JohnTem82387976

23 August 2009

Venus and the Razorblades - I Wanna Be Where The Boys Are


Venus and the Razorblades - I Wanna Be Where the Boys Are

Label: Spark
Year of Release: 1977

Kim Fowley, bless him, has given us so much over the years, from novelty UFO records to warped pop music about taking drugs, to early Soft Machine recordings, to Gene Vincent comebacks.  He also apparently went through a phase of greeting any would-be business partners with the explosive phrase "Hey! Grease me some of that teenage dogshit!" which is possibly the best business greeting in the world, although so far it's done my career no favours whatsoever.  

Venus and the Razorblades were his attempt at creating a female-fronted New Wave band, although like many of his projects, the whole thing appeared to run out of steam in a matter of months.  "I Wanna Be Where The Boys Are" sounds not unlike one of the songs off the flop film "Times Square", having a grit which sounds slightly more glam than punk - although there's admittedly a Star In Their Eyes-styled Patti Smith feel to the whole thing too.  "I wanna fight like the boys fight!" spits Dyan Diamond defiantly, who Fowley later tried to groom for solo success.  

This single does sound very dated and slightly contrived, and it's not surprising it regularly gets overlooked in favour of other records for punk compilations, but it has a very rough and ready charm which means it shouldn't be completely disregarded, and it does showcase Fowley's ridiculous flexibility when it comes to fashions and genres in Rock.





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