Doug & the Slugs Vs. Frankie & the Knockouts

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I have no opinion at all about this matchup, but maybe somebody out there does, and it's about time they made their case, don't you think?

― chuck, Monday, 28 June 2004 14:19 (twenty-one years ago)

Geez, who's Frankie & the Knockouts?
Doug & the Slugs are awesome, and totally prefigure Rocket From the Crypt.

― Huk-El (Horace Mann), Monday, 28 June 2004 14:21 (twenty-one years ago)

sue saad & the next!

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 28 June 2004 14:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I LOVE Sue Saad & the Next! (Not to mention Pearl Harbor & the Explosions!) (Maybe even Holly & the Italians!) But I always assumed Doug & the Slugs were sort of a lesser Huey Lewis & the News (which is sorta what Rocket from the Crypt are, too, come to think of it.)

― chuck, Monday, 28 June 2004 14:34 (twenty-one years ago)

I think D&tS's songs were more fun/inane than HL&tN's songs were. But I'm Canadian.

― Huk-El (Horace Mann), Monday, 28 June 2004 14:37 (twenty-one years ago)

weren't doug & the slugs more greg kihn-like then Huey Lewis? I can't remember.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 28 June 2004 14:55 (twenty-one years ago)

They review three (!!) Frankie and the Knockouts albums on one of my guilty-pleasure websites, glory-daze.com. (Sample: "There's something a bit special about these New Jersey legends, and it goes deeper than Franke Previte's golden voice. They show a genuine grasp of melodic hooks and quality AOR songs, regardless of tempo. With two acclaimed albums already under their belt, this third effort comes across as a hybrid of their West Coastish debut and the tougher streetwise AOR of 'Below The Belt'.")

It's an alternative universe where AOR rules the roost.

― Sang Freud (jeff_s), Monday, 28 June 2004 14:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I think this is what Christgau meant by "distinctions not cost-effective."

― lovebug starski, Monday, 28 June 2004 15:00 (twenty-one years ago)

I actually met Doug (& one Slug or another) in the late '80s when I worked at a campus radio station (located "south of Detroit", as Mr. Eddy would say), whereas I've never even heard (ubiquitous $1-bin dwellers) Franke & the Knockouts. But I doubt that I could hate the Knockouts as much as I hated the Slugs, judging from the 2-3 singles I remember. There were probably a dozen equally inconsequential Canadian new-wave bar bands from the same era with more memorable hits. Needless to say, no Slugs songs ever contributed to the 30% Canadian content my co-host & myself played. Actually, the Slugs did have a knack for amusing videos (directed by Doug himself) but we're talking MUSIC here.

(BTW, is it my imagination or was the guy's name actually spelled "Franke", without the "i"? I'll have to look that up.)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 28 June 2004 15:07 (twenty-one years ago)

Tommy Tutone stole doug's and frankie's thunder.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 28 June 2004 15:11 (twenty-one years ago)

or maybe the romantics did.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 28 June 2004 15:11 (twenty-one years ago)

Okay, then, Scott and Myonga (and anybody), when about Cockrobin??? Were THEY again good? (They had a great name; nobody can argue with that, obviously...)

― chuck, Monday, 28 June 2004 15:12 (twenty-one years ago)

i don't remember what cockrobin sounded like.

I think bar/pub bands gone new wave deserve further investigation though. what did the Cars sound like before their debut? Does anyone know. They didn't start out as a new wave/rock band, did they? I'm gonna listen to The Producers now.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 28 June 2004 15:16 (twenty-one years ago)

a lot of those bands that showed up after the Cars debut look awfully suspicious in their skinny ties. Plus, so many of them were working some weird hybrid of new wave and 50's/60's party rock roller rink organ pop.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 28 June 2004 15:18 (twenty-one years ago)

I played "This Beat Goes On"/"Switchin' to Glide" by the Kings (from Toronto, I think) when I was deejaying at Southpaw in Brooklyn a couple weeks ago, and it sounded GREAT! ("Nothin matters but the weekend/From a Tuesday point of view..." you can sing a long if you want...) (Probably even better than "My Mistake" by the Kingbees -- both humongous AOR hits on two or three Detroit radio stations in, like, 1979 I guess. I also play "Saturday Night" by Herman Brood and his Wild Romance every time I deejay. I thought I owned the Sniff and the Tears album with "Driver's Seat," but I couldn't find it on my self last time, but I just remembered that I have it on a vinyl K-Tel compilation, so I'll have to play that next time, just to show up all those young whippersnappers who think "new wave" means, like, Duran Duran or some sissy music like that. They are SO WRONG!!!!)

― chuck, Monday, 28 June 2004 15:26 (twenty-one years ago)

get thee to:
http://www.bullseyecanada.com/

hmmm, they don't seem to have their latest release up on the site yet, but it's "When CanCon Rocked" (though no Doug & the Slugs!)

― Huk-El (Horace Mann), Monday, 28 June 2004 15:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Chuck, what are your thoughts on Moon Martin?

