- You Give Love a Bad Name (album)
Infobox Album | Name = You Give Love a Bad Name
Type =Album
Artist =GG Allin
Released = 1987
Recorded =May 18 ,1987 (original LP)March 4 andJuly 7 ,1991 (CD bonus tracks)
Genre =Punk rock
Length = 31:32 (original LP)
60:22 (CD reissue)
Label = Homestead Records (original LP)
Awareness Records (CD reissue)
Producer =Gerald Cosloy
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|2|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:el1m962o3ep2 link] |Last album = "Hated in the Nation "
(1987)
This album = "You Give Love a Bad Name"
(1987)
Next album = "Freaks, Faggots, Drunks and Junkies "
(1988)"You Give Love a Bad Name" is the third studio album by the controversial
punk rock singer-songwriter andmusician GG Allin , and is jointly credited to Allin and a one-time studio band named The Holy Men.History
After the release of the "
Hated in the Nation " compilation cassette byROIR , as well as a series of letters written by Allin to such magazines as "Maximum RockNRoll " and "Flipside",and advertising campaigns in many music magazines and fanzines like Option, Flipside, RIP, Ben is Dead and many others by Black & Blue Records, Allin's stature in the punk rock underground had grown considerably. However, Allin's uncompromising, and increasingly transgressive performances, and his tendency towards extremely lowbrow lyrics, made him an unlikely prospect not only for most major labels, but for many of the otherwise "respectable" independent labels like SST, Touch and Go, and Alternative Tentacles. Allin had parted with his previous label, Black and Blue Records once he signed with Homestead Records with Yarmouth's blessings.The goal was to get GG on a major label and both GG and Yarmouth felt Homestead was a good first step in getting there versus the small RI based label. Yarmouth is quoted "GG loved to trash any perceived or real authority including his record labels. I recall one show at The Populous Pudding in CT after the release of his second Homestead release where backstage GG pissed on my leg and yelled proudly that he now had pissed on both his labels. He said he pissed on Cosley's head. GG was that kind of guy. Back in the early days I spent a lot of money advertising GG in music publications. No label after Black & Blue had to sell an unknown artist." Peter Yarmouth 4-25-2007Enter Gerald Cosloy, who had already played
rhythm guitar with Allin on the "new" recordings on "Hated in the Nation". Cosloy operated Homestead Records through a deal with record distributor Dutch East India, and had released records byBig Black ,Sonic Youth andDinosaur Jr before those bands left for greener pastures. With room on the roster and a desire to work with Allin again, Cosloy courted the shock-rocker. Allin agreed almost immediately. Homestead would be the biggest label Allin would deal with up until this time.Music
On
May 18 ,1987 , Allin entered a low-budget studio called The Music Box, located onAvenue B inNew York City 's East Village, accompanied by a four-piece band that included Cosloy on second guitar, along with three other area musicians: lead guitarist Greg Bullock, bassist Mike Kirkland, and drummer Mike "Machine Gun" Edison. Allin dubbed the session band The Holy Men. Contracted to record ten songs for his first Homestead album, Allin actually came in with six original new songs of his own: "Swank Fuckin'", "Bloody Mary's Bloody Cunt", "Suck Dog", "Teenage Twats", "Stink Finger Clit", and "Scars on My Body - Scabs on My Dick" (this song was actually co written by Bloody F. Mess). The remaining four songs compromised of two older songs that Allin had recorded with his post-Scumfucs backing band the Cedar Street Sluts, and two cover versions.Musically, Allin eschewed the hyper
hardcore punk tempos of his previous studio album "E.M.F." in favor of rough mid-tempo rock reminiscent ofthe New York Dolls andthe Rolling Stones (the latter of which Allin was a major fan of).The two reworked originals were "Tough Fuckin' Shit" and "I'm a Rapest" ("sic"). The former appeared as the penultimate track on "Hated in the Nation" in a slower arrangement, while the latter track is actually the earlier Allin composition "Blood for You" with new lyrics (also appearing on "Hated in the Nation" in a new live version; the original electric version with the Cedar Street Sluts plus an acoustic demo version by Allin alone, would appear on the 1990 Black & Blue album "
Doctrine of Mayhem ").Of the two cover versions on the album, "Beer Picnic" is a faithful, if slower, version of a song by obscure NYC punk band [http://www.menright.com/pages/bad_tuna_idx.html Bad Tuna Experience] . (G.G. asked for--but did not receive--permission to record the song; he bought a cassette tape from Bad Tuna members after reading the lyrics, written by Bad Tuna's Carolyn and No Thanks' Donna Damage, in
Maximum RockNRoll sometime in the mid-1980s.) The other cover version, "Garbage Dump", was written and originally recorded byCharles Manson on his infamous "Lie" album.While most of the song titles are self-explanatory, "Suck Dog" is reportedly about writer and performance artist
Lisa Crystal Carver .Recording tales
During the sessions,
recording engineer Jaques Kralian reportedly asked Allin (who co-engineered the recording) and Cosloy if they really were serious about releasing the sessions. His question was answered a few months later when Allin and Cosloy immortalized his inquiry - "You guys aren't planning on pressing this into a record, are you?" - on the back cover of the album.All ten of the songs were rehearsed and recorded in one day-long session. Cosloy produced but did not take production credit, instead claiming on the liner notes that he "re-mixed, unmixed, and edited" the album as heard in its final form.
Bonus tracks
In 1992, while Allin was serving a prison sentence for parole violation in
Jackson, Michigan ,Awareness Records reissued "You Give Love a Bad Name", adding several tracks recorded onJuly 7 ,1991 inLowell, MA by Allin, with himself and then-collaborator Mark Sheenan playing all of the instruments (that were later released inJapan as the 7" EP "GG Allin and the Murder Junkies") plus an interview conducted over the phone from prison onMarch 4 ,1991 with journalist Jeff Koch.Track listing
Original 1987 LP
ide one
#"Swank Fuckin'"
#"Bloody Mary's Bloody Cunt"
#"Tough Fuckin' Shit"
#"I'm a Rapest"
#"Suck Dog"ide two
#Teenage Twats
#Beer Picnic
#Stink Finger Clit
#Scars on My Body - Scabs on My Dick
#Garbage DumpCD reissue
#Swank Fuckin'
#Bloody Mary's Bloody Cunt
#Tough Fuckin' Shit
#I'm a Rapest
#Suck Dog
#Teenage Twats
#Beer Picnic
#Stink Finger Clit
#Scars on My Body - Scabs on My Dick
#Garbage Dump
#Watch Me Kill the Boston Girl
#Castration Crucifixion
#Snakeman's Dance
#Slaughterhouse Deathcamp
#Feces and Blood
#Master Daddy
#Interview from PrisonPersonnel
*
G.G. Allin - vocals, engineer, voices, producer
* Gerard Cosloy - guitar, editing, backing vocals, remixing, sequencing, mixing
* Mike Kirkland - bass
* Greg Bullock - guitar, backing vocals
* Mike "Machine Gun" Edison - drums, backing vocals
* Jaques Kralian - engineer
*Wharton Tiers - sequencing
* Bloody F. Mess - liner notes
*Georgia Hubley - cover layout
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