Welcome to the Album Nerds podcast with your hosts, Andy, Don, and Dude.
It's time to get punked up.
It's the Album Nerds podcast.
I'm Dude.
I got Andy and Don with me.
You punks ready to talk about some music?
Yeah, I'm feeling, I'm feeling lucky.
Yeah, got my hair gel and my mohawk here.
I'm just about ready.
Wearing a Blink 182 shirt.
Nice.
Classic punk, baby.
Don, how about you?
I owe.
Let's go.
Ooh, wow.
I felt like I was in 1970s New York City, just bone chilling.
Very, very good.
This is the Album Nerds podcast.
We love albums, the album format and sometimes each other.
But we've got a really great show for you today.
We're going to be talking about some classic punk albums.
We'll each bring one of those to the table for discussion.
We are also going to get a deep question from Don.
We're going to give some shout outs to some albums and album related items we're
digging outside of the punk space, mostly.
And then we're going to spin the wheel of musical discovery to find out what
we'll talk about next time.
But this week it's all about that classic punk.
That's what I'm talking about.
Punk rock emerged in the mid 1970s as a raw, energetic rebellion against
mainstream rock and societal norms.
The genre produced a number of seminal albums that defined its sound and ethos,
influencing generations of musicians to come.
We will explore some of the most important and influential punk rock
albums that helped shape the movement and continue to resonate today.
Today, each of us will present an album from the classic punk era.
Hey, what are you, some sort of punker? God, I hate punkers.
Punkers.
So classic punk.
We really did try to limit ourselves to albums released before 1980,
to keep with the spirit of that first wave.
I tried personally to avoid like the Sex Pistols who we've talked about and the
Clash and the really well-known stuff.
I tried to explore, maybe find something I wasn't familiar with before.
What else did you listen to this week before settling on the
final album to talk about?
The record I almost went with, because I found it so damned enjoyable,
was from the damned.
The record, Dam Dam Damned.
Damn, right?
1977's our first full length UK punk rock album ever released.
Apparently, they just discovered that.
They were kind of, they were tiered with the Clash and the Sex Pistols all kind
of caught up in that, that big wave of punk rock that came out.
The UK really enjoyed the record though.
It's just really driving surprisingly polished punk rock debut there from the damned.
Yeah, well I spent some time with Iggy and the Stooges, Raw Power.
I think there's some disagreement about whether the Stooges were punk rock or
if they were pre-punk and they feel pretty, they feel pretty punk.
It seems like there's like Iggy's stage antics were more punk than like the
music sounds a little bit more Motor City, Hard Rock, punk.
Pretty Hard Rock sometimes.
Yeah.
That came out pretty early in the 70s, right?
Yeah, that was 1973.
But we should do a show on that like pre-punk era with like New York Dolls and the Stooges
and MC5.
Protopunk.
Is that what it's called?
I don't know, just made that up.
Could be.
Sounds cool.
How about you, dude?
So one of those obvious ones that I almost went with actually was the Ramones,
their debut album from 1976, self-titled.
They're so iconic.
Their logo is on t-shirts everywhere.
They are a foundational piece in what punk rock was and became.
And it's just a catchy and fun to listen to.
But ultimately I was looking for something a little snarlier, a little disenfranchised
and angrier.
So I went a different direction, but I did enjoy my time with the Ramones.
So enough about what we considered.
Let's get to our actual choices.
You choo-choo-choose me?
All right, from a classic punk rock selection, we're talking about Buzzcocks and their 1978
debut album, Another Music in a Different Kitchen.
I'll spoil a little bit of the cut.
I don't mind.
Sounds a little bit like Davy Jones goes punk.
I know, right?
You guys believe the 60s pop sound of that track?
That's wild.
That's already at number 58 on the UK singles list.
That's their third single overall, first on the record.
Yeah, I was kind of shocked at the pop appeal of this album.
So Buzzcocks were formed by Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley in the mid-1970s.
Quickly became a part of the growing punk rock scene, playing shows with Sex Pistols
and The Clash.
In those early days, Devoto left the band in 77 before this album came out, saying he
wasn't really happy with the direction of where punk rock was headed.
He formed Magazine, which was a decent group.
