| For a while in 1976 Eddie & The Hot Rods
were the hope for a music scene that gone stale. The way had
been kicked open by their aggressive suited and booted neighbours
from Canvey Island Dr Feelgood playing short sharp bursts of gritty
tunes. Eddie & The Hot Rods were younger, more rockier and
sang songs that the audience clearly identified with and had a
dynamic stage show to boot.
Described as 'Punk' before that term even coalesced into a movement
Punk alternately helped and hindered them. While others Punked
themselves up visually and sonically the Hot Rods remained true
moving from a covers based R&B sound to some thing more akin to the
MC5 circa Back In The USA.
Scoring a massive hit with 'Do
Anything You Wanna Do' in the fall of 1977 should have been the
launch pad for greater things. Instead it became virtually their
epitaph as the music scene changed from Punk to New Wave, to Power
Pop and the Rods lost first momentum, a manager and then a label
before splitting up.
How good were Eddie & The Hot
Rods? They might not have captured their incendiary live act but
hell they put down some classic toons that rival any punk band for
energy and spirit. |
