Looking for More Stuff That Sounds Like This...

[Zzzptm]

The MC5 I got, along with The New York Dolls and a lot of The Damned. I'm looking for more of that trash-glam-proto-punk stuff that has chord changes like these songs. I'm *not* looking for early punk in general - counting 1-2-3-4 and playing guitars fast is not enough. If it sounds like Mick Jagger singing "Suffragette City" while dressed up like someone's sister, I'm in. Could also sound like Ian Hunter singing "Brown Sugar" in a minor key with loads of bass and guitar swoops instead of horns.

Any leads, those of y'all that like that punk/glam stuff?

I know the first video on my list is way more punk than glam, but that sound is exactly something that's scratching me where I itch - it's more in line with stuff from The Damned than The New York Dolls, which is more like the second and third videos.

[Jack the Stripper]

Give “Hanoi Rocks” a go Z. They might be just what you’re looking for.

Motley Crüe’s debut has some punk attitude to it as well although it’s much more metal than punk but you can here the punk influence in it.

[Vyn]

Never was into the glam, and I like my punk straight, no chaser.

Faster Pussycat always gave off a glam-ish smell to me. Or maybe it was just El Lay sleeze.

[Zzzptm]

I'll try out the Hanoi Rocks, heard some stuff about them. Faster Pussycat might be worth another check, as well.

Definitely getting into The Mau-Maus right now, and I'm hearing a lot in that band that makes me agree with Lemmy's comment that Motorhead was closer to the punks than the metal heads.

[Zzzptm]

Thanks for the leads, gents. Now I must report...

Both bands were close when they were rocking out, but obviously not so much when they did ballad material. Hanoi Rocks was the closer of the two to what I'm looking for. But both, I guess, were either missing something - or was there something in there that wasn't needed? Hard to say. Maybe they weren't 70s enough in their sound, which makes them victims of the times rather than actual band choices about production values.

Bands that stayed outside the realm of what record company insurers were unwilling to underwrite seem to have been able to escape the 80s-ification of punk. Witness The Mau-Maus, and feel free to compare/contrast with Faster Pussycat's "Bathroom Wall":

(Singer was also in Berlin Brats and this was part of their stage set, I loved it as a muddy live bootleg recording, even more with a studio's ability to actually not sound like it was recorded on a Panasonic tape recorder in somebody's overcoat.)

[Zzzptm]

Now, following up on the singer from Hanoi Rocks turns up Demolition 23, whose "Same Shit Different Day" matched up with what I'm looking for.

And who know that the guy's Finnish?

[Jack the Stripper]

^^^ Yep Hanoi Rocks were Finnish. They should’ve been bigger but probably a wrong time wrong place type band. Punk was ending and metal/glam metal was really starting to take off and they were kinda caught in the middle without a firm foot in ether genre.

The drummer Razzle was the one that was killed in Vince Neil’s automobile accident in 1984. Their career completely stalled after that. I bought their debut album back in the day due to their Motley Crue connection but could never really get into it properly. Just wasn’t metal enough for me at the time.

I do enjoy it a lot more these days though.

[Charger]

Yeah I could have said they were Finnish...not a fan though..not at all.

Michael Monroe is a fun character though...and his later solo works have been quite a bit better than anything Hanoi Rocks put out.

[Zzzptm]

Jack captures some important pieces in his comments - punk was ending and glam metal was on the rise. To get a record deal meant making compromises. That meant doing ballads, slowing it down a bit, changing the guitar tone and basically undergoing 80s production values and their effects on the music. Hanoi Rocks live videos are a different sound, and those were the ones I was getting into.

Demolition 23 kinda went nowhere as a band, but that also meant Monroe could have more control over the sound. I think that's where the "better" comes into play. That's the stuff he wanted to play, not what the record company wanted them to play, big difference.

Finding a compilation tribute to The Boys and The Hollywood Brats opened up a bunch of acts to scout out on Bandcamp and YouTube. That led to me finding an Italian band, Taxi, that's bang on what I wanted. They reformed as Guida after a band member died and had more success as Guida - and wouldn't you know, but I find that I'm not liking Guida as much as I like Taxi, even though it's practically the same band. That goes back to the whole success thing. I basically want a band obscure enough that their records went practically nowhere, but not so obscure that the only recordings we have were demos done with home gear in a well-carpeted bedroom.

The Mau-Maus fit that bill almost perfectly, as they were one of the top acts on the LA scene but were too wild even for Penelope Spheeris to include in The Decline of Western Civilization. They didn't do a proper record until 2012, when they got the band back together and did their own indie recording.