Redd Kross : Classic Or Dud?

"Kill Someone You Hate" === Greatest Song EVAR

Smashing windows
with a baseball bat

OK I see Rich Brat is on some newish collector scum 7" EP of 79-82 stuff. But that first EP starts at $70 on GEMM, fuck. Can't they just change the name? Who has the rights to Posh Boy these days?

TAKE ME TO YOUR COUCH BABE
RECITE SOME SIGMUND FREUD

goddamm fucking bootlegggers. I bought that 7" through the mail and it basically says right on the back "sorry about the skip in 'Rich Brat' LOL".

buyer beware.

Me + Toronto + Redd Kross = last Saturday night!

I've seen them many times before but not, obviously, this millenium. All their albums were represented (only Bubblegum Factory from 3rd Eye though) plus some stuff I didn't recognise which may well be new material but was also some obscure early stuff judging by certain crowd members' reaction. I missed Gerri on the keyboards but the huge bonus was Robert Hecker back on guitar. Jeez, this guy is a rock'n'roll guitar genius, even if he looks like a jazz nut with his white suit, silk tie and weird little orange guitar slung right under his chin. From power chords to manic shreds he ruled the show, and importantly prevented it from being a "McDonald Bros + yr granny = Redd Kross" type affair.

The brothers look older but not old. Steve's still only 41 and I guess Jeff's probably 44 now but it was just like the old days with sweat-soaked hair flying all over the place, synchronised headbanging and all the usual routines. It was a great, tight set - just a bit over an hour but they played tons of songs. None of those eternal endings or jammed-out Beatles covers. Then just to ram home the fact that they haven't changed, they closed the show with "Good Times" theme with Hecker taking the lead vocal.

This was the most jumping around I've done at a show in years.

Awesome. Would love to see them again. I would imagine the older songs were from the red cross ep?

I reckon so. They must've played about 6 real short songs that I couldn't place. I'm ashamed to say that I've got (a bootleg of) that ep, plus Born Innocent but probably only played them a couple of times each. My Redd Kross doesn't really begin until Teen Babes.

theres rehearsal footage where they play those songs last year on youtube.

the ep is great. born innocent not so.

Those old numbers sounded fantastic. Really sharp. I admit I was getting a little bit impatient when they played Crazy World and Pretty Please Me. I was thinking "fuck it's been 10 years, now I've got 75 minutes with you guys, why are you wasting playing these corny covers when you could be playing Monolith or Shonen Knife." Of course then they would launch into Switchblade Sister or something equally awesome.

Just found the first EP on the Killed by Death site. What an awesome six-songs-in-six-minutes that is. Don't think they were ever better.

^

the ep is great. born innocent not so.

― Herman G. Neuname, Monday, June 16, 2008 9:05 PM

wrong

born innocent is solid good, not great, not a patch on the EP

Not listened to Born Innocent in years. Only one I can remember is Linda Blair.

And out of nowhere:

Redd Kross is back and delivering their signature brand of genuine rock 'n' roll with a vengeance. On August 7, Merge Records will release Researching the Blues, the first new album from Redd Kross in 15 years.

Researching the Blues features 10 new songs clocking in at just under 32 minutes. With songs written by Jeff and produced and mixed by Steven, the album is by far the band’s favorite record. Steve says, “It has the most singular artistic vision of any record we’ve done. It’s just 10 really fucking awesome songs that have the ability to move you in many different ways.”

Founded 34 years ago in Los Angeles during the first wave of LA punk rock by brothers Jeff and Steven McDonald (then respectively 15 and 11 years old), Redd Kross cut their teeth opening for Black Flag at a middle school graduation party. Their debut recordings caught the attention of Rodney Bingenheimer, who quickly became a fan as he spun their Ramones-inspired songs like “Annette's Got The Hits” and "I Hate My School" on the world-famous KROQ.

In 2006, Jeff and Steven announced their reunion with the “classic Neurotica” line-up, joined once again by guitarist Robert Hecker (IT’S OK) and drummer Roy McDonald (The Muffs). Redd Kross have been playing to enthusiastic audiences at sold-out select shows and festivals such as the Azkena Festival; Coachella; The HooDoo Gurus’ Invitational, "Dig It Up”; All Tomorrow's Parties; and Pop Montréal. More Redd Kross tour dates to come this year!

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Track List:

1. Researching the Blues

2. Stay Away From Downtown

3. Uglier

4. Dracula’s Daughters

5. Meet Frankenstein

6. One of the Good Ones

7. The Nu Temptations

8. Choose to Play

9. Winter Blues

10. Hazel Eyes

Redd Kross is:

Jeff McDonald – Vocals, Guitars

Steven McDonald – Bass, Vocals

Roy McDonald – Drums

Robert Hecker – Guitars

I came here to post the press release Ned did... Can this possibly be good?

Jeff McDonald is saying it's the greatest album they've ever made.

i mean, what's his motivation to lie about it???

haha

i just hope they haven't forgotten how to rock

i dread it being an album of ballads with lots of strings

if they do that, it will be an ironic nod to the carpenters or some shit

Saw the band last night in Philly, so much fun! Dale Crover on drums too.
Did the entire Teen Babes From Monsanto album for half the set!

http://scontent.fewr1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/18199083_10158625392125597_2311391739190061665_n.jpg?oh=58a21f106147139eed88908c945905bd&oe=59BC595E

http://scontent.fewr1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/18341870_10158625383925597_8873527940837437052_n.jpg?oh=2170080d2096a8244c1b494df36b4c6f&oe=59C09FD4

They've got an album of rarities/unreleased stuff called Hot Issue out at the moment. It's pretty good for odds & sods.

