Tuesday, July 10, 2007

VKTMS – “100% WHITE GIRL”

My first favorite punk songs in the early 80s were all female-throated: “The American In Me” by THE AVENGERS, “100% White Girl” by THE VKTMS and, uh, “Nuclear War” by SIN 34 (don’t get angry, but a major SIN 34 post is coming to the ‘Twang in the near future). It was likely the incongruity of raw, ripping female vocals over raw, ripping punk rock music that hooked me in – and so I went searching for these records in my youth, primarily at Rasputin’s in Berkeley, CA. As mentioned previously, I saw a 45 called “White Girl” with a great sleeve and bought it – took it to my grandparents’, waited ‘til they’d exited the premises, and then plopped it on at full blast. What a letdown! I had bought X’s “White Girl” 45 instead of THE VKTMS’ – and I totally hated it (love it now, as I do the first two X singles).

It took a while, but I finally got my own copy of the “`100% White Girl” 45 by San Francisco’s VKTMS. It’s a straight-up screamer in the late 70s style, released in 1980. There’s a lot more information on the band located both here and here. If I’m not mistaken, I’m actually the third person to post this to the world. Now you truly have no excuse to own these ones & zeros (by the way, the B-side's lame, as was almost the entirety of this band's output beyond 2-3 songs).

Play or Download THE VKTMS – “100% White Girl” (A-side)
Play or Download THE VKTMS – “No Long Goodbyes” (B-side)

2 comments:

Punk Business Manager said...

"100% White Girl" is a ripper! I am also rather fond of the artsier B-side. I also like the 1st VKTMS EP which also had funny lyrics, catchy tunes and an awesome sleeve. I am also not a fan of that retrospective CD, I found one at a yard sale in '97 (hmmm, wonder why there were selling it) for less than a dollar so thankfully I didn't spend more on it. In '95 a VKTMS double 7"EP came out- one disc was a repress of the 1st EP and the other disc were some so-so tracks recorded in '95. A few years ago I believe the VKTMS singer Nyna Crawford (spelling?) died after a painful illness.

Anonymous said...

Didn't know that Nyna Crawford died in 2000. I thought she'd OD'd long before that. Speaking of junkie chicks, whatever happened to Julie of Sin 34?