The Los Angeles punk scene in the early 80s was one of those crazy moments where it seems impossible so many talented people are in the same place making so much original music at the same time. X, Black Flag, The Cramps, The Blasters, The Germs are just a handful of some great bands to come out of this scene, but one of my favorites has always been The Gun Club. The band had a revolving cast of members of the years, featuring players from The Cramps, The Bags, 45 Grave, and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, but at the center was always singer and guitarist, former president of the Blondie fan club and notorious drunk: Jeffrey Lee Pierce. Apparently only able to go on stage and record after getting into a falling down stupor, Pierce had a reputation for being sweet guy who was impossible to work with. Still, that didn't keep him from creating the classic 1981 album (one of the first for critics to apply the label of "pychobilly", for its fusion of punk, 50's rocknroll and country), Fire of Love, with popular songs like "Sex Beat" and "She's Like Heroin to Me". Until recently, I had completely forgotten about the Gun Club's 1987 album, Mother Juno, which opens with "Bill Baily". Last week I paid the obscene 50-cents-a-track on a bar jukebox to play this song and was rewarded with every jukebox selectors dream: a stranger turned to me and said, "Dude! Who the fuck is this?!"
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