Hello Daddy, hello Mom I'm your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb Hello world I'm your wild girl I'm your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb

70’s Pick of the Week

“Cherry Bomb” by the Runaways (1977)

Long, long before the Donnas, and the so-called Riot Grrl movement of the ‘90’s came the trailblazing, unwittingly feminist band, the Runaways.

When teenagers Sandy West and Joan Jett met, they wanted to form a rock band - not a very popular idea at a very male-dominated time in rock history. The great thing about them is that they wrote, played their own instruments and performed world-wide. The problem was that their audience, also teenagers, could not get into the bars they played in. While they were a great success in Europe and especially Japan, they never really gained anything more than a cult following in North America.

The legendary, bizarre producer Kim Fowley had given drummer Sandy West, Joan Jett’s phone number and told them to get together to see if they could do anything. The group originally started as trio with Micki Steele (later of the Bangles), who toured clubs in Los Angeles.  Steele eventually got fired and was replaced.  Soon after, Lita Ford (lead guitar) and Jackie Fox (bass) were hired to round out the group.

Well some things you can explain away but my heartache's in me till this day

70’s Pick of the Week

“Train in Vain” by the Clash (1979)

He is not likely going to be posthumously knighted ‘Sir Joe Strummer’. One of the central figures in punk rock, Strummer was viewed as an extremist and mocked the government. You don’t get knighted for that. The Clash would sit around another round table though – that of Punk Rock.

From the womb of a nation wracked with economic turmoil and political and social unrest came writhing, spitting, sneering and swearing, a youth with only anger, fear and contempt for anything that smelled like authority - that was the essence of punk rock. 

Whoso fly up in th' sky Faster than any boy could ever describe Whos got that love so deep And everything alive

The origins of “Alternative Music” and the rise of Punk  Part I

“Jet Boy”, New York Dolls (1973)  

Often cited as a major influence on the punk, (as I stated in my previous blog) and later new wave movement in the U.K., the New York Dolls are not all that well know in the mainstream of music. As I embark on one of my longest blogs ever, bear with me as this build-up is important in understanding the influence and impact this strange band had. 

As I said, there were a lot of things going on in the U.K. to stem the backlash of Punk and then new wave against the establishment. The American influence was there, but I am not convinced it was the ‘cause’ per se of Punk. What was happening was that you had a complacent record industry cranking out mega-bands; you had Vietnam War vets returning to a poor economy, often disliked by the hippies who now also lacked a cause. The U.S. government was having its own problems, wallowing in the corruption of Watergate, broke from the long war, and floundering in the face of an economy falling apart.

I got a gal, named Daisy, She almost drives me crazy .... She knows how to love me

Songs Everybody Should Know

“Tutti Fruiti”, Little Richard, 1955

Who inspired James Brown, Michael Jackson, Prince, Elton John, David Bowie, Marc Bolan, the New York Dolls, Alice Cooper, even Elvis himself?  Who put the funk in the rhythm?

If there was a black Elvis, Little Richard was him. Probably as important to the birth of rock and roll was Richard Wayne Penniman, or ‘Little Richard’ as he called himself.

Hey babe, your hair's alright Hey babe, let's stay out tonight

Songs Everyone Should Know

David Bowie, Rebel, Rebel (1974)

So is David Bowie an alien as his long-ago ex-wife Angela, might have us believe? Is he the Thin White Duke or Ziggy Stardust?

David Bowie was the male blue-print for Madonna, and now to a certain extent Lady Gaga – but the verdict is out. He reinvented himself so many times he didn’t know who he was at times I’m sure.  He was an innovator in how he looked, how he sounded, how he presented his material, and what it meant.