During the summer between 6th and 7th grade, a friend gave me an unmarked cassette. He had an older brother who listened to a lot of different music. Anyway, not only was the cassette unlabeled, it was so worn that it was no longer even clear which side was A or B. Nor did my friend care to tell me what was on the cassette. He just said: “Listen to this, it’s my brother’s current favorite band.”
That night when I went to bed, I put it in my little boombox and pressed play while I got right up next to the speakers because I didn’t have earphones and I didn’t want to get in trouble for listening to music when I was supposed to be going to sleep. This was my introduction to punk rock.
I now know that my entry was Side B of Social Distortion’s classic Mommy’s Little Monster. But I didn’t know that at the time. I just knew that this was music whose immediacy I related with. The angst and what seemed to me to be a quagmire of suburban-consumerist-apathy.
That entry led me to bands like T.S.O.L., The Damned, The Vandals, J.F.A., Decsendents, Dead Kennedys, The Misfits, The Exploited, and too many others to mention, though, in one way or another, many of them all seemed to pay homage in some way to The Ramones. That’s not to say that there were a lot of bands intentionally trying to sound like the Ramones, it was just that the Ramones had put something into the DNA of punk rock in a way that it was difficult for many bands not to owe something to the Ramones. But, then again, of course, there were bands that were intentionally trying to sound like the Ramones.
Is it possible to write about Baltimore punk band Huntingtons without referencing The Ramones? Probably, but this is not that piece. The band has worn their affections on their sleeves and they’ve never been shy of their love for The Ramones. The Hungtingtons not only released an album of Ramones covers called (tongue-in-cheek?) File Under Ramones that was so convincing that Joey Ramone picked them as his backing band for two shows at the legendary CBGBs.
Muerto, Carcel, o Rocanrol is the band’s first new music in 17 years and their 23rd release in all. Though the band has gone through a series of lineup changes over the years, the sound has remained consistent and this time around the band is made up of: Mike Holt (vocals/bass) Jonathan “Cliffy” Walker (guitars/vocals) Josh Blackway (guitars/vocals) and Chris Eller (drums).
The album charges out of the gate with the title track, letting you know exactly what themes we’re going to explore.
On the couch at 9:30,
Can’t keep my eyes open any more
Got no interest in the TV
Might be new, but I’ve seen it all before
Took a listen, to your playlist,
Tried my best, but man, it’s not my thing
The Modern Royals might get your worship
but if you ask me J is still the king
It’s fine by me to not agree
and I’m aware
but I’m too old to care
