I first came across the Anemic Boyfriends when my old boss at the university library lent me a stack of singles in exchange for borrowing my copy of the Breeders' first LP. Mixed in with the nifty live bootlegs (Gang of Four/The Buzzcocks at the Paradise in 1980) and obscure local new wave releases (Jeff and Jane Hudson's "Los Alamos") was a strange punk 7'' from 1980 on the Red Sweater label out of Anchorage, Alaska. I popped it on the turntable and gave it a listen, initiating a thirteen year quest to score my own copy.
The a-side, "Guys Are Not Proud", is a bizarre little track. Taunting, dismissive lyrics about male piggishness are sung/spoken over a minimalist reggae beat, with cartoony horn interludes between the verses. It's punk's DIY ethos at its purest, playing out in one of the remotest corners of the American empire, and it is fascinating to behold. (I'd love to find out more about Alaska's early punk scene and its venues, bands, and participants.)
The b-side, "Bad Girls In Love", is pretty terrible, falling into the "sloppy hard rock masquerading as punk" category familiar to anyone who has listened to more than a couple Killed By Death compilations.
Some other tidbits of info (gleaned from the internet) about the record:
-It was one of the records found in the late John Peel's "secret" stash of singles that surfaced after his death. (Indeed, the efforts of several devoted audiophiles to compile a "box set" of the Peel stash tracks is what enabled me to get my own copy of single.)
-"Boys Are Not Proud" occasionally turns up on some of the more esoteric college radio playlists. It was also played on Dr. Demento's show in the early 1980's.
-The Anemic Boyfriends also recorded a second single and follow up LP of lousy, amateurish funk-rock in the same vein as "Bad Girls In Love"
Wednesday, May 24, 2006
they're always lusting
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5 comments:
You know what?! I actually have a copy of this 45! I got it of my dad's girlfriend along with a stack of mainstream music (Kinks, Beatles, Lovin' Spoonful, Pretenders) .etc. I finally played it tonight. Both A and B side are really good, prompting my web search.
Is it valuable?
The answer is a resounding "maybe". Not too long ago I was trying to estimate dollar values for some punk singles in my collection, and for every one that I'd see going for $75 on eBay, I'd run across a collector's story about finding the same 7" in a dollar bin somewhere.
It doesn't help that the collector scene is rife with scam artists and bootleggers, either. The guys over at KBD Records have a mad-on for one charlatan in particular who has a system in place to drive up prices.
You liked the b-side? I guess "Guys Are Not Proud" made such a strong impression on me that I couldn't get into the different feel of the flip side.
I loved this song when it came out and have been trying to get a copy for quite a while. Was it ever release on a CD, like a compilation of one-hit-wonders or something? Thanks for the .MP3, it was good to here this again.
As far as I know, this has never been comped on either a commercial release or one of the fan-made comps like "Back to Front", "Bloodstains", or "Killed by Death".
I've been trying to figure out if this song is one that I've been searching for a while for a friend of mine, unfortunately I can't find the lyrics or the song anywhere. This was my one hope of actually finding out if it was the right song, but the link is dead ~sigh~ Think you could help me out in any way?
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