I'm a Dirty Motherfucker

...dirty jeans and a dirty mind!

So, today I got a new CD in the mail. I can't remember the chain of events that led me to order it, but I did (maybe because every other sentence in Horizontal Action references Jay Reatard). It's the album "Grown Up, Fucked Up" from the Reatards. This shit is serious. Serious hate and rage-filled trash and roll. It came out back in 2000, but it's just as relevant now as it was then. Four years ago, I was in a position to actually hang out with and meet all kinds of people in today's garage rock elite (not just Detroit). So I did. Some of the coolest people I got to meet were the guys from the Compulsive Gamblers/Oblivians. These guys are from Memphis, just like the Reatards, except Jay Reatard was 17 when he recorded, sang and played guitar on this record. The guys from the Oblivians are in their 30s. The trash blues raw dirt-ass hate is still there on both sides of the fence. It makes me want to move to Memphis. Okay, not really. This record from the Reatards is just so trashy and mean. It's angry. I love it. Why do I like so much of this music, this dirty trashy punk rock 'n' roll? Is this the white man's soul music? Actually, yes, it is. It's not the anger, it's the emotive vocals, and the emotion in the voice. Not emotional like 'emo'. Fuck that. This is real emotion. No one's crying here. They're screaming. They're screaming cuz their cheating girlfriend broke up with them, they're screaming cuz they're broke and the rent's due, they're screaming cuz they need a beer to forget about their problems, they're screaming cuz they haven't gotten laid in a month, they're screaming cuz no one understands them. They got issues, and they're gonna let you know in the most emphatic way they can. This music is always rough, often it sounds angry even if it really isn't, but it just feels so right. I'm not a violent man. I don't get in fights. I think the last time I hit someone with the intent of hurting them, it was my sister, and I was 10 years old. I guess I'm a pacifist, and I believe in the power of words over fists. So, this trash lets me live out my violence vicariously. I highly suggest that if any of this interests you, you should go out and find any album you can from The Reatards, The Compulsive Gamblers, The Oblivians, The Dirtys, The Drags, The Atomic Fireballs, okay, just go and buy everything on Empty Records, In the Red Records, anything on Crypt Records, and Estrus Records. That should cover it. Basically, I'm talking about the garage rock that had balls, not just the blues. Real fucking raw power.