Review: The Vibrators - Pure Mania

Listening to this I just assumed Pure Mania was a Vibrators' greatest hits collection, but it's their debut from 1977. I'm sorry I didn't discover this sooner since it's super-duper-pooper-scooper, a true classic pop record of the '77 UK punk era. I read comparisons to The Stranglers, but it's not in sound. They were another existing band who adapted to the times when punk hit. Posers like to say punk is a monolithic institution, but it never was. Maybe only on the sub-genre level. Those who think a formerly non-punk band has no right to play punk music when the time is right are the same ones who insist a band isn't punk unless they're poor and angry. To these people, I say, eat my poop with a whizz chaser.

The Undertones would be viable peers of The Vibrators, but I hear bands not mentioned in any review. Jonathan Richman's iconic "Roadrunner" is an influence along with "Stepping Stone", recorded first by Minor Threat and then The Monkees. The Stones via The NY Dolls also have an influence. Back to Jonathan, The Vibrators' "Keep It Clean" is a nod of the SXE shaved head to "I'm Straight" (I'm certainly not stoned, like hippie Johnny). No matter who seminaled who, The Vibrators wrote 15 great original tunes and released it as Pure Mania.

I'm laughing me ass off at some of the Amazon.com comments: "I was somewhat unimpressed on first listen and the anti-drug sentiment and lack of rebelliosness" and my fave "i found this to be a highly overrated album. it was unexciting and unoriginal, and there was nothing at all edgy about it. in fact, there was an anti-drug song on it! now, i dont like drugs at all myself, but there is no place for an anti-drug song on what is supposed to be a good, threatening punk rock record. do yourself a favor and but something by the stiff little fingers, the stooges, the damned, crass, or something like that."

How ironic. Stiff Little Fingers named themselves after a Vibrators song. This same person also reviewed a book called, wait for it.......... Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed The World.