Taking sides : Lita Ford " Kiss me deadly" vs Generation X " kiss me deadly"

Actually both songs are great, but Lita earns the edge for getting in a fight, not getting laid, and borrowing ten bucks from her old man.

Have to go with Generation X. Probably the best thing Billy ever did in the end.

Both very good songs. I quoted Lita's practically spoken-word intro a few days ago.

Probably the best thing Billy ever did in the end.

Umm, sorry, Ned, but no. That would be "Ready Steady Go".

Lita Ford's best moment = "Gotta Let Go".

I'm gonna go with "Wild Dub." Or with how fucking fast "Day by Day" is. Just tremendous.

Hated the Lita Ford thing when it was new but have affection for it now. But the chorus of the Gen X one is just fantastic so I'll take that one over Lita (whose "it ain't no big thing" sounds incredibly unconvincing). Surprised the Gen X one hasn't been snapped up by one of the anthemic-indie (tm) bands.

I loved Lita Ford's ironically when it came out (early teens), but after twenty years of quoting it and singing it at least once a week, I just love it, no irony anymore (I've done this switch with pop metal generally now). I don't know the Generation X version.

My personal favorite Generation X non-fast song may well actually be "Valley of the Dolls," title track of their glammy and slept-on-for-decades Ian Hunter-produced second album. (Their "Kiss Me Deadly" is still great, though, don't get me wrong. But calling it better than Lita's is just crazy talk.)

(Nah, on second thought, calling Gen X "Valley of the Dolls" > Gen X "Kiss Me Deadly" is crazy talk too, isn't it? I still wish people acknowledged their second album more, though.)

something about Lita Ford's demeanor always seemed to say "In my secret life I drive a VW Golf with a 'My Son Is a Great Student at Diamond Bar Junior High!'" bumper sticker on it

That's a compliment!! (Though maybe she would have been better if she wrote a song about it, who knows.)

That's a compliment!!

I don't think you'd say that if you knew Diamond Bar at all.

J0hn D totally OTM: hang out in the rust belt (say, South Haven, Michigan, for the Blueberry Festival) and you'll still see a thousand Lita Fords, with their skull rings and Harley shirts on for a weekend stroll. Then on Monday they're back in the classroom or wherever they work. I love the Midwest, without irony.

yeah I rather liked that quality in the Lita Ford jam, it was very high-school-secretary-at-karaoke almost, but at the time (and now, I guess, if pressed) I'd always give the nod to the song that allows me to suspend disbelief for a minute and submerge myself in some narrative fantasy where the speaker means what he/she says directly etc etc all those authorial fallacies that are fun to indulge sometimes. I can suspend disbelief better with the Gen X tune than with Lita although that might actually just be because I don't look at young Billy Idol and think "hmm, I bet that guy's dad is a top earner at his State Farm office" or the English equivalent of that.

also Ned ppl from O.C. don't get to dis Diamond Bar OK xo jd

Hahaha, noted. An old roommate was from Diamond Bar and told me enough horror stories. (I mean, if he was thinking that OC was an *improvement*...)

Ha ha, I don't know if I was ever convinced Billy Idol meant what he said, even on that debut album; honestly, trusting the guy never crossed my mind, even in 1978. (Doubt I ever much held it against him, either, though. And even if I didn't believe Lita herself was the character in "Kiss Me Deadly" -- not sure I ever pondered that issue one way or the other, to be honest -- I never had any doubt she played the charcter well, and with alot more humor in her kiss-me-deadly words than Billy's.) (And see, part of what I don't get about people listening to Lita's song "ironically" is that lyrics like "didn't get laid, I got in a fight" are so intentionally funny to begin with; that just seems obvious to me. But that's just me. Also doubt Lita ever had much of a problem getting laid, really, but so what? I'm not even sure what exactly I'd want to be "convinced" of, if I thought that mattered. But if people think, say, that Lita is somehow detached from her own words, I guess I understand that point. To me her bored tone sounds properly bratty somehow.)

You're already hoping for the eventual Taylor Swift remake, I can tell.

When I said I listened to Lita ironically at age 13-ish, I meant that I didn't think of myself as one of Lita's people (middle class bookish student aspiration and all that). Then and now, I thought it was funny, and didn't think *she* was being ironic, except maybe in being that self-denigrating (I'm sure she got plenty of play).

I just looked at transcriptions of the lyrics and was disappointed to see that she didn't say "kill a few beers, gettin' high" but rather the blander "had a few beers...". I liked the violence of the other lyric, and will continue to hear it.

Surprised the Gen X one hasn't been snapped up by one of the anthemic-indie (tm) bands.

I was just relistening to this now and thinking something similar. That or a band like My Chemical Romance.

Hard to take sides here: Lita's tuff pose is great, that sniff she gives at the end of the intro...girl crush in full effect. And she was like a goddess back then to a young me, lol. Now, I get bummed out by all the synths on it, should have been a Lita shred fest.

Gen X is...well, damn...that song really is the shit.

Maybe Gen X bc I have no real gripes with it, it's aged well and still is cool as hell. Sorry Lita, I still love ya.