Sounds like they were not sellouts and more true to punk.
Yeah, I mean, how punk do you have to be to be calling punk a sellout in 1977?
That's so punk.
My clickbait headline for Another Music in a Different Kitchen is Buzzcocks drag pretty
pop songs through the punk rock mud, but damn it, they're still pretty.
I guess this is surprisingly polished and confident and hooky.
I would say kind of pop punk record.
I think what really surprised me was how repetitive some of these songs are.
There's moments that are very almost hypnotic and then they kind of come along to the same
vocal part or the guitar riff over and over again, even though the songs are all super
short, like two or three minutes long.
I read that Shelly, who ended up being the lead vocalist and guitarist, was a fan of
Cannes guitarist Michael Carioli, which was surprising to me because you don't think of
Cannes as being a big influence on punk rock music, but there it is.
They're more of a psychedelic, would you say, Cannes?
Psychedelic, like krautrock was like the term I hear used at them frequently.
I just wanted to throw it out there for people that didn't know what Cannes was, which is
probably a lot of people.
I didn't even know who they were until like in the last year or so.
I thought it was Cannes.
All right, why don't we play another cut from the record.
This is the Closer moving away from the pulse beat.
Yeah, he still has that kind of that Johnny Rotten sort of snarl or whatever that affect
is.
Yeah, that sort of British nastiness.
Yeah.
Yeah, but it still sounds a little nice.
Yeah, like he's not going to spit on you, but he might stick his tongue out at you.
You know those sex pistols?
They spit on their audience.
Yeah, afterwards he might say, pardon me.
So moving away from the pulse beat, it's actually five minutes and 40 seconds long, which is
a huge deviation from a lot of the punk songs we've been listening to.
Also kind of atypical because it's largely instrumental, so sort of moving away from that
sort of traditional song format that a lot of the punk records do.
And I mean, if you listen to the drums, I think that is the drummer, Mayer, John Mayer.
It's not the James.
John Mayer.
John Mayer, yeah.
Your body is a wonderland?
Yeah.
Wow, he's been around longer than I thought.
But if you listen to the drum pattern on that song, it sounds much more complex than anything
you hear on the sex pistols record.
So these guys are definitely pushing the boundaries of punk rock.
And then the song goes quiet for a while.
There's like a minute of silence and then it plays a reprise of a song called Boredom.
So I don't know, is that one of the first kind of hidden tracks at the end?
Yeah, I know.
Well, I guess the Beatles did it, but yeah.
On a punk rock record, you wouldn't expect that little level of artistry and consideration
to the format against.
One could say having a long song is not punk, but then one could also say in the punk space,
having a long song is punk.
Yeah, right.
Right.
Because then you're pushing against the conventions of punk.
Exactly.
I remember one of the, or maybe somebody talking about Green Day at the time, they said, you
know, doing time of your life was the most punk rock thing they could do.
Oh, I...
Well, yeah.
I guess.
I suppose so.
All right.
So my clickbait headline is Buzzcocks serve punk rock hot and fresh out the kitchen.
That's a reference to...
Who is that?
Is that R. Kelly?
Oops.
Oops, indeed.
At least it wasn't P. Daddy.
Wow.
Either way.
Anyway.
Wow.
Yeah.
I guess I appreciate this album for how different it is from like a Sex Pistols record.
There's just a lot more going on.
I mean, I think there's actual songwriting going on.
There's little nuances that make it something more, and it's really more of a pop record
than a punk rock record.
It feels like they are musicians that play punk rock rather than like the Sex Pistols
sort of sounded like it wasn't musicians that were just punks that were using music as a
way to rebel.
You know?
And I think that's at least what I was hearing throughout this record is a little bit more
song craft.
Yeah.
Surprisingly well crafted.
Yeah.
And well recorded too.
There's not a lot of grit and grime on this at all.
It's fairly shiny.
I know we talked about how shiny or not shiny, but just how good sounding that Sex Pistols
record is.
I would say this is kind of right in that same vein.
Let's play another cut from the record here.
This is the opener, Fast Cars.
Oh, God.
So Fast Cars written by Tracy Chapman.
No.
That's Fast Car, I think.
Singular.
Driving in your car.