I knew I should have seen them in DC the other night. Oh well.

There's a Hot Issue vol 2 came out, which is a brilliant live set from 1997. Has a strong focus on 3rd Eye/Phaseshifter/Showworld - and that material was so great when Gere was still with the band. She's out by this point but the guitars are really beefed up. Recommended.

I looked up Redd Kross because I remembered the song "Annie's Gone" and wondered if I still liked it (I did). I remembered the video being very colorful (it is) and then I watched their "what's in your bag" Amoeba video and they seem like cool decent people.

I guess I don't understand how they even exist -- this video is so weird. Are they wearing pajamas? Are they trying to be sexy?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmtbEK7Q4uA

Goofy dudes who like power pop, I think? I think there's an element there of wanting to make a ca 1990 mainstream rock video but not really having much of a feel for what that involves. I think that's part of why I like it.

yeah -- the way they were mugging for the camera and general physical/dance moves are really perplexing. are they trying to be nelson? pee wee's playhouse? femme? the second half of the video (like after the woman starts dancing) seems somewhat "ambitious" for the time too, so are they arty?

and then there is the song, which is super catchy and obviously memorable. i think i like them. they seemed ok in the amoeba video.

i guess it makes sense that they are perplexing. it's part of their appeal!

I think there was a strong sense of wanting to rebel against the punk / hardcore scene they emerged from and increasingly express their love for Kiss, The Beatles and The Partridge Family across their general sound/aesthetic

and now? they're not retired right? in the video they seemed like two relatively approachable long haired duders.
are they still rebelling against something from the scene they emerged from 30 years ago? i am not asking to be confrontational, just because i am curious.

this is from 2013 -- they seem pretty buoyant & energetic
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQ-VB74qNGQ

are they trying to be nelson?

Revisiting 70s rock was pretty much at the heart of the whole mid-80s SST thing but Redd Kross's particular glam and power pop obsessions gave them a certain oblique aesthetic overlap with hair metal to my eyes/ears too, even though I know it wasn't their intention, not that I mind. I always mentally associated them with Poison in a weird way (although I think they're a much better band).

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/b/b7/Poison-Look-What-the-Cat-Dragged-In.jpg/220px-Poison-Look-What-the-Cat-Dragged-In.jpg

to me it seems like they are mirroring different facets of femmey behavior, but the impulse to mirror seems similar
one band's wet-n-wild makeup and hair is another band's bangs and hair flipping

and then music is, of course, catchy rock music

They are arty & kitsch & post-modern, integrated into an old fashioned, straight-forward rock'n'roll aesthetic where you put on a good show and you have big choruses and you make an effort to dress glam etc. They had a lot of fun pushing those elements into new and often amusing new directions. They're more like Sparks than Poison.

I don't believe there is an ounce of rebellion against hardcore in what they do. It's still in there and they trot out their early stuff live and rock it like crazy. And they've continue to jam with dudes from that scene. Right now Steve's in Off! with Keith Morris from Black Flag & Jeff's in the Melvins.

Check out their movies which illuminate their whole thing a bit. Desperate Teenage Lovedolls, Lovedoll Superstar and Spirit of 76 are all on youtube.

oh yeah i forgot about a part of the amoeba video -- he said he bought a record for mario rubalcaba, who is the drummer for off!

i think my confusion is tinged with more than hint of "how did they get away with that?!" -- i think the answer is "super catchy rock and roll music", which is always the answer ime :)

i'll check out a redd kross movie. why not?!

I am quite sure they enjoyed flying in the face of what constituted the more macho hardcore punk in the post- Born Innocent / Teen Babes era

They disliked the dogmatic rigidity and machismo of that scene and have affectionately mocked it throughout their career, while still retaining some of the elements of the music.

They made two parody hardcore albums as "Anarchy Six" in the late 80s:
http://punkygibbon.co.uk/bands/a/anarchy6.html

I've never heard Redd Kross but I've got three singles by an unrelated band called Pink Kross

They disliked the dogmatic rigidity and machismo of that scene and have affectionately mocked it throughout their career, while still retaining some of the elements of the music

i appreciate their nerve in addition to the hooky rock music

Pink Kross are connected to Redd Kross. Pink Kross was three Glasgwegian Redd Kross fans. They wrote to RK, who agreed to let them be the support band next time they played in Glasgow. PK hastily put together a short set of garage rock songs and opened up for them at the Cathouse in Glasgow. Then they came back onstage with RK and they did Standing in Front of Poseur together. They just kept going after that.

Live, the year Born Innocent came out. Neither looking or sounding like a hardcore band:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGPMa6k4mFk

And if it's hooky rock music you're after, the best album is Phaseshifter.

I don't believe anyone said they were ever a hardcore band

I <3 Pink Kross and also have a few of their singles (never been able to find their album, even on mp3 - £75 on Discogs wtf?) but never knew that story. I mean I assumed the name was a reference to Redd Kross obv.

this song is so beautiful

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO9KZeXxRh0

new album underway https://www.instagram.com/p/Be9KnAGHGle/?hl=en&taken-by=stevenmcdonald

Wow, yeah, "Love Is You." Haven't heard that in so many years!

Tbf, I didn't know anything about Sparks when I first heard Redd Kross. Neurotica and Third Eye are probably my favourites (def in that order) but Steven McDonald ranks them near the bottom! I never found Phaseshifter that consistent but I love "Dumb Angel" and "Jimmy's Fantasy" is classic.

I was supposed to be seeing them in a week but they pulled the whole tour :(