The Gun Club “Fire of Love” released 40 years ago today, August 31st, 1981. Slash Records. We also have the more well-known version on Ruby Records but it’s currently framed and hanging on the wall of the music room.

Fire of Love was The Gun Club’s debut record and it is considered one of the most influential releases of the post-punk era, blending punk, garage and roots rock plus a dash of general freakout weirdness equaling punk blues. As a recent article in Pitchfork states, Fire of Love “set the stage for outlaw eccentrics like the Pixies, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and the White Stripes (while providing Nick Cave with his post-Birthday Party roadmap into the swamp).” The punks in Gun Club (Rob Ritter and Terry Graham both were in The Bags) even recorded a cover of an old Robert Johnson song, “Preaching the Blues” (originally titled “Preachin’ Blues,” 1939), something unheard of in the scene at the time. The whole album is amazing, but my top tracks are “Sex Beat,” “For the Love of Ivy,” “Ghost on the Highway” and “Jack on Fire.”