
The Shivas – Goo Goo Muck
At the heart of it, The Cramps, one of America’s finest and strangest rock n’ roll bands, were a shock rock group with a love of all things 50s. Inspired in equal parts by Iggy Pop, B-Movies and the sense of confrontation that the original rock bands brought with them, the band, led by Lux Interior and Poison Ivy, created an incredible, shocking, funny and menacing body of work.
It’s not all about picking a fight, however, and newer generations are just as inspired by The Cramps’ minimalism and sound songwriting skills, as they are by their campy horror. The Shivas’ choice to cover Goo Goo Muck has likely been influenced, especially, by the tremendous legacy of the group.
Here the group marries their own surf-rock sensibilities to the maniacal redneck beat of the iconic punk-rockers. It’s strange to hear the Cramps in this kind of setting but also appropriate on second thought. The Cramps are as classic as apple pie, and The Shivas are a band capable of properly representing that sound.
Period Bomb – Angery Girls
I’ve heard it a million times that Captain Beefheart’s Trout Mask Replica was carefully orchestrated by the man himself. It came as a bit of a surprise. By comparison Period Bomb’s Angery Girls, Beefheart sounds positively tame and ready to play a children’s party.
And, in that lies, for me at least, the beauty, of this song. It’s not really a song now, is it. I’m not going to try and sell it to you as a revolutionary act of rebellion. I will just state that while pop music is supposed to soundtrack the lives of everyday people, it tends to lean on the positive, sunny aspects of things.
Not every day is a picnic. Some are full of exhausting chores. And, I can swear that the sound my brain makes when hitting that breaking point could match Angery Girls groove for groove. It’s something of a punk rock, absurdist temper tantrum and we dig it.