Review Summary: The younger, girlier sounding side of GG Allin. Tamer lyrics, better production, tame album cover, released under David Peel's ORANGE record label. Mr. Allin's singing career during its most accessible and tuneful era.
Before the public nudity, poo-flinging, baldness, silly tattoos, and weight gain... GG Allin was a post-Iggy Pop/Stiv Bators frontman of a power-pop band called the Jabbers. And he sang catchy tounge-in-cheek angst anthems with the voice of a tomboyish teenage girl. Considering the transgressive, delusional sociopathic pervert that he was later known to be, this younger version of the rock'n'roll terrorist may come off as a laughable shock to some. While to others it may come off as a glimpse of authentic talent, soon buried and destroyed by a constant barrage of drug abuse, alchohalism, mental/physical disentagration and the never-ending drive to consistantly shock and offend.
Here GG presents us with a form of singing and songwriting which DOES display similer pessimistic and rebellious emotions to his later work, but does so playfully, without any form of transgression and little cursing. On songs like Automatic, Unpredictable, Dont Talk To Me, and 1980s Rock N Roll he outright revels in childish rants about bad girlfriends, phone gossip, the mystery of females as well as a blatant promotion of New Wave Music(?) On other tracks such as Bored To Death, Beat Beat Beat, Assface, and One Man Army he shows his more GG-ish side with topics such as S&M, Nihilism, slightly vulgar insults and his anti-social confrontational mindset. Also he shows a huge New York Dolls influence on his hooker-dedicated Cheri Love Affair, in which he seems to display a sort of romantic interest in a cornerhound. The track is highlighted by female backup vocals, an addictive and sleazy guitar riff, and GG's playful and catty vocal approach.
All in all this is a solid album, certainly a highlight of Allin's discography. I DO understand and appreciate his uncomprimising personality and shamelessness. I DO realize how his personal sacrifice of his well bieng for the sake of his freedom and deconstructing the strict code of morality. And I DO understand his passionate challenging of law, society, and physical boundries. But it saddens me in a way that GG went on to become the butt-end of a long and dirty joke, as he couldve made a fruitful career doing what he did if he wouldve put more effort into his only non-intoxicating true love... his music.