Punk rock Tracy Chapman right there.
Luke Holmes has to do this version.
Yeah, that'd be awesome.
Oh boy.
Yeah.
So Fast Cars is the opener to the album.
It's an anti-anthem for consumerism.
Check box on the punk.
Is this punk or not?
It's high speed, punchy and delivers a take on society's obsession with possessions.
A possession obsession, one might say.
My clickbait headline to describe the album is, another music in a different kitchen where
the buzz meets the cock.
Fast, fierce and fearlessly catchy, punk with a bite.
So what I was most obsessed with was the band name.
Okay.
And apparently the name was inspired by a headline that was in a British TV magazine
Time Out that said, get a buzz, cock.
And buzz reflects a sense of excitement, energy or a thrill, right?
This was in British parlance at the time.
And cock was a was British slang for a young man with a cheeky or bold attitude.
So that's perfect then, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
It is perfect and it also sounds dirty enough that I think people probably were like, this
is rebellious too.
Right.
I can't believe you had bite and cock in the same headline.
I can believe it.
This is more melodic than raw bands of the era, which we've already kind of gotten into.
And it's like this take on Britpop of the 60s, but sped up to punk speeds.
I feel like if they slowed it down and were wearing matching suits, they could have, you
know, some of these songs could have made it to the top of the pops there.
Yeah.
Seriously, in a different time.
Maybe maybe the buzzcocks were, you know, something else.
Yeah.
And you know, just that beats per minute that early punk in particular brought up, which
gets the heart rate up.
So just through the music, the energy is high, especially when it just is unrelenting, that
speed that goes through.
So yeah, I enjoyed it.
It was a little more gentle.
Some of our other picks and some of the other things we may have considered, but I think
it's well executed and is pop punk before there was such a thing.
Yeah.
Well said.
So the band would have some success until about 1981 and where they would break up after
a dispute with their record label, which is a pretty common theme here as we go through
these punk rocker groups.
Their songs have been covered by the likes of the Fastbacks and the Opspring.
And yeah, this one made it into the 1001 albums you must hear before you die.
Nice.
Yeah.
It's a missed list here.
So yeah, congrats out to them.
Definitely a really cool record if you're not familiar with the Buzzcocks.
Please do check out another music in a different kitchen.
All right.
Before we get to our next punk rock album selection, why don't we hear a little bit
from the worst podcast on Mars.
I'm Amanda and that's Evan.
Say hi, Evan.
Hi, Evan.
And we're the hosts of the worst podcast on Mars.
This is the podcast that talks music.
And on Fridays, we work our way through the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's list of 200 definitive
albums.
I do a bunch of research trying to figure out why it's on this list.
And on Tuesdays, we do smaller episodes that are not part of the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame's list.
And Evan, well, he just literally shows up.
So if that's what you're into, please find us on Apple Music or Spotify.
But not Mars.
Yet.
Evan always gets me with the but not Mars part.
I like that.
Yet.
Wonder how we rank on Mars.
Hopefully we're not the worst podcast.
Right.
Slightly above.
Second worst podcast on Mars.
So my pick for a classic punk rock album comes from a band called Wire.
And their album is called Pink Flag.
I had to get pink in there.
Like Pink Floyd.
Yes.
Oh, yes.
This is the PF.
Yes.
Pink Floyd.
You're the worst.
What?
So it was released in November 1977.
It's their debut album from the band formed in London in 1976.
The lineup features vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter Colin Newman, bass guitarist and
lyricist Graham Lewis, guitarist Bruce Gilbert, drummer Robert Gotabed or Gotabed.
Gotabed, that's a great name.
It's Gotabed.
Gotabed.
Love it.
What does mommy say?
Robert, go to bed.
Talking to me, mom.
What?
So here's the opening cut of Reuters.
Yeah, so that unlike other punk rock, which I think is more angry and rebellious, that
one's starting to feel sort of a little sad and depressing, I think, which is what speaks
to me.
I know it does.
So I assume the title refers to the news service writers.
And so the lyrics seem to be like a reporter reporting on just the violence and destruction
in the world.
At three minutes and three seconds, it's actually one of the longer tracks on the album.
Pretty remarkable.
Yeah, jamming out on that one.
