Rubber City Rebels

Been looking around for this one for a while, since my vinyl copy disappeared......like the Busboys, I was never even certain it was released digitally......anyway, thanks to once again John E, I have rediscivered the, uh, magic.

My son will be attending the University of Akron in the fall, last time we visited the city/campus I saw a mega-huge mural of DEVO painted on some building.......way cool, DEVO post coming soon, but also from Akron were the MUCH less well known Rubber City Rebels, keyboardist Pete Sake, drummer Stix Pelton, bassist Donnie Damage, Buzz Clic on guitar, and singer Rod Firestone......I know they made a split disc early on with the Bizarrros (used to have that one too, any other copies out there) and coughed out a couple of albums, the only one of which I have ever heard, and likely, the only one you will ever need to hear, is this self titled debut (1980)......

And a good disc it is, for what it is, stoopid "punk rock", fun from top to bottom......it opens with a pretty rocking take on Fleetwood Mac's "Somebody's Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight", really a pretty good and funny take. "Child Eaters" is an abortion song, the original single used the actual phrase "Get an abortion", they chickened out on the album and changed the lyric to "get rid of the little brat" (not a terribly "move de punk rawk" and to me decreases my enjoyment of the song (if ya never heard the single likely you wont care). "Young and Dumb" was a single and a good one, perhaps their best, summarizing exactly what the boys looked for in the ladies of Akron ("She's so young and dumb, young and dumb")......there's even a Pistols cover ("No Feelings").......

It's not great.....it WAS a part of my life around 1980 or so, and thinking of Akron a lot later as my baby
boy prepares to move on........

01 Somebody's Gonna Get (Their Heads Kicked In Tonight)/02 Paper Dolls/03 Gonna Be Strong/04 Child Eaters/05 Laugh/06 Young and Dumb/07 Lonely Fool/08 Bluer Than Blue/09 Rubber City Rebels/10 No Feelings/11 Surprise Surprise/12 Brainwave/13 Caught In a Dream

Long forgotten, so may say justifiably, but this has it's moments......just glad, personally, that it has returned home after 30 years or so!