Ever seen a guy blow his nose on bologna and eat it? Do ya wanna?
One of the hardest things about being a latter-day punk rocker are the endless tales of how great things used to be. “Man, did you ever see the Nails back at the Abbey in ’77? What… you were three years old? Sucks for you, man.” Aside from closing your eyes and wishing reeeal hard, there’s no way of knowing what it was really like, or whether the Nails were ever actually any good.
The live albums that have survived aren’t always much help. Aside from the odd gem, most live punk classics are famous for being unmitigated disasters. Instead, they’re famous for their antics.
Look at The Stooges’ Metallic K.O. I mean, jeez. … Part of that record is the sound of the band getting full bottles of beer thrown at them. And few people talk about whether the Sex Pistols were actually any good live; all you hear about is the San Francisco gig where they closed with “No Fun,” walked off stage, and broke up for good. But hey, I hear the Germs were really hot that night. To a certain extent I'm guilty of the same sin, using lead singer Stiv Bators' stage antics as my pull quote ("But really Johno... how did it sound?").
It did come as a bit of a surprise to find that some enterprising soul had taken it upon themselves to do a three-camera video shoot of a complete Dead Boys set at CBGB in the halcyon (well, the Demerol) days of 1977. Some of you might rightly ask why someone thought to record the Dead Boys at all - in a color three-camera shoot no less—rather than, say The Ramones or Talking Heads.
The answer to that question is that someone at Sire Records loved the Dead Boys and hoped to make them the next big thing. Proof of this is the amusing 1977 video spot helpfully included in the bonus footage, which touts the band as “the most exciting, outrageous band in the United States today.”
Whether or not they were what Sire claimed them to be, Live at CBGB/OMFUG 1977 finally gives us an opportunity to see whether “Sonic Reducer” was a fluke or the real deal.
Article comments
1 - Marty Thau
I was there and they were great -- on
occasion. Unfortunately their sets were inconsistent ... but when they were "on" they were some of the best.
2 - Mark Saleski
yow, i might have to pick this one up.
Young, Loud & Snotty is one of my favorite early punk records.
"Caught With The Meat In Your Mouth", indeed.
3 - Johno
Mark, do pick it up. You will NOT be sorry. This is one of the very few review copies I have come by that makes my friends plead-- plead with me to let them have a burned copy. And I don't give it to them, either. They gotta buy this sucker.
Marty, I feel all like a kid again... What was it like?????? (you don't have to answer that... it just amuses me to ask.)
4 - Eric Olsen
Marty is THE authority, that's for sure.
Great review Johno, brought back many a memory of late'-70s Cleveland. I saw them a few times here, and like Marty says, they were highly variable but great when good. I met them and talked a couple of times too. Most striking is how tiny they were: smurf punks.
I was very sad when Stiv died - he sure changed his style, image and approach to music with Lords of the New Church but was always interesting.
Ah memories.
5 - Mark Saleski
wasn't he in that movie "Tapeheads"?
6 - Eric Olsen
yes, as "Dick Slammer," according to Amazon - I was not aware of that
7 - Johno
Mark, you're right-- Bators was in Tapeheads! Man, what a loss when he died.
One of the best things for me, who turned 30 last year and is therefore WAY too young to have experienced any of this firsthand, is to hear these five guys who to me have always been more personages than people talking about stuff. It's not the Legendary! Stiv! Bators!, but rather a scrawny teenager with a bad acne problem and a twitch speaking none too cogently in a thick Northeast Ohio accent. It's a little like reading, say, Ben Franklin's letters, in that it gives you a picture of a person very much at odds with what you might get a first glance.
This is especially true of Gene O'Connor. I just want to buy that dude a beer and talk a while.
(Of course, it might mainly be the accent for me. When "Felony" Jim Traficant opens his mouth, I have a hard time not hanging on his every word, because with his Youngstown accent, he sounds exactly like my father.)
8 - Mark Saleski
i think it was him and Lords of the New Church.
they were the first rock band that cusack and robbins got to shoot a video for...but then the lead singer was killed during the shoot.
man, i've gotta get a copy of that movie.
9 - Johno
Not that Stiv Bators is anything like Ben Franklin. Ol' Ben got more pussy.
10 - Eric Olsen
I have to check that one out too
11 - wallybangs
I know all those California cities look the same, but the Sex Pistols last gig was at the Winterland in San Francisco. Good review otherwise.
your fact checking cuz wally bangs
advice: go back in and edit the location to San Fran and make me look like an idiot.
12 - Johno
What about the voice of Geddy Lee? How did it get so high? I wonder if he speaks like an ordinary guy? (I know him, and he does) and you're my fact checkin cuz.
Thanks Wally, correction noted and made. Nice catch, you clod!
13 - godoggo
I saw the Lords a few times. They were way better live than their records. I remember they used to do Pills by the Dolls.
14 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
great review johno. But are they as photogenic as gg allin?
15 - HW Saxton
I got to see The Dead Boys way back in
the summer of 1978 in L.A. at the now
defunct "Starwood" on Santa Monica Blvd.
Or almost got to see them I should say.
They opened with an ass rippin' version
of 'Sonic Reducer' then followed that up
with 'Caught W/ The Meat In Your Mouth.
Then, during the third song into their
set(I forget which tune),Stiv & Cheetah
got into a fight; yelling at & shoving
each other about a pair of boots that
one of them was wearing.They stormed off
the stage about 10 minutes after they'd
started. End of set. In retrospect that
was pretty "Punk Rock" though. LOL.
My friends and I were highly pissed off,
as we had driven almost 300 miles from
Vegas down to L.A. just to catch these
jokers.The night wasn't a TOTAL loss as
we did end up catching The Dickies show
at the Whiskey A Go-Go that same evening
which wasn't a bad consolation prize.
16 - wallybangs
HW,
Great story. In a sort of related riff, my old punk rock band, Pipebomb used to do a cover of "Sonic Reducer". One afternoon we opened for NYC punk band Letch Patrol and before the show we got to do one sound check song so we did "Reducer". The Letch Patrol guys came up to us and wondered how a bunch of hillbillies from Nashville, TN even knew the song. It seems that they also did a cover version of the tune so the sparse crowd at the all-ages show that day got treated to the tune twice. The irony of it all is that Cheetah Chrome was living in Nashville at the time. I think he may even still be around.
17 - Eric Olsen
here's his site
18 - Temple Stark
What a great teaser / pull quote though. Got me to click. Well that and wondering whether I was going to put it on Advance.net.
Answer, yes. It will be here before the end of the day.
No not yet. .. Not yet. Now.
19 - clash77
Johno:
Great review! I think I'm jealous. I have to admit I was skeptical when I first learned of this DVD's very existence, but now I'm eagerly awaiting its arrival in the old magic mailbox.
I'm an old school guy, 48 this coming November, and was fortunate enough to see the Dead Boys a few times here in the Murder City (Detroit), back when we were full of piss and vinegar and were convinced punk rock was going to change the world, if not the music biz. Feh...
Am I the only one who sees the cruel irony in Stiv's death? After years of abusing himself both on stage and off, including trying to shove a microphone up his ass during a Lords of The New Church gig gone horribly wrong at Detroit's St. Andrew's Hall, he gets his ticket punched in Paris back in 1990 after somebody left tire tracks up his back? As if we really needed another reason to hate the French, eh?
Anyhoo, keep up the good work!
Clark in Detroit
P.S. Stiv also had a bit part in John Waters' "Polyester."