Wednesday, March 25, 2009

THE SOFT BOYS’ SWAGGERING “ROCK AND ROLL TOILET”

There’s no magic in this post today – no rarities, no vinyl-to-digital transfers, no 45rpm-only treats that I’m presenting to the world for the first time. Nope, it’s just one of my all-time favorite songs, “Rock and Roll Toilet” by THE SOFT BOYS. This is easily the band’s most Stones-ian, raw, snotty, punk-infused track ever, and was a cut on the 1983 album “Invisible Hits”, the band’s third. My college radio station of choice back then played this to death, along with the great “Kingdom of Love” from their previous album, and coincidentally or not, those two have fused in my brain as the band’s high-water marks.

Here’s what I wrote about this song on my old blog in 2003 after incessantly playing it one weekend:

Untold repeated spins this past weekend of my #1 favorite SOFT BOYS tune, the overlooked and underplayed “Rock and Roll Toilet”, from the "Invisible Hits" LP. If anyone not named the Glimmer Twins has written a Rolling Stones song as fine as this one, I haven’t heard it. This is first-class gutter rock, played with a cocky, bold swagger unbecoming of a band better known for psychedelic, thoroughly English eccentricities. It’s a killer. Listen closely and you can even hear the groupies mounting the tour bus in the background.

It would make me so, so happy if you’d listen to it or download it and see what I mean.

Play The Soft Boys – “Rock and Roll Toilet”




Download THE SOFT BOYS – “Rock and Roll Toilet” (from 1983 “Invisible Hits” LP)

2 comments:

narlus said...

hell yeah...great song!

bklynebeth said...

Going to see Robyn and friends tonight in Brooklyn - God I loved this song. Wondering if they'll play it, or if it'll be only the new slick stuff. Here's hoping...