Dead Boys

Younger, Louder, Snottyer

(Cleopatra Records)

Of a piece with fellow 1970s NYC punk icons the Ramones and Heartbreakers, the Dead Boys (Stiv Bators, Cheetah Chrome, Jimmy Zero, Johnny Blitz, and Jeff Magnum) tore in Rock'n'Roll a jagged gash that remains unhealed. Their energy, predisposition for spectacle, and in-concert rampages made these CBGB wretches legends in the annals of musical infamy. (Of especially identifying nature were Cheetah's feral solos.) They may have stalked stage-fronts among a rip-and-stich horde, but no peers equalled their turbulence.

Cleopatra has now reissued this rare 1980s French disc. Featured is the original and appropriately crude mix, in place of Genya Raven's less vehement 1977 representation. 

Recommended: "Sonic Reducer," "All This and More," "What Love Is," "Ain't Nothin' To Do," "Caught With the Meat In Your Mouth," "I Need Lunch," "High Tension Wire," "Down In Flames"

Video: "Sonic Reducer" (live)

Facebook (Eugene O'Connor, aka Cheetah Chrome)

Cleopatra