Underrated: Hollywood Brats
For 30 years the only thing I knew about the Hollywood Brats was that they had a track on the "punk" compilation We Do 'Em Our Way (which, as it happens, is great - it has I Heard It Through The Grape Vine by The Slits, (I'm Not Your) Stepping Stone by Sex Pistols, Walk On By by The Stranglers, Nights In White Satin by The Dickies and Money by The Flying Lizards - all cast-iron, 100% nailed-on classics, I digress).
So the Hollywood Brats, one-album-wonders (1973), were billed (to anybody that was paying attention) as the UK's answer to The New York Dolls. Yes that is true but I would say they are every bit as good as the Dolls yet they never seem to get mentioned when you see those 'Fore-runners Of Punk' programs. Maybe it's because they were placed in the shadow of the Dolls (they dressed in a similar way and sounded a bit like the Stones / Ziggy era Bowie) but all accounts they just happened to come up with a similar idea at a similar time (early 70s).
As well as sounding brilliant they had a song called Sick On You (1973) - how punk is that? It sounds like it could have been recorded Live At The Roxy - indeed, if you didn't know you'd probably think it was The Adverts.
Other goodies include Nightmare:
Chez Maximes is pretty punky sounding too
The aforementioned And The He Kissed Me
Casino Steel (keyboards) went on to form The Boys who had their moments (I guess).
Here's some blurb about them: http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/hollywood_brats.htm
So the Hollywood Brats, one-album-wonders (1973), were billed (to anybody that was paying attention) as the UK's answer to The New York Dolls. Yes that is true but I would say they are every bit as good as the Dolls yet they never seem to get mentioned when you see those 'Fore-runners Of Punk' programs. Maybe it's because they were placed in the shadow of the Dolls (they dressed in a similar way and sounded a bit like the Stones / Ziggy era Bowie) but all accounts they just happened to come up with a similar idea at a similar time (early 70s).
As well as sounding brilliant they had a song called Sick On You (1973) - how punk is that? It sounds like it could have been recorded Live At The Roxy - indeed, if you didn't know you'd probably think it was The Adverts.
Other goodies include Nightmare:
Chez Maximes is pretty punky sounding too
The aforementioned And The He Kissed Me
Casino Steel (keyboards) went on to form The Boys who had their moments (I guess).
Here's some blurb about them: http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/hollywood_brats.htm
posted by Adam Marshall at 5:40 PM
1 Comments:
Left a comment on the duets post pointing to Tarheel Slim and Little Ann - maybe the multiple links put it in auto-spam!
I heard the HB's on whatever that Saturday pm rock show was, with Richard Skinner presenting. It must've been 80/81ish when the lp was rereleased. Anyway, they played a couple of Brats tracks, including Southern Belle. 'Excellent', I thought, 'a hilarious pisstake of sexist 70s rock bands' and together with loving 'Kissed me' from the same mfp compo, I bought the Brats LP. Doh. It was genuine sexist meathead rock, which took me a decade or so to actually appreciate more...
That guitar sound of Kissed me is just the business, tho.
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