Naked Raygun Throb On

ILLUSTRATION by LUKE MCGARRY

They were called Naked Raygun because Sex Pistols had a good ring to it and Celibate Rifles was used already, and they used the 1980s to put bloodstains—or scorch marks—across the Midwest with ridiculous vicious punk that was a sick mix of Misfit caveman choruses and British ’79 velocity. (Famously covered: “Suspect Device.”) Basement Screams had it perfect instantly: “I Lie” is still an immediate kick (sparks off the first note: “I lie/right to your face!”) that was a teaser into “Tojo”/“Swingo”/“Mofo” trilogy, a Chicago landmark as intimidating and enduring as a pyramid. Steve Albini loved them then, when proto-Big Black Santiago Durango was on guitar: “It was like a space-age rockabilly band,” he told an old MRR. “With this bizarre jungle drumming going on. . . . It would just flatten everybody.” Basement sax player John Haggerty stepped in for best album Throb Throb when Durango split and helped give the world “Metastasis” (compilation hit, but a total winner—Black Flag with Devo learn-a-lesson lyrics out of singer Jeff Pezzatti) and “I Don’t Know,” with a weird breakneck rhythm change as climax, and when Flipside asked, Naked Raygun answered: “Musically we are trying to write the ultimate song, the grande sonata, the pupa de la pupa, the penultimate riff, the blast-crunch-dropper-pseudo-heart-gorger.” That was Throb Throb: penultimate gorger. Swan dive afterward let’s disregard—Haggerty split for Pegboy and the band went on and broke up and reunited and re-reunited for this new era all without him, but the final line-up—Pezzatti, bassist Pierre Kezdy, drummer Eric Spicer, guitarist Bill Stephens—describe this time as back for good. Anyway I like to conclude how Throb concluded: Onward, onward, onward, repeat ’til vomiting on the pavement.

PUNK ROCK SOCIAL LIVE PRESENTS NAKED RAYGUN WITH THE SWINGIN’ UTTERS, SHOT BAKERS AND BROKE TIL TUESDAY ALEX’S BAR | 2913 E ANAHEIM ST | LONG BEACH 90804 | SAT 9PM | $15 | 21+ | ALEXSBAR.COM

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