Seems to me the 'ex-Mods who were sick of prog' epithet for pub-rockers - coined, I think, by a member of the Feelgoods - fitted Eddie & The Hot Rods better than anyone.
They might have found themselves (not unluckily) lumped in with punkers and new wavers in the crazy musical explosion post-77 but it's the amphetamine rush of early Who and Small Faces I hear most in their music now, and there's no doubting their influence in turn (along with The Jam's, natch) on the mod revivalists circa '79.
Legacy and short-lived commercial lift aside though, punk (and numerous band personnel changes) pretty much did for The Rods as a unit, though two members ended up joining The Damned (!) and their manager Ed Hollis (brother of TalkTalk's Mark, fact fans) worked with that band, SLF and Elvis Costello for a time.
A version of the Hot Rods reformed in the early noughties and is still touring proving, as I think we all know, that you can't keep a good Essex rocker down.
Cushty.
Eddie & The Hot Rods - 'Do Anything You Wanna Do' (1977)
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Now this WAS the perfect song for a 15 year old, lank haired, hormone oozing, seemingly futureless, rebel without a clue, in monochrome late seventies Britain.
ReplyDeleteSilver Jubilee, Socialism, Star Wars, and the blonde bird from Abba with the unfeasibly tight trousers were never enough for me in 1977.
This still gets my juices flowing.
ReplyDeleteAnother porky prime cut from the 'Last Summer' soundtrack. Peel stated that seeing this group was what alerted him to the fact that the musical climate in Britain was changing. Even a line such as 'don't need...no optician tell me what I ought to see', cringe-making in other hands, is just perfect here. The best track never to make the Festive Fifty!!
ReplyDeleteNote the bit at the end where the guitarist tries to launch into a twiddly bit and then realises he's in the wrong key (but it was faded out anyway).
Glad this one got the old boys rocking. Anyone got any Kursaal Flyers?
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