Dead Boys—Young Loud and Snotty

Dead Boys—Young Loud and Snotty

Young Loud and Snotty—There exists a band that formed in 1974, disbanded in '75, and reformed in '03 called Rocket from the Tombs. This band is probably most well-known for spawning the long-running post-punk outfit Pere Ubu, which shared members David Thomas and Peter Laughner, but it also generated one of the first New York punk bands. Dead Boys, as did Rocket from the Tombs, hailed from Cleveland, Ohio originally, but moved to New York to join the burgeoning punk scene led by the Ramones. The Ramones and their contemporaries often flirted with commercial appeal, and despite their attitudes and the often-hostile nature of the venues in which they played, were not violent people. Dead Boys were closer to that fantasy than perhaps any other punk band, and so it is fitting that their debut LP was titled Young Loud and Snotty.

Their most famous song, "Sonic Reducer," opens the album with a menacing rollout of barre chords led by the snarl of lead singer Stiv Bators, co-written by non-member David Thomas and lead guitarist Cheetah Chrome during their Rocket from the Tombs days. Bators spews, "I'll be a pharaoh soon/Rule from some golden tomb," in the tribute to each and every outsider. "All This and More" sees Bators philosophize, "Can I describe what it's like/To have sex with the light on?" before telling his date, "You feel so dead tonight;" the guitar, drum, and handclap march is a dead ringer for L.A.M.F. by Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, which was released the same month. The band's chorus proclaims on "What Love Is," "I don't need none of your bedroom-bruised sweet box [...] I wanna write on your face with my pretty knife," leaving the listener to interpret whether this is what love is.

"Not Anymore" was an alley-walker's nightmarish lament in a time when Alice Cooper was going suffering a lean period and Nick Cave had not yet surfaced. The pure rock-and-roll "Ain't Nothin' to Do" elucidates the real reason why young, loud, and snotty young men do the things they do: boredom. "Caught with the Meat in Your Mouth" is one of the catchiest songs in the set, and despite its markedly obscene title, is not far-removed from Chuck Berry. The live cover of "Hey Little Girl," which in its own time reached #8 on the U.S. charts, fits right in with the Dead Boys' image and makes the listener wonder whether they could have been hit-makers in an earlier time period. "I Need Lunch" is a nihilistically-profound piece of primordia containing the stunning verse, "Look at me that way, bitch/Your face is gonna get a punch/I said I don't need no cook-girl/I need lunch." "High Tension Wire" is an ode to living on the edge, as is the Rocket from the Tombs holdover "Down in Flames," from which the band drew their name.

Young Loud and Snotty, though not revolutionary, is an important piece of punk history that shows the more truly nasty side of American punk music. It is not on GG Allin's level of insanity, but its crass assault of pure rock-and-roll and lewd verbal imagery borders on high art at times. It is a half-hour of blistering punk music that is essential for any fan's collection.