So the album is 35 minutes in total and there's 21 songs.
So that's efficiency.
Yes, it is.
It's impressive.
Well, you see that many tracks, it's like, oh no.
And then you look at the end, it says 36 minutes or whatever.
It's like, oh, all right, I can do that.
So my clickbait headline is Wire spits on punk rock conventions with control and detached
intellectualism.
We're going to find some parallels, I think, between the Buzzcocks and Wire and the way
that they, I think both are kind of pushing punk rock to its limits.
I actually have a quote from the vocalist, Colin Newman.
He says, there's basically two views of Wire.
You either think we are not a punk band or that we were the best punk band ever because
we broke every single rule of punk.
There you go.
Just like I was saying with the Buzzcocks.
Yeah.
So I think maybe one of the biggest ways they're different from some of the other punk rock
is the lyrics are kind of, I think it's just more intellectual, I guess, and abstract.
Although I'm not sure I understand what all of them mean, but it seems like there's more
to them than some other punk rock artists.
Yeah, they really are like poetic at times, I would say.
Sort of like a beatnik sort of style, I guess.
I don't know.
The thinking man's punk.
There you go.
Yeah, exactly.
Yeah.
I mean, if you picture punk rock just being three guys picking up their instruments and
just going at it, I think these are more deliberate and thoughtful.
I think I saw a film like that once.
Well, let's hear another cut.
This is One Two XU.
One Two XU!
The title of One Two XU apparently refers to the phrase 12 hours of a 12 hour day, ending
it monotony and repetition of modern life, and it's probably the punkiest, although once
you get past the 12XU, the rest of it gets a little bit more into the melodic sounded.
Less than two minutes, pure energy, no frills, covered by countless punk bands and considered
somewhat of an anthem.
My clickbait headline to describe the album, the art punk blueprint that set the stage
for Alternative Rocks Takeover a few years later.
It captures the experimental spirit of the time, but it also incorporates those elements
of art rock and minimalism and critiques of societal norms and encouraging listeners to
embrace their own identity.
It's less about society, politics and rebellion.
So songs like Three Girl Rumba and X Lion Tamer and even Lowdown sound a lot like alt
rock from eight years later, like early 80s alternative.
And I really enjoyed this album as I felt like it was quietly forging ahead what was
coming next.
And I don't think they even knew it.
Did you notice on Three Girl Rumba that it sounds a lot like Elastica's connection?
Yes.
It sounds exactly like Elastica's connection.
Yeah.
And in fact, they settled that out of court.
Did they?
Okay.
Yes, they did.
It was very obvious to me that Elastica took that.
Is it a direct sample or did they just play this out?
I don't think so.
No, they paid tribute to it.
Yes.
Well, let's hear another cut.
Here's Surgeon's Girl.
I think that's the most punk rock track on the album.
I don't know.
I think consistently you're probably right.
For its entire minute and whatever, how many seconds.
Yeah.
The one to X you with the way it kicks off is the most punk rock moment to me, but it
doesn't hold as well as that song.
I stand corrected.
This song seems to be about pornography and a glossy, glossy mag.
Yeah.
I mean, like all the songs on this record, it kind of like starts out with kind of like
a traditional punk rock song and then it kind of quickly descends into madness, I would
say.
Just this anthemic mantra that it curates that kind of goes through these deranged passages
of Colin Newman.
Hello Newman.
So cool.
So cool in my opinion.
My clickbait headline for Pink Flag is, wire plant their pink flag squarely between punk
rock and the avant-garde and no one's been able to take it down since.
I think this is kind of a landmark album.
It's supposed to be in mind you can be so inventive, I guess, in what's a relatively
new genre, you know, 1977.
This is still pretty early on punk rock and they just kind of like, okay, yeah, punk rock,
we're going to go in this different direction and kind of like almost start another genre
within the genre.
So cool.
It's just really impressive.
I'd never heard of them to be totally honest and first listened to it, I was like, ooh,
this is good.
I need this one on the show, so I'm glad Don stuck with it.
I had only heard of them because they opened for Depeche Mode when they played the Rose
Bowl in 1988.
Yeah.
Because they kind of, they went away in the early 80s and then came back and they've been
going strong ever since.
