Thursday, May 13, 2010

Rock Pretty - The Comp that Launched Zero Careers - 1984




The Rock Pretty compilation. Very simple concept really. Four UK bands, two songs each, hopefully some of 'em rock, and hopefully some of 'em are pretty. Big shots on the record at the time were Marionette, because of Ray Zell, Kerrang, etc...then you've got The Babysitters, who were pretty much Marionette with a better sense of humor...and The Grip and the excellently-named Napalm Hearts were competent enough....but it's Aunt May who steal this record. And to this day I still have no idea who the fuck Aunt May were or are. This is the only record I've ever seen 'em on, and internet searches of the band or members return nothing. Yet their two songs on Rock Pretty are gloriously terrible and unbelievably addicting at the same time. I mean, I know these songs are terrible, but if they're so terrible how come the adult me remembered every word of both songs the teenage me listened to 20 years earlier? Aunt May, you've tortured me for decades now. I don't know where the band members - Aunt May, Marcus Sparticus, Lee Van Starz and Lance the Creature - are now, but hopefully they're somewhere in the UK living the good life off the massive royalties they made from Rock Pretty. More likely they're dead or driving a bus. Rock pretty glam fiends.

Track Listing:
The Grip "Two Hearts"
The Babysitters "Rock en Roll Chicken"
Marionette "Gettin' Sticky"
Aunt May "Flesh of the Devil"
Napalm Hearts "Little Miss Teazer"
Marionette "You Better Believe It"
Babysitters "The Beard Song"
Napalm Hearts "Suzy (was a Live Wire)"
Aunt May "Respect the Dead"
The Grip "Tension"

https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/YL4vnejPnQqMx4FT79Ds9OCMV8GcGLQfuyv0X0Ey9Jt