Simply because my friends' band covered it, and I was about a year behind most of them on jumping on the punk rock bandwagon circa 1994, "Sonic Reducer" was one of the first punk songs I ever heard. I'm rather sure I'd heard others...knowing them, probably some Fugazi, Clash, and, somewhat out of left field, Splogeness Abounds. "Two pints lager and a packet of crisps please," indeed.
But the first track off of the Dead Boys' Young, Loud & Snotty made the most immediate impression on me. It still does. I find it to be one of the most powerful songs I've ever heard.
There is a small genre of songs that I absolutely love because, although it's difficult to articulate, it's almost as if I can feel society collapsing a little bit because of them. There are certain punk rock songs that seem as if they can make the world melt just a little, turn hypocrisy back on its perpetrators, show bullshit for what it is. Yes, there are certain punk songs that--more than any other genre of music--really do seem as if, for a brief moment, they can "tear the whole fucking thing down."
Of course, it's all an illusion, and the threat to all mankind is a bit overblown. Rather, they sink you into a pit of nihilism and misanthropy. But sometimes, misanthropy feels pretty damn good, when you need it. When you're in the right mood, it makes you feel powerful in your awfulness. It may be indulgent, but for fuck's sake, people need indulgences sometimes.
"Search & Destroy" by the Stooges does that. "Bullet" by the Misfits does that. "Bad Man" by the Cockney Rejects does it, "Borstal Breakout" by Sham 69 sure does. The cover of Wire's "Mr. Suit" by the New Bomb Turks kind of does it. They peel the paint off the walls. As much as it shames me to admit it (and believe me, it really does), maybe even "Fuck Forever" by Babyshambles does it too. Maybe I should delete the last sentence.
And "Sonic Reducer" does it most of all. This Dead Boys classic is not kidding around. It reminds me why, as much as I love Pavement, and Cat Power, and the Raveonettes, and Wolf Parade...that when I really need music that cuts through all the pretention and bullshit and to have a sheer, immediate, visceral impact on me, it's still this music I listened to when I was younger.
"Sonic Reducer" was actually written for Cleveland's own Rocket from the Crypt and not the Dead Boys, but was never recorded in the studio by that band. When Rocket from the Crypt broke up, Pere Ubu and the Dead Boys formed in its wake, and the Dead Boys recorded this for their debut album. The Dead Boys moved from Ohio to New York--a sin, if you ask me--but you have to go where the action is, I suppose. But it does give a little fuel to my theory that most of the artistic output NYC takes credit for is done by people from somewhere else. Then again, if you were to say that about Boston and the Pixies, I'd block my ears, hum to myself, and pretend not to hear you (but you'd still be right). The Ramones were really from New York, and The Real Kids were really from Boston, so let's call it even (though, that's really, really not "even," Bosstowne).
An anthem for angry losers everywhere, and still one of my favorite songs.
I don't need anyone
Don't need no mom and dad
Don't need no pretty face
Don't need no human race
I got some news for you
Don't even need you too
I got my devil machine
Got my electronic dream
Sonic reducer
Ain't no loser
I'm a sonic reducer
Ain't no loser
People out on the streets
They don't know who I am
I watch them from my room
They all just pass me by
But I'm not just anyone
Said I'm not just anyone
I got my devil machine
Got my electronic dream
Sonic reducer
Ain't no loser
I'm a sonic reducer
Ain't no loser
I'll be a pharaoh soon
Rule from some golden tomb
Things will be different then
The sun will rise from here
Then I'll be ten feet tall
And you'll be nothing at all
I got my devil machine
got my electronic dream
Sonic reducer
Ain't no loser
Got my sonic reducer
I ain't no loser
I said sonic reducer, sonic reducer
yeah, my sonic reducer, sonic reducer, sonic reducer...
Goddamn. Track #89 on the player over there.
Dedicated to Stiv Bators (RIP, and he was in the Water's movie Polyester, by the way), Cheetah Crome (who cowrote the song), and those other 3 dudes.
Previous entries in the great first tracks have been:
(I) "Disorder" by Joy Division
(II) "I Just Wanna Have Something to Do" by The Ramones
(III) "Ghost Rider" by Suicide
(IV) "A Salty Salute" by Guided by Voices
(V) "Ohio River Boat Song" by Palace Music
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