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 28 June 2004 15:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I also always play "Hot Summer Night" by Night and "Gold" by John Stewart (usually back to back, natch), which both sound as new wave as Sniff and the Tears, when you get down to it. (I was going to play something by the Hounds, but I chickened out at the last minute. Next time I also need to check by shelf {not "self," oops} for the Charlie album with "Killer Cut" on it, maybe.)

Moon Martin is GREAT! Especially his glasses! He had the coolest glasses EVER!!! "Rolene" is an amazing hit, much better than anything by Rocky Burnette even! The first two albums were the really classic ones, I think; I vaguely remember the third one being okay, too. (And his version of "Bad Case of Loving You" - the original, right? - was better than the Robert Palmer version, unless it wasn't.)

― chuck, Monday, 28 June 2004 15:37 (twenty-one years ago)

Sniff & The Tears -vs- Flash & The Pan

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 28 June 2004 15:38 (twenty-one years ago)

Chuck, do you have a copy of "Take Me To Your Leader" by The Sinceros? You should play that when you are DJing. I love that one. Now I feel like playing Mental As Anything.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 28 June 2004 15:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Heh heh, I play "Hey St. Peter" sometimes when i'm deejaying, too! (Seeing as it's about just having been down to New York town where it really feels like hell and all.) (ALWAYS play "Wild in the Streets" by Garland Jeffreys, for some reason. It just sounds good...)

I think the Sinceros song is on this 7-inch, four band, four song "Now Wave" compilation I own (which also has the Hounds, the {American} Beat -- "Rock and Roll Girl" probably -- and I forget who else.) (I used to own this album called "No Wave" with the Reds, Police, Joe Jackson, Dickies, Stranglers, etc, on clear blue vinyl, but it's gone now. Or maybe the Reds were only on the A&M compilation from the NEXT year, *Propaganda* -- I get those two mixed up. And I also get them mixed up with *Permanent Waves* or whatever it was called, with After the Fire, Only Ones, and so on. It's confusing!)

― chuck, Monday, 28 June 2004 15:47 (twenty-one years ago)

Chuck, did you ever own that Beserkley comp, Spitballs? Rubinoos, Greg Kihn, Earth Quake, Modern Lovers, & The Tyla Gang doing 60's garage rock covers?

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 28 June 2004 15:51 (twenty-one years ago)

"Rock & Roll Is Dead and we don't care!" I love that song!

― Huk-El (Horace Mann), Monday, 28 June 2004 15:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Man, Chuck, I wish you did New Wave Nation on Sunday mornings instead of Nina Blackwood.

I got the Nervus Rex album recently but I didn't like it too much. I do like Lavender Hill Mob quite a lot.

― Tim Ellison, Monday, 28 June 2004 15:55 (twenty-one years ago)

No! Were the Tyla Gang any good? They were pub rock, right? (Were Chili Willy and the Red Hot Peppers any good?) I don't even own a Ducks Deluxe record anymore; I am such a moron. (I also saw the Kilburn and the High Roads album for THREE dollars in a cutout bin ten years ago, and DIDN'T BUY IT. It may or may not suck, I dunno...)

Earthquake were wonderful, though. I still have three or four albums by them. They were like Brownsville Station except even better. Which means they were what Rocket from the Crypt only THINK they are. Or something like that.

― chuck, Monday, 28 June 2004 15:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Thanks, Tim Ellison! The weird thing is that people think I'm a hair-metal guy or a teen-pop guy or something!! (They have obviously never seen the collection of 25-year-old skinny ties in my closet!)

― chuck, Monday, 28 June 2004 15:58 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't have any Ducks Deluxe anymore either and it makes me sad to think about. I had a creat comp of their best stuff.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 28 June 2004 16:02 (twenty-one years ago)

"great" comp of their bset stuff.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 28 June 2004 16:04 (twenty-one years ago)

"great" comp of their bset stuff.

um, "best" stuff.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 28 June 2004 16:05 (twenty-one years ago)

I talked to a Knockout once while working at VH1. He seemed thrilled to have a song ("Sweetheart," specifically) played on the channel - AND to get a check for it.

Otherwise, this thread is bringing me right back to 1981. No Robert Ellis Orrall mention yet? "Call The Uh-Oh Squad," dude.

― mike a, Monday, 28 June 2004 16:25 (twenty-one years ago)

While we're on this subject, I just covered the Monroes' "What Do All The People Know." :)

― mike a, Monday, 28 June 2004 16:27 (twenty-one years ago)

"The New Teller" on that one Beserkley comp LP, by the way, might have been the best Jonathan Richman song ever. I think he was backed by the Rubinoos on that. It's tremendous.

― Tim Ellison, Monday, 28 June 2004 16:36 (twenty-one years ago)

The Rubinoos were pretty nifty for a powerpop band themselves. Their totally cute "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" song beats the Ramones' one out of the water. And they put out a pretty good all-covers comeback album last year, believe it or not.