Nice.
Yeah.
This record sounds dirty and grimy and kind of rough around the edges.
Deranged is the word I kept coming back to.
It just sounds like there's a lot members are going through.
Yeah.
The direction is still pretty clean though.
I think it's primarily the vocal that makes me feel like that punk rock energy.
It's kind of rough and ragged around the edges.
Yeah, but it's heady.
I mean, it's not a simplistic record by any means.
It's enjoyable initially, I think, but there's a lot to dig into and I don't even feel like
I understand a lot of the songs by any means, but they're interesting and I sincerely appreciate
that.
Well, if you're looking to experience a groundbreaking album that redefined punk rock and laid the
foundation for post-punk and indie music, dive into Wires Pink Flag.
Excuse me.
I'd like to ask you a few questions.
All right.
It's time for Deep Questions by Dom.
Now, punk rock is about rebellion.
So actually, I should rebel and not ask a question.
Whoa.
But.
Yeah, it gets very confusing how to be punk.
Yeah.
Do we even do a show?
Yeah.
Punk rock?
Anyway, so when have you fellas been rebellious?
Yeah, we're definitely big troublemakers over here.
Three of the most bland vanilla dudes you could ever meet.
That's what makes us punk rock.
One time my mom told me to eat broccoli and I said, no.
We had my peas instead.
Well, I think we all were teenagers.
I did have a bit of a rebellious streak when I was in those formative years.
I remember going to the mall.
The mall was a popular hangout spot in the mid-90s when I was growing up.
There were a bunch of those little stores in the middle walk area of the mall there.
There was one we'd always walk past that had this computer kiosk of some sort of product
they were selling that was demoed on this computer screen.
I was fairly into computers at the time.
I was just starting to get into computers.
That's rebellious right there.
Yeah.
I was just giving her a rebel.
I figured out a way to reboot this computer and put a password on it so they would have
to go and reset it to get it back to their program.
My friends would like to strap the shop owner and I would go and reset it.
It's a little hack.
We would go back there like three weekends in a row and we're fucking with their computer
every time.
It was kind of fun.
It was my little way of sticking it to capitalism and the man.
I was a young cyberpunk.
Yeah, I found out later that the kiosk guy got fired, his family starved and fell apart.
Nice work.
Wow.
Cyber terrorism.
Yeah.
Take that, Claire's.
Well, Claire's has survived.
I can't think of anything quite as cool as that, honestly.
I don't know.
I mean, I was kind of a douche to my teachers when I was in middle school and high school
as my way of rebelling.
I was pretty much-
Cracker judge in the back of the class?
Yeah, you know, cracking wise as I like to say.
But there was one teacher, it was earth science in eighth grade, Mr. Blowers.
And we just did not get along.
I'd mouth off all the time.
I'd call him Mr. Blowers and he'd call my mom and make me stand outside the classroom
and that kind of stuff.
I was doing well in the class to start, but then I just got this attitude with the dude
and it all fell to pieces.
So Mr. Blowers was out for a few days because he had had a bicycle accident where apparently
he had done a face plant.
He came back in and he had all these scabs on his face and everyone's like, oh, welcome
back.
And I was like, looking good blowers.
So cruel, man.
I got in school suspension for a couple of days, which really was kind of nice because
teachers came to you with your homework, cheerleaders delivered my lunch.
So yeah, really no downside to.
That's where a lot of bands get started, I think is an in school suspension hanging out
with the other punks.
I'm struggling to think of some, but other than trying to stage a walkout for not being
able to wear shorts in April or something in high school.
So these days, the way I'm most rebellious is I've started writing in cursive again.
I just feel like the whole world is moving on.
And actually, ironically, as soon as we were allowed to not write in cursive anymore in
school, I immediately started printing again.
But in recent years, I'm writing in cursive.
I write on the board in my class and my students are like, what is that?
Can they even read it?
It's pretty different.
Irrelevant.
I was going to say.
The kids can read your notes.
Boy, you have to solve, man.
Writing in cursive.
How much more rebellious?
That's so punk.
So punk.
All right.
Well, what makes you a rebel?
Let us know.
Hit us up on Instagram and Facebook or leave a comment on our website, AlbumNerds.com.
