Young, Loud and Snotty

The Dead Boys were original American punks, using Iggy Pop and the Stooges as a springboard for their own nihilistic, gritty and streetwise brand of rock back in the mid-‘70s. Coming from Cleveland’s Rocket From the Tombs — an artier, hard-rocking outfit that spawned Pere Ubu as well — guitarist Cheetah Chrome and drummer Johnny Blitz recruited a skinny, snarling Stiv Bators as their frontman, and relocated to New York City. Finding a home at punk mecca CBGB’s, the band signed to Sire Records and in 1977 released Young, Loud and Snotty, a critical title in the American punk rock canon. “Sonic Reducer” is the star track — a punk anthem for many — but other songs, like “What Love Is,” “Ain’t Nothing To Do,” and “Down in Flames” carried equally powerful blows. Bators set the bar high for those who would soon follow, drawing blood on stage (just like Iggy) and spitting venomous lyrics like, “Gonna beat up the next hippie I see!”  His no-holds-barred confessional “I Need Lunch” is hilarious and crude, as is the primal “Caught With the Meat...”  But crude and primal was what The Dead Boys did best, and Young, Loud and Snotty is punk perfection on a platter.