You Give Love a Bad Name (album)

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You Give Love A Bad Name
You Give Love A Bad Name cover
Studio album by GG Allin
Released 1987
Recorded May 18, 1987 (original LP)
March 4 and July 7, 1991(CD bonus tracks)
Genre Punk rock
Length 31:32 (original LP)
60:22 (CD reissue)
Label Homestead Records (original LP)
Awareness Records (CD reissue)
Producer(s) Gerald Cosloy
Professional reviews
GG Allin chronology
Hated In The Nation
(1987)		 You Give Love A Bad Name
(1987)		 Freaks, Faggots, Drunks and Junkies
(1988)


You Give Love a Bad Name is the third studio album by the controversial punk rock singer, songwriter, and performance artist GG Allin, and is jointly credited to Allin and a one-time studio band named The Holy Men.

Contents

[edit] History

After the release of the Hated in the Nation compilation cassette by ROIR, as well as a series of letters written by Allin to such magazines as Maximum RockNRoll and Flipside, Allin's stature in the punk rock underground had grown considerably. However, Allin's uncompromising, and increasingly transgressive performances, and his tendency towards extremely lowbrow lyrics, made him an unlikely prospect not only for most major labels, but for many of the otherwise "respectable" independent labels like SST, Touch and Go, and Alternative Tentacles. Allin had parted with his previous label, Black and Blue Records, after a falling out with label owner and co-producer Peter Yarmouth, accusing Yarmouth of not paying him royalties.

Enter Gerald Cosloy, who had already played rhythm guitar with Allin on the "new" recordings on Hated in the Nation. Cosloy operated Homestead Records through a deal with record distributor Dutch East India, and had released records by Big Black, Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr before those bands left for greener pastures. With room on the roster and a desire to work with Allin again, Cosloy courted the shock-rocker. Allin agreed almost immediately. Homestead would be the biggest label Allin would deal with up until this time.

[edit] Music

On May 18, 1987, Allin entered a low-budget studio called The Music Box, located on Avenue B in New York City's East Village, accompanied by a four-piece band that included Cosloy on second guitar, along with three other area musicians: lead guitarist Greg Bullock, bassist Mike Kirkland, and drummer Mike "Machine Gun" Edison. Allin dubbed the session band The Holy Men. Contracted to record ten songs for his first Homestead album, Allin actually came in with six original new songs of his own: "Swank Fuckin'", "Bloody Mary's Bloody Cunt", "Suck Dog", "Teenage Twats", "Stink Finger Clit", and "Scars on My Body - Scabs on My Dick". The remaining four songs compromised of two older songs that Allin had recorded with his post-Scumfucs backing band the Cedar Street Sluts, and two cover versions.

Musically, Allin eschewed the hyper hardcore punk tempos of his previous studio album E.M.F. in favor of rough mid-tempo rock reminiscent of the New York Dolls and the Rolling Stones (the latter of which Allin was a major fan of).

The two reworked originals were "Tough Fuckin' Shit" and "I'm a Rapest" (sic). The former appeared as the penultimate track on Hated in the Nation in a slower arrangement, while the latter track is actually the earlier Allin composition "Blood for You" with new lyrics (also appearing on Hated in the Nation in a new live version; the original electric version with the Cedar Street Sluts plus an acoustic demo version by Allin alone, would appear on the 1990 compilation album Doctrine of Mayhem).

Of the two cover versions on the album, "Beer Picnic" is a faithful, if slower, version of a song by obscure NYC punk band Bad Tuna Experience. (G.G. asked for--but did not receive--permission to record the song; he bought a cassette tape from Bad Tuna members after reading the lyrics, written by Bad Tuna's Carolyn and No Thanks' Donna Damage, in Maximum RockNRoll sometime in the mid-1980s.) The other cover version, "Garbage Dump", was written and originally recorded by Charles Manson on his infamous Lie album.

While most of the song titles are self-explanatory, "Suck Dog" is reportedly about writer and performance artist Lisa Crystal Carver, then more well known under the stage name Lisa Suckdog. Carver had reportedly encountered and unsuccessfully attempted to seduce Allin earlier that year, then badmouthed him to the press.

[edit] Recording tales

During the sessions, recording engineer Jaques Kralian reportedly asked Allin (who co-engineered the recording) and Cosloy if they really were serious about releasing the sessions. His question was answered a few months later when Allin and Cosloy immortalized his inquiry - "You guys aren't planning on pressing this into a record, are you?" - on the back cover of the album.

All ten of the songs were rehearsed and recorded in one day-long session. Cosloy produced but did not take production credit, instead claiming on the liner notes that he "re-mixed, unmixed, and edited" the album as heard in its final form.

[edit] Bonus tracks

In 1992, while Allin was serving a prison sentence for parole violation in Jackson, Michigan, Awareness Records reissued You Give Love a Bad Name, adding several tracks recorded on July 7, 1991 in Lowell, MA by Allin, with himself and then-collaborator Mark Sheenan playing all of the instruments (that were later released in Japan as the 7" EP GG Allin and the Murder Junkies) plus an interview conducted over the phone from prison on March 4, 1991 with journalist Jeff Koch.

[edit] Track listing

[edit] Original 1987 LP

[edit] Side one

  1. "Swank Fuckin'"
  2. "Bloody Mary's Bloody Cunt"
  3. "Tough Fuckin' Shit"
  4. "I'm a Rapest"
  5. "Suck Dog"

[edit] Side two

  1. Teenage Twats
  2. Beer Picnic
  3. Stink Finger Clit
  4. Scars on My Body - Scabs on My Dick
  5. Garbage Dump

[edit] CD reissue

  1. Swank Fuckin'
  2. Bloody Mary's Bloody Cunt
  3. Tough Fuckin' Shit
  4. I'm a Rapest
  5. Suck Dog
  6. Teenage Twats
  7. Beer Picnic
  8. Stink Finger Clit
  9. Scars on My Body - Scabs on My Dick
  10. Garbage Dump
  11. Watch Me Kill the Boston Girl
  12. Castration Crucifixion
  13. Snakeman's Dance
  14. Slaughterhouse Deathcamp
  15. Feces and Blood
  16. Master Daddy
  17. Interview from Prison
GG Allin
Bands: The Jabbers - The Scumfucs - Psycho (band) - Bloody Mess & The Skabs - Antiseen - The Murder Junkies
GG Allin - Merle Allin - Dick Urine - Mykel Board - Mark Kramer - David Peel
Studio albums: Always Was, Is And Always Shall Be - Eat My Fuc - Hated in the Nation - You Give Love a Bad Name (album) - Freaks, Faggots, Drunks and Junkies - Banned in Boston (album) - Carnival Of Excess: Limited Edition - The Troubled Troubador -Brutality and Bloodshed for All
EPs: The Troubled Troubador (EP)
Films:Hated: GG Allin and the Murder Junkies
See also: Punk rock - Hardcore punk - Shock rock - Scum punk - Transgressive art - Nihilism - Country and Western
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