Culture

Four Tapes. (4/5)

With his already esteemed reputation receiving a typical post-death boost, Teenage Hate/Fuck Elvis Here’s the Reatards sees a superbly packaged reissue of early material from late punk hero Jay Reatard. The liner notes accurately crediting Reatard with “Guitar, screaming, and pounding”, the fizzing unbridled energy here is Reatard’