Go Girl Crazy

The final 'missing link' between Glam Rock and Punk Rock? Maybe the secret ingredient was the little bit of California surf thrown in the mix? Weird add for a New York band, but I'm not going to complain. You can hear influence from KISS, The Stooges, and David Bowie. You can also hear so many punk bands that would come after this - The Ramones will also record a version of "California Sun", if you want to make direct comparisons. Early band photos, and jacket of their second record, Manifest Destiny, confirm their existence at the transition between Glam Rock showmanship and the rough and tumble working-class aesthetics that will later dominate Punk Rock.

A few of these songs haven't aged well, and Dick Manitoba may live up to his name, but it's impossible to ignore how pivotal this album/band are in the timeline of rock & roll. A wildly informative listen.

Personal notables:
"The Next Big Thing"
"I Got You Babe"
"California Sun"
"(I Live For) Cars and Girls"

This is pretty good! It's good fun and quite consistent.

3.5 rounded down.

hard rock proto-punk completamente besta???? lindo demais
passaria facinho como trilha sonora do bully ou qualquer besteirol adolescente oitentista. coisa boa demais, rapidinho, não se leva a sério, guitarrada decente, só alegria!!!

I’m at a 4.5 that, surprisingly, I’ll bump up to a 5.

I mean, there’s definitely flaws. I think “The Next Big Thing” feels a little bit vapid as an opener, since the album hasn’t really established its overall tone yet, so it feels like it’s trying to use a voice that doesn’t really work out of context. After that though, the weirdly intense shift on the cover of “I Got You Babe” that adds an awkwardly funny tone to the whole thing reveals this album’s modus operandi: it’s an album full of mockery. Granted, some of that mockery in & of itself has some tracks that aren’t as tactful as it could be; “Back to Africa” is a mockery of the “white savior” concept, but the lyrics read as almost fetish-y at times. I think the track works, but it’s not one you can really throw into a playlist nowadays. “Master Race Rock” has the baffling opening line about “picking a slave”, but it’s also a complete mockery of white supremacy & overt toxic masculinity, and that makes itself very clear by its final verses, so it doesn’t feel as painful.

After that though, the album glides a lot more, both instrumentally & without some of the earlier lyrical missteps. “Teengenerate” feels like a loose mockery of fake tough guy teenage angst, underlined by the usage of “heck” – some of the backing vocals give a Beach Boys vibe that helps the track. “California Sun” feels pretty earnest, honestly. Certainly a little goofy in the lyrics, and that Beach Boys comparison feels warranted again for the subject matter / verse repetition, but the guitar solos make it work. “Two Tub Man” is just weirdly chaotic yapping that reminds me of some old batshit insane ‘80s wrestling promos (certainly helped by the Verne Gagne mention), and I just admire the absurdity of it.

“Weekend” is genuinely just a good track with some loose Alice Cooper vibes to it; maybe one misstep with the “Beatin’ up the kids from Spain” line, but the whole track is full of drug-induced absurdities that I can look past it as a goofy overexaggeration. “(I Live For) Cars and Girls” is the biggest pisstake on the Beach Boys that the whole album has. The other tracks at least do them some justice by talking about something of substance, but it really is just a full blown lyrical mockery of their “Surfin’ USA” era of music. There’s a Zappa-esque quality to it, helped by the fact that they play the track itself totally straight, even pulling together some nice vocal harmonies to make it work.

All in all, I genuinely did enjoy it. It’s just a good bit of ‘dumb’ punk rock, & one that’s keenly self aware of that fact. Even with the early missteps, I can chalk it up to not really getting the vibe of the album in full & a different era of humor in 1975. It is punk rock, yes, but I don’t think it’s “punk rock” as the Sex Pistols & Ramones would later run with. This doesn’t have the same bite to it, yet somehow, I think it works all the same. The vocals aren’t super melodic, but they don’t have to be when the instrumentation genuinely holds up really well for the time. It’s a lot catchier than I expected, and that clear DNA of the Beach Boys & the Beatles is still influencing these tracks in a way that makes them feel appealing. Yeah, it’s dumb, but it’s the fun kind of dumb that I just fuck with. I think the floor is a 3 (or a 2 if those early lyrical missteps feel THAT bad), but for my tastes, but solely on its ‘dumb fun’ vibes, I’m feeling generous enough to bump this up to a 5. I’m glad it’s on the list.

I am quite sympathetic to this sort of disheveled dive bar rock, a straightforward presentation of embryonic punk ideas. They have the campness of Queen and the rough and readiness of the Ramones. The issue is that each song has a joke at the heart of it, and I never get the joke. With “Back to Africa” and “Master Race Rock” the band would be courting controversy, if anyone had ever heard of them. The music is decent / fine. The lyrics are frequently strange and occasionally appalling. It is never funny to me!

This album made me smile and laugh which was very refreshing. Very pleased I listened to it but not scrapping to go back to it.

Massive fun with only a little quality

Haha hell yeah. Great Caribou fact from the top reviewer. Cheers.

I vaguely recall stories in the book 'Please Kill Me' of Manitoba being a fuckwit as well.

Funny how many bands that aren't the Sex Pistols get labelled as 'proto punk' - protecting Malcolm McLaren's image I reckon.

Missing oink record for me in the history of punk. Very fun, lighthearted and rocking with a nice dash of satire. Love the pro wrestling-esque album cover and in-record references too.

Yes

This is what I was hoping for from this app; discovering new albums from bands I had never heard of, for better or worse. So much to unpack, even from the first three tracks. We open with a 70's hard rock song which is no doubt on a OST somewhere for a film called High School Daze or something. This is followed up with a cover of Sonny & Cher's I Got You Babe, which lures you in to a false sense of complacency, before we get the bizarre Back to Africa - I couldn't quite believe my ears. Spotify even seems to be leaving out certain lines from the lyrics transcript. I'm not sure there is any real malice, the boys in the band are just morons. This is swiftly followed by the clumsily titled and clumsily tracklisted Master Race Rock - I understand this isn't a white power anthem but good god this a dumb name for a song. I was quite relieved that after this the album calms down somewhat and gets a bit more boring. Don't get me wrong, there were still moments my ears pricked up (like when he claimed to have the former first lady of the USA in his pants).
I can't deny it kept me entertained (which is more than some of these albums have) which makes scoring it really difficult. Is it an important album? No. Is it stupid and fun album? Yes. It's fun to be fun.

Not particularly exciting with some really quite dumb lyrics

I like this. Early punk that isn’t too rough. 4/5

Dumb rock and roll fun from dawn of punk, they're doing budget glam with all the skill and production nous of a highschool battle of the bands, but that gives it a great mix of ironic joking and earnest commitment to the bit.

I don't really like it that much

Some fun hard rock/protopunk. Nothing spectacular here, but some of the basslines are really good. Favorites were Master Race Rock, California Sun, and Cars And Girls.

(2.5) i need to get my partial marks system sorted i round sown 😔😔😔 but this was enjoyable

Some competent enough early punk, although with the sort of grotty, over the top lyricism that I've got very little time for. Yeah, it probably was influential in some way, but it's a listening experience which doesn't lend itself well to 2025. Two stars for having a bit of energy to it, I guess.

Sounds kinda punk, but wouldn't have described it as such without knowing. It's an ok rock/proto-punk album, nothing stands out. 2*

I don't know this band at all. I feel like it's a mix of (wanna be) Kiss and... New York Dolls? Also, this cover of I Got You Babe is not really working. I mean, this just feels like it's not quite making the cut for me. There's so much other great punk from this era, I don't know why one would ever spin this when there's so much better stuff to pick from. It's a no for me dawg