― chuck, Monday, 28 June 2004 16:42 (twenty-one years ago)

I love it when he sounds like he's really about to lose it on "New Teller." I haven't heard the song in a while, but there's a part, about 3/4 through, where he just rises up like he's lost in his crush and it's glorious, religious nearly.

― Huk-El (Horace Mann), Monday, 28 June 2004 16:44 (twenty-one years ago)

From Andrew in the Voice listings department:

"AHHHHHHHHH ..i opened for DSoug & the Slugs once..People's thoughts are on the money.."a lesser Greg Kihn"..and Moon Martin as signed to Capital same time as my roomates..I still say Rolene is among the great hit singles that nobody knows.AA"

― chuck, Monday, 28 June 2004 16:44 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm curious. I used to like Rocky Burnette's "Tired of Toeing the Line."

― Tim Ellison, Monday, 28 June 2004 16:53 (twenty-one years ago)

Chuck, I remember liking Cock Robin's hit "When Your Heart Is Weak" even though I inexplicably used to confuse them with Quarterflash and Prefab Sprout! They had a similar kind of vaguely sad, minor-key folk-rock sound with the female vocalist up front; that's all I really recall. Always loved "Switchin to Glide" & "My Mistake" but never liked "Driver's Seat" until it was used in "Boogie Nights".

(Hey, I was right: it IS "Franke"!)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 28 June 2004 16:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Ian Gomm's post-Brinsley Schwarz top 40 hit "Hold On", on the other hand, wasn't really all that good, as I recall. Though I believe it was still better than the Triumph "Hold On" that was a hit at the same time, and the Wilson Phillips and En Vogue "Hold On"s that were hits at the same time several year laer.

― chuck, Monday, 28 June 2004 16:59 (twenty-one years ago)

I'm in the bizarre position of covering about equally new, mostly indie Canadian bands and classick canRock (esp. as summer heats up) and can honestly say that you will not be disappointed by a Trooper show (though beer helps).

― Huk-El (Horace Mann), Monday, 28 June 2004 17:02 (twenty-one years ago)

"Raise A Little Hell" by Trooper was a big favorite of mine as a kid.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 28 June 2004 17:08 (twenty-one years ago)

As was the live version of Boom Boom (Out Go The Lights) by Pat Travers.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 28 June 2004 17:09 (twenty-one years ago)

Scott, you should totally consult George Smith for Pat Travers Band recommendations. He burned me one rocking album, but I forget what it was called....But yeah, "Boom Boom" sounded great on the radio in 1979. (Though then again, most Boom Boom and Bum Bum songs, whether by Paul Lekakis or the Vengaboys or Trio or Jimmy Castor or John Lee Hooker or even Warren Zevon, *tend to pretty great, usually.)

― chuck, Monday, 28 June 2004 17:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Chuck, don't forget Kansas' "Hold On" (1980) or Santana's "Hold On" (1982) or Yes' "Hold On" (1983)!

(OK, that last one wasn't technically a single, but still...)

― Myonga Von Bontee (Myonga Von Bontee), Monday, 28 June 2004 17:41 (twenty-one years ago)

Kansas' "Hold On" was the worst "Hold On" of the era.

I kinda like Ian Gomm's "Hold On," but prefer "Man On a Mountain."

― mike a, Monday, 28 June 2004 17:42 (twenty-one years ago)

Allow me to add Headboys' "Shape of Things To Come" into this mix.

― mike a, Monday, 28 June 2004 17:43 (twenty-one years ago)

I will take your Headboys and raise you one "Who Listens to the Radio" by the Sports AND one "Back of My Hand" by the Jags. So there.

― chuck, Monday, 28 June 2004 17:48 (twenty-one years ago)

Chuck, i dare you to play "Funky Western Civilization" by Tonio K at yer next DJ thing. Actually, that's not much of a dare. That would sound cool real loud in a bar.

― scott seward (scott seward), Monday, 28 June 2004 18:05 (twenty-one years ago)

six years pass...

So were Franke & the Knockouts any good, or not??? This thread turned out to be somewhat inconclusive (so far). But I saw two different LPs (1981 and 82 ones I think)) for $1 each today, and was too cheap to buy them, but obviously I'm now wondering whether I should go back to where I saw them...(Also, two Billy Burnette LPs...was HE any good?

― xhuxk, Sunday, 8 August 2010 09:40 (fifteen years ago)

Btw, wound up loving the Tonio K and Headboys LPs I bought in the six years since this thread was instigated. (Well, the first Tonio K album anyway -- the other ones I bought were okay. As was the Trooper one.) Didn't care for the Sinceros one much, sad to say -- "Take Me To Your Leader" is cool, of course, but otherwise even the cuts that sounded sort of like early Joe Jackson didn't sound that much like early Joe Jackson, if you know what I mean. (Also talked in more detail about Moon Martin and somewhat the Kings on Rolling Past Expiry Hard Rock threads, but anybody who remotely cares probably already knows that.)

― xhuxk, Sunday, 8 August 2010 09:48 (fifteen years ago)

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