Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | RSS
Before this podcast was recorded, I was mildly wondering why I didn’t follow Peter And The Test Tube Babies closely after The Mating Sounds of South American Frogs. They’re right up my alley—working class U.K. punk akin to Cockney Rejects or Blitz, but injected with a heavy sense of humor. I quite liked the “Spirit of Keith Moon” song Ethan chose…. Oh, yeah. That’s it. The title of the 12” is terrible: Rotting in the Fart Sack. Ten to one, when young Todd saw this in the bins when it came out, he flipped right past it. I had a tight record-buying budget in the late ’80s.
Some notes:
I furthered my education on obscure first wave U.K. punk. I’d never heard of the Suburban Studs before this podcast, and go on to find out that they supported both the Sex Pistols and The Clash in 1976, and then the Clash supported them later that year. Thanks, horns and Ethan, for deepening my punk knowledge.
I totally fucking locked up trying to pronounce the Polish for an El Banda track. When my wife and I were visiting Warsaw, we’d phonetically try to match up the words of the train conductor with the printed name on the subway stops. Nope, not close, and I feel like I’m desecrating the language by even trying. How to pronounce “Skutki Uboczne”? I have no idea.
Open-ended question. What’s the more powerful mascot? Psychotic Pineapple’s Pyno Man or the loosely walnutty/scrotal monster with a faucet on the side of its head on the cover of The Penetrators’ Kings of Basement Rock? No need to write in, just something to contemplate.
Yes, I intentionally cut out the “funny” vocal intro to the Vandals’ “Rico” and went right to the meat of the song. Thanks to listener Tim for the song suggestion.
Ethan and I are kicking around the idea of, when we run out of punk songs with horns (which is no time soon, I can assure you), to play our absolute favorite songs from some of the bands we’ve played in this series that don’t feature horns, because sometimes although we like the horn songs by these bands, they’re not necessarily our go-to songs by them.
We didn’t have a subtitle for this one when we recorded it, but during the short walk between the podcast shed and HQ, Ethan came up with “Hanging on the Saxophone.” Well played, Ethan. If anyone knows of any Nerves or Blondie songs with horns, hit us up.
–Todd Taylor
Tracklisting:
Peter And The Test Tube Babies “Spirit of Keith Moon,” Rotting in the Fart Sack 12” (Jungle)
- - -
Superchunk, “Digging for Something,” Majesty Shredding (Merge)
The Plugz, “Wordless” Electrify Me (Plugz)
Hüsker Dü, “No Reservations,” Warehouse Songs and Stories
Billy Reese Peters, “Traveling Band,” Almost Heaven (No Idea)
- - -
OBSCURE UK BLOCK
Anorexia,“Rapist in the Park,”Rapist in the Park 7” (Slim)
Neon Hearts “Popular Music,” Popular Music LP (Satril)
Suburban Studs, “Questions,” No Faith 7” (Pogo)
Acme Attractions, “Never Again,” Anyway 7” (A-Trax)
The Dials, “All I Hear…,” ”All I Hear…” b/w “Running” 7” (Scene)
- - -
El Banda, “Karnawał,” Skutki Uboczne (Pasazar)
Kalashnikov Collective, “Ai Ferri Corti con Tutto L’esistente” Living in a Psycho-Caos Era LP (Chaos Rurale)
Homeless Gospel Choir, “Global Warming,” This Land Is Your Landfill (Self-released)
Crazy Arm, “Blessed & Cursed,” Dark Hands, Thunderbolts (X-tra Mile)
The Vandals, “Rico,” When in Rome... Do As the Vandals (National Trust)
- - -
ROCK BLOCK
Psycotic Pineapple, “Sabrina,” Where’s the Party? (Richmond)
The Stranglers, “(Get a) Grip (On Yourself),” Self-titled 7”
Flyin’ Spiderz, “Room,” Let It Crawl (Bovema Negram)
Roky Erickson, “Haunt,” Don’t Slander Me LP (Light In The Attic)
The Penetrators, “The Scandalizer,” Kings of Basement Rock LP (Fred)
- - -
Psychedelic Furs, “We Love You,” 7” single
The Kids, “Something Better to Do,” Living in the 20th Century (Spectrum)