin'. These boys were the real thing, wavin' the confederate flag in yer face one minute and doing their damnedest to dispel gun-totin', bible-thumpin' clichés the next. Whatcha really got here is a band firmly entrenched in the giants of C&W like Hank & Johnny, the bombast of Southern Rock and the fury of hardcore. The lyrics are brilliant-- filled with tales of incest, racism, fist fights, booze and sex. They also contain many pearls of wisdom (listen to "Turned Traitor for a Piece of Tail" if'n ya don't believe me) and an obsession with unabashed, familial loyalty. Political correctness was not high on their list of priorities, thank dawg.

Too bad that a few years later we'd be inundated with bands from Pennsylvania and New York wearing cowboy hats, sporting Betty Page and 8-Ball tattoos telling us all about the "Good Ol' South." That's like my Canuck ass forming a band to write odes to the Australian Outback-- I won't mention any names: the posers know who they are. Vocalist Scott Luallen and drummer Adam Neal would go on to form the Hookers (check out "Black Visions of Crimson Wisdom" their toxic cocktail of Venom & Skynyrd), and axeman Blaine Cartwright would find fleeting fame with Nashville Pussy, a dumbed-down version of 9 Lb H, who, although I'm not a big fan of their records, put on one of the most pee-pee scorchin' live shows you'll ever see. But fuck all that, this is a good ol' time for white trash and trash aesthetes alike.

Look in comments.

JOHNNY THUNDERS & THE HEARTBREAKERS - Live at the Lyceum

If yer a Heartbreakers fan, ya know by now that finding live performances in decent fidelity or acceptable sobriety ain't too easy to come by. Luckily, y'all can come to SLN and find one that delivers both. This set was recorded at London's famed Lyceum Ballroom in 1984, and features Johnny & the Boys in fine fettle-- particularly Mr. Thunders, who, when he's not tearing off those patented (as an acquaintance once described to me) "is his hand broken or is he a genius" licks, interjects some hilarious rants.  Particularly amusing is when he informs the crowd that his fondest wish has always been "to turn da fire extinguisher on youse douchebags." An absolute must!

Tracks:

1. Pipeline
2. Personality Crisis
3. One Track Mind
4. Too Much Junkie Business
5. Do You Love Me?
6. Just Because I'm White
7. Copy Cat
8. Baby Talk
9. Born To Lose
10. All By Myself
11. In Cold Blood
12. Seven Day Weekend
13. So Alone

In comments-- and leave one!! Otherwise this blogging shit gets fucking old!