So I'm going with stiff little fingers formed in 1977.
Wouldn't have been stiff middle fingers.
Wouldn't that have been even more rebellious?
Yes.
Belfast, Northern Ireland.
They began as a rock covers band called Highway Star.
So the band is Jake Burns on vocals and guitar, Henry Clooney on guitar and vocals, Allie
McMordy on bass, and Brian Falloon on drums.
I like that Falloon.
The album is Inflammable Material, recorded in 1978, released in 1979.
Why don't we listen to a little bit of Suspect Device.
So that song probably should be best remembered for being the first time anyone said sus.
Instead of suspect.
Which now the kids are saying.
The album and that song captured the energy tension and raw rebellion of Northern Ireland
during the Troubles.
The Troubles.
Which we have touched on before.
That's what they called the battle between the Protestants and the Catholics there in
Northern Ireland.
It was kind of the polite way of referring to the sort of war that was happening.
Clearly very Sex Pistols forward in terms of the delivery a couple of years after the
Sex Pistols did their thing.
More like bazookas.
God, you're terrible today.
The song Suspect Device, the title was referencing the heightened suspicion and fear of Northern
Ireland at the time of Suspect Devices or bombs.
It's powerful critique of the oppressive environment that people were living in at the time.
Clickbait headline I came up with for this one.
Inflammable Material will make you raise a pint to punk's rebellion.
More than just the Troubles, it's a celebration of youth and defiance.
So it portrays those harsh realities of the Troubles and the frustrations of the youth
caught in those sectarian divisions, the Catholics and the Protestants.
While five of the songs directly address the Troubles, the album also covered other typical
punk themes.
Just reflecting on life in Belfast as youth during this period.
So why don't we jump into another track?
This one's called Rough Trade.
How freaking punk rock is it to make a song about your record label that's released by
that record label?
I love it.
Well they had been signed to Island Records briefly and dropped right before the album.
So my clickbait headline for Inflammable Material is Johnny O'Rotten.
He'd better himself.
That's pretty brilliant, Andy.
I gotta give you props on that one.
Oh, I'm Johnny O'Rotten.
I mean, definitely you can draw some pretty direct lines between them and Sex Pistols.
But that's not a bad thing by any means.
Maybe Stiff Little Fingers has a slightly bit more range on this album.
I agree.
There are some tracks that maybe are not quite straight ahead punk.
For example, Barbed Wire Love, a middle of a record.
Yeah, I love that song.
It's like another 60s pop song, which will do all vocals and stuff.
Yeah, even further across that line where it just totally just sounds like that, barbed
wire love.
It's more that it's barbed wired, which is more punk and more kind of probably buildings
with fencing around them in Northern Ireland and stuff.
Stiff Little has that.
Yeah, but yeah, it sounds like a Shuby Doo Wop song.
There's a few songs that are even a little bit more straight ahead rock, maybe more like
Clash style.
Yeah, which I guess the Clash were their main influence and reason for going punk.
Yeah, you can definitely hear the influence from those two groups in particular.
I don't know, the focus on the conflict in Northern Ireland is very apparent on the record.
It almost feels like it's so focused on it, it gets a little bit in the way at times.
Yeah, see what I thought was important about that was if you live in Belfast at that time,
that would dominate your everyday.
It would dominate the news, it would dominate what streets you walked on.
So in a way, for me, if we're comparing to the Sex Pistols, it felt more entrenched in
something painful.
Yeah, it's a little more tangible the things you're talking about, I guess.
Yeah, I mean, it's a cool record and it does feel a little bit of a history lesson, at
least for us in the States here.
Yeah, the record itself, it sounds very, very raw in the way that Sex Pistols do.
I'm surprised how loud the drums are, I guess, they're really forward in the mix.
And it helps lead to that aggression and that raw energy that they bring.
That whole beats per minute thing we were talking about earlier of punk of this era
where it just amp up the speed to make it more frenetic.
Yeah, it's chugging along for sure.
All right, so why don't we jump into a little bit of Alternative Lobster.
At first, I thought it was Alternative Lobster, I'm glad it wasn't.
So that song was written by Jake Burns in response to a request from a Northern Irish
fanzine called Alternative Ulster.
So the song addresses the boredom and lack of opportunities for young people in Belfast,
as well as the oppressive presence of police and military.
So yeah, driving guitars and you've got Burns, again, it's like a snarl.
Yeah.
He's a good snarl.
Yeah.
So my clickbait headline is, stiff little fingers, inflammable material, punk rock so
hot it will set your arse on fire, handle with fucking care.
Oh yeah, I know.
Yeah, they'd say the F word on this album, which was unusual at that time, at least in
America.
Yeah, I just want to talk about Jake Burns vocals a little bit.
So his voice is a little different from the Buzzcocks guy, Shelly and Johnny Rotten, maybe
more like a raspy thing kind of going on.
Like somebody described it as like a permanent sore throat.
Yeah.
You probably had one.
Yeah.
It just seems to have, it's just much more aggressive than the other two records.
And I mean, part of it is the voice, part of it is the drums.
Subject matter.
Yeah.
I think the Northern Ireland stuff probably elevates it in that way.
When Stiff Little Fingers sent out their debut single Suspect Device, apparently they wrapped
the cassette to look like a bomb as a prank.
Oh my gosh.
Wow.
Isn't that like...
Well, that would be jailable these days, but a radio station thinking it was real actually
threw it in a bucket of water to try to defuse it.
That's the word anyway.
During that time.
I mean, that yikes.
Yeah, right.
A couple of their songs, Wasted Life is a good track.
It's an anti-violence stance addressing those who pressure young people to fight to not
do it.
And interesting cover, Bob Marley's Johnny Was, and they adapted the song with a punk
energy.
And I think that's one of the first times that reggae kind of made its way into punk,
which of course later on Scott and all that stuff came.
So I thought that was a cool moment too.
Yeah, very interesting.
So Inflammable Material is a landmark punk album.
I hadn't heard before, but I got really into it with every listen.
And it captures that raw anger and resilience of a generation living amid some major upheaval
in their society.
And I think there are a lot of people out there today that know what that's like.
So it proves that punk's power to be both rebellious and relevant started early and
continues today.
So go check out Stiff Little Fingers, Inflammable Material.
Can you dig it?
All right, fellas.
Well, I know we've all been holding our middle fingers in the air all week, rebelling against
the man.
Getting kind of stiff.
Yeah.
Yeah, my arthritis is acting up from it.
Well, I hope you didn't rebel against the podcast because you were supposed to be digging
some other things.
Oh.
What were you digging?
Oh, yeah.
I got a couple of things here in my hastily constructed brown paper package bag that I
decided not to all the radio stations.
I thought you were going to say that you had a few things safety pinned to your face.
Okay, that's a good one, sir.
All right.
Let's start out with something actually from Ireland.
Talking about the folk rock group Villagers.
They have an album out called That Golden Time.
This is the solo project of Connor J. O'Brien.
Let's play a little bit of You Lucky One.
It's like one of those records that I would love to dismiss, but there's just so many
good moments on it.
I keep coming back to it.
It's kind of dark, brooding, but very catchy.
There's a lot of really memorable songs on there.
And the other one I wanted to throw out that I've been digging just released in the last
week here from artist Peter Perret, I believe is how you say his name.
The album is called The Cleansing.
This is the third solo studio album for the English songwriter who was in the group The
Only Ones, which were a 70s punk rock group known for another girl, another planet was
the name of their big hit back in the 70s there.
Let's play the opening cut from the new album.
This is I Want to Go with Dignity.
I want to always stay my welcome.
I've seen about getting older and facing death.
Yes.
I'll do it eventually.
Yeah.
That seems to be very, very much.
Want to do it with Dignity or diggity?
No diggity.
That's very moody, groovy, artsy rock record there, but enjoyed it quite a bit.
What you been digging on down?
Well, I've been spending a lot of time with the new album from The Cure called Songs of
a Lost World.
But on the day of its release, they actually did a live stream of a show that they did
in Troxy in London.
So they performed the entire album as the first set and then they did a second set and
then like two encore.
So it's like 31 songs.
It's still available streaming.
So you should check it out on YouTube.
Just search The Cure Songs of a Lost World live stream.
And it just sounds really good.
Here's a clip from the song, End Song.
It's like a thing they do where they kind of like combine a word with song in every
album.
They've done it a few times, yeah.
Because there's two on this album.
It was Warsong and Plainsong.
Although Warsong might be two words.
Cool.
Yeah.
I mean, I have listened to the album once.
A little more instrumental time spent than I was expecting, but I'll run through it a
few more times before I make it, have an opinion on it.
Yeah.
And also, I figure I'll just keep throwing out new holiday records.
Great.
Boy.
Jimmy Fallon, perhaps you've heard of him, the host of The Tonight Show.
He has an album of fun songs called Holiday Seasoning.
Features a bunch of stars, Meghan Trainor, Justin Timberlake, The Roots, Jonas Brothers,
Dolly Parton.
But the biggest one is Weird Al Yankovic.
So he does a song called New Year's Eve Polka 5-4-3-2-1.
I just like that.
I would do that.
I just like that he mentioned the Twilight Zone marathon.
I do that all the time on years.
What are you digging, dude?
I went digging around looking for something maybe a little heavier.
And of course, we're not too far away from Halloween being a couple of weeks ago.
So there's still a lot of spooky stuff getting released.
New Skeletal Faces released an album called Until the Night on November 1st, 2024.
Let's listen to a little bit of Raise the Dead.
So they're a trio that channels the eerie spirit of death rock with metal and punk elements.
Also kind of a sunset strip 80s metal vibe throughout.
This album weaves goth punk and metal into a fierce atmospheric journey.
I've had listed twice so far.
It's pretty cool.
Sounds interesting.
And then of course, being the album collecting punk that I am, I do have a copy of a classic
punk record, The Clash London Calling, which came out at the very end of 1979.
Let's listen to a little bit of the title track.
Now of course, Trey O'Blazer's The Punk Rock, politically charged lyrics and genre defying
sound kind of post-punk in the making.
I think they kind of not only were important in the movement of punk, they helped move
it forward.
I picked up this copy at a record store years ago.
It was like five bucks.
The discs are in good shape, but the packaging not so much.
So I've had to do some cleaning and maintenance, but it's playable.
It's a little crackly, but it's nice to have the real thing in my collection.
Yeah, we got to do a full review on that one sometime.
Not too far away.
All right.
So what are you digging?
Let us know.
Join us on the socials, Facebook, Instagram and threads.
Also on our website, albumnerds.com.
It will be a discovery of extraordinary value.
Well, it's about that time on the show and I'm reminded of the great turkeys musician,
Joe Strummer.
Do you guys know Joe Strummer was from Turkey?
I do not.
I believe they say Turkey-ay now.
Turkey-ay.
Excuse me.
Yeah.
Well, you know, Turkey gets confusing for some.
Gobble gobble and whatnot.
Well, Mr. Strummer of the clash, obviously.
He said punk rock isn't something you grow out of.
Punk rock is an attitude and the essence of that attitude is give us some truth.
There you go.
With that in mind, let's bring out my friend and your modbot.
We'll see what we'll be talking about on next week's episode.
Growing up isn't easy.
Next time you'll explore albums that capture the trials, triumphs and messy emotions of
finding your way.
Buckle up for a journey through coming of age classics.
So growing up, that'll be interesting.
Be chasing albums that have themes of growing up, getting old.
Coming of age.
This is growing up.
I call it.
Yeah, you got it.
All right.
Well, what's your favorite punk rock record?
What's your favorite coming of age record?
What else are you listening to?
Leave a comment on our website or email us at podcast at albumnerds.com.
You can follow us on Facebook, Instagram and threads at Album Nerds and also please subscribe,
rate and review on your favorite podcast app.
And if you'd like to support the show, you can do so via PayPal at albumnerds.com slash
support.
Thank you so much for joining us here on the Album Nerds podcast.
We'll catch you next time when we all try to learn how to grow up.
It's about time, man.
Yeah.
Next listen, everybody.
Catch you next week.
And the cats in the cradle and the silver spoon.
Little boy blue and the man in the moon.
Try to get through that one without crying, huh?
Yeah.
We'll get together then.
You know.
We'll have a good time then.
Bye.