I think I read somewhere that this Kent, Ohio band came up with their cartoonish name by imagining a punk band name that would frighten the kids on the insufferable ‘80s TV show Eight Is Enough. Having just moments ago turned on the TV, only to see the pudgy troll Willie Aames gurgling on about God and weight loss, I have all new appreciation for the name Kill The Hippies—even though I suspect that the ‘70s Kent State student slaying reference would be lost on poor, weight-conscious Willie. But KTH have more going on than just an inspired band name. They play some grade-A quirky, spazzed-out garage slop and they’ve been slopping away at it since 1993. Erectospective is a double CD packed with seventy-seven songs that are all over the fucking map—in turns sounding a bit like In God We Trust era DKs, Devo, Richard Hell and the Voidoids, the Crucifucks, the Spits, and the Lunachicks played at 78 RPM. All smeared with a sticky dumpster ooze and rolled through fly-infested heaps of trash. Though you could say that it’s stylistically anachronistic, it manages to somehow still sound fresh. And who doesn’t like fresh garbage? If the name doesn’t scare him, the top-notch garbage rock of Kill The Hippies would surely make Willie Aames drop about ten stinking pounds in his pants, toot sweet. Favorite Song Right at this Moment: “I’m Gonna Puke on You.”
–aphid (Rock’n’Roll Purgatory)