Today's post comes to us courtesy of both Vic G. AND John R. who each provided MRML with a fine rip and scan of this disputed classic.
Circa the mid 80's, and following the success of Billy Idol, quite a few seventies punks tried to tart-up their sound in a late-ditch effort to get on the radio. In Canada we had Teenage Head change their name and slick-up their sound, we had DOA team up with mainstream Rock producer Brian "Too Loud" McLeod, not too mention former Young Canadian Art Bergmann adding a radio-friendly keyboardist to his band Poisoned. As a bit of a punk purist, it's clear why I should loathe such crass commercialism but instead I'd argue - and have done so ad nauseum - that these releases are all (well, maybe not the Teenage Heads EP) worthwhile efforts.
Let's add to that list of arguably-worthy wanna-be-also-rans, the Forgotten Rebels' (more HERE) Boys Will Be Boys 12 " EP. When Hamilton's finest released this terribly-packaged (nerdy axe-man Mike Mirabella really suffers visually here) four song EP knee-deep in 1985, they were clearly trying to sneak in alongside the rush of pop-glam-metal bands like Twisted Sister then finding chart action. While their punk rock obstreperousness has been tamed, their infatuation with the kind of seventies glam-rock they so clearly adored circa the album, This Ain't Hollywood gets played to the hilt. The Rebels real concessions here are the bigger drum sound, the flashier guitar work and a willingness to get to the chorus that borders on the obsessive-compulsive:
At the time, I spun both power-poppers "Boys Will Be Boys" and "Can't Wait", a lot, the more hard-rockish "High School Nervous Breakdown" only a little bit and the breathy ballad, "Reason to Dance" hardly at all. It's difficult to guess exactly how this would sound to someone hearing it for the first time now. Maybe they'd think it sounds like a drag race between Cheap Trick and The New York Dolls where the finish line is a whorehouse. Why don't you let us know what you think, we're braced for a variety of reactions.
MRML readers, is this nadir of the Forgotten Rebels career or a charming sideways move? Let us know where you stand in the COMMENTS section (which is where you'll find the Boys Will Be Boys 12" link).
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PLEASE
ReplyDeleteLET
US
KNOW
WHAT
YOU
THINK
OF
THIS
ODD
FORGOTTEN
REBELS
RELEASE
AND
EVEN
IF
YOU
DON'T
LIKE
IT
YOU
CAN
STILL
LEAVE
A
WORD
OF
THANKS
FOR
THE
PEOPLE
WHO
RIPPED
AND
SCANNED
THIS
RARITY
,
VIC
G.
AND
JOHN
R.
THANKING
YOU
IN
ADVANCE,
MRML,
http://www.mediafire.com/?09zxr53byjevnjr
Nice!!!!!!!!! Stoked!
ReplyDeleteKen Days Of Our Youth
Excited to finally hear this. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThank you all,boys,never seen this before...and yes,that drum sound is terrible,but you can find it even in Julian Cope...
ReplyDeleteStill not my favourite Rebels era, but Can't Wait and BWBB have grown on me a bit. The BWBB video is hilarious too, in that cheesy Forgotten Rebels kind of way. Also huge Canadian bonus points for having a bilingual ouija board. :)
ReplyDeletethanx
ReplyDeleteyeah, this was a pretty terrible record, but anyone familiar with the rebels is used to the band going off on tangents. thanks for walking me back through the 80s in hamilton with this series of posts. they did thrive on controversy, as you and some comments pointed out, and the tactics they used were often juvenile. still, some of their songs were great, and if an artist can use a controversial approach to get people (and here, young punk fans) to think about a serious issue, that's not a negative.
ReplyDeletethey got the racist tag a lot, which was partly fair since mickey on more than a few occasions played the "am i serious or taking the piss?" game, but as was mentioned in one of your other posts, it's pretty obvious that they used satire to send up the rednecks. as with the work of a lot of artists, the narrators in the rebels' songs are voicing their opinions, not necessarily those of mickey or the rest of the band. how much of that permeated the consciousness of the audience is another discussion, of course.
living in hamilton in the 80s and 90s, i saw these guys a lot. they were always pretty good about giving new bands a shot performing, sometimes unleashing unprepared calamities on an unappreciative crowd (the throbs opened for them once and were terrible, and the crowd forced them off the stage after about four minutes). i think i got my first taste of the dik van dykes and DIN generator pump via rebels' shows, so i owe them for that.
thanks again for all the music. it is very much appreciated.
Thanks Vic and John and Jeffen.
ReplyDeleteThis has ummmm...
...certain "satirical" qualities.
Yeah. That's the ticket!
Kenny
ReplyDeleteYeah!
Sociologian
If you like it" 'You're Welcome
If you hate it "I'm sorry"
Roberto
Yeah this isn't really the worst eighties drum sound, which really hit rock bottom around 1989.
Anon
Wlcm
PB
yeah I think even Mickey realized he might've over-played the taking-the-piss card.
I would've loved to see a double bill with The Dik Van Dykes and The Rebels.
Maybe I should've titled this series Hamilton Rocks!
Bio
ReplyDelete"certain "satirical" qualities."
Well-played.
Fucking great stuff, man. Thanks a lot for these gems and keep on keepin' on bro!
ReplyDelete