Black Flag “Louie Louie”

sfilzen — Tue, 15 Aug 2017 16:32:30 +0000

Black Flag “Louie Louie” b/w “Damage I” 1981. Posh Boy Records. This is Dez Cadena era Black Flag (post-Keith Morris and Ron Reyes, pre-Henry Rollins) before he blew out his voice with his scream-growl singing style. Side A is a lightning-fast, irreverent punk cover of the classic “Louie Louie” (originally written in 1958 by Richard Berry but made popular – and controversial – by The Kingsmen in 1963); Black Flag notoriously performed an extended version of “Louie Louie” after Ron Reyes quit the band mid-gig at their ‘80 show in Redondo Beach, inviting the audience up on stage to sing. Black Flag’s main songwriter Greg Ginn and Dez darkly rework the famously misinterpreted lyrics into a punk lament that are pictured on the single’s cover, “You know the pain/That’s in my heart/It just shows/I’m not very smart/Who needs love/When you’ve got a gun/Who needs love/To have any fun.” Side B’s “Damage I” is a long (in punk minutes) sludgy screamer that would be reworked into “Damaged II” (sung by Henry Rollins) on Black Flag’s LP Damaged.

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Iggy and the Stooges “Metallic ‘KO”

sfilzen — Fri, 17 Jul 2015 13:45:20 +0000

Iggy and the Stooges “Metallic ‘KO” 1976. Skydog Records, French release. Today, July 17th, is Ron Ashton’s (bass player for the Stooges) birthday (b. 1948 d. 2009). This LP is a live recording from two shows at the Michigan Palace in Detroit in 1973 and 1974 and the album’s back cover states “The noise you hear on this disc is from the original tape used to document the Stooges’ last stand. This is NOT a defect in mastering or pressing.” Yes, the sound quality is not stellar but gritty and grimy, much like the Stooges themselves; and lore states that there was a high “level of audience hostility, with the band being constantly pelted with pieces of ice, eggs, beer bottles and jelly beans, among other things, in response to Iggy Pop’s audience-baiting.” Their rendition of “Louie Louie” is particularly confrontational, with Iggy changing** the words to to “Got a fine bitch, she’s waiting for me/Just a whore, across the way” and “I feel a rose [or possibly bone] down in her hair, her ass is black and her tits are bare.”

The LP was later remastered and released in 1988 as a double album.

**This article from The Guardian chronicles the mystery behind the lyrics to “Louie Louie” by The Kingsmen and its subsequent FBI investigation, which of course turned the track into a rebellious statement for generations of rockers and punks.

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louie louie Archives - Vinyl From The Vault

Black Flag “Louie Louie”

Iggy and the Stooges “Metallic ‘KO”