From the vaults: Supersuckers – The Evil Powers of Rock ‘N’ Roll (1999)
You’ve gotta love The Supersuckers. Take the opening of ‘I Want The Drugs’ (a mock interview):
Journalist: ‘Would you say that your songs are about liquor, women, drugs and killing for the most part?’
Eddie Spaghetti: ‘Yep’.
BOOM!!!! A wall of nitro-charged rock ‘n’ roll kicks in. It’s a helluva party: punk and hard rock delivered with one eye fixed on the fun-o-meter and the other on penning a damn good tune. Bar fights, slutty women and good time with bad intentions drive forward an album which strips rock ‘n’ roll down to its essentials and drenches it in bravura. ‘Santa Rita High’ should have been a classic, whilst ‘Stuff ‘N’ Nonsense’ is the sort of perfect punk love song that Prince might have written if he’d grown up obsessed with The Ramones.
There are plenty of bands who take the best parts of your record collection and mix them into their own brew. Most fall short of the original source, and what separates the great from the good is really a matter of something intangible: charisma. And the Supersuckers have that in droves. ‘Cool Manchu’ grooves like every long hot summer you’ve ever had, whilst the title-track is more frantic, booming out of the speakers like some demented preacher hell bound on kickin’ your ass all the way to the party – feel the RAPTURE!!! In a 20 year career they’ve never really made a bad record, but this one is by far the most consistent and – without question – their most raucous.
You feel like the mack daddy listening to this type of rock ‘n’ roll. I guess most of us discover music and masturbation at about the same age, and the immediate impression I had with both was ‘how can THIS much FUN be free?’ The Supersuckers are so joyous that they remind me of my first time, and for that I’ll always be grateful. ‘The Evil Powers of Rock ‘N’ Roll’ is an orgy of cool licks, broken dreams and the delusion of a perpetual youth.
You’ve gotta love The Supersuckers. Take the opening of ‘I Want The Drugs’ (a mock interview):
Journalist: ‘Would you say that your songs are about liquor, women, drugs and killing for the most part?’
Eddie Spaghetti: ‘Yep’.
BOOM!!!! A wall of nitro-charged rock ‘n’ roll kicks in. It’s a helluva party: punk and hard rock delivered with one eye fixed on the fun-o-meter and the other on penning a damn good tune. Bar fights, slutty women and good time with bad intentions drive forward an album which strips rock ‘n’ roll down to its essentials and drenches it in bravura. ‘Santa Rita High’ should have been a classic, whilst ‘Stuff ‘N’ Nonsense’ is the sort of perfect punk love song that Prince might have written if he’d grown up obsessed with The Ramones.
There are plenty of bands who take the best parts of your record collection and mix them into their own brew. Most fall short of the original source, and what separates the great from the good is really a matter of something intangible: charisma. And the Supersuckers have that in droves. ‘Cool Manchu’ grooves like every long hot summer you’ve ever had, whilst the title-track is more frantic, booming out of the speakers like some demented preacher hell bound on kickin’ your ass all the way to the party – feel the RAPTURE!!! In a 20 year career they’ve never really made a bad record, but this one is by far the most consistent and – without question – their most raucous.
You feel like the mack daddy listening to this type of rock ‘n’ roll. I guess most of us discover music and masturbation at about the same age, and the immediate impression I had with both was ‘how can THIS much FUN be free?’ The Supersuckers are so joyous that they remind me of my first time, and for that I’ll always be grateful. ‘The Evil Powers of Rock ‘N’ Roll’ is an orgy of cool licks, broken dreams and the delusion of a perpetual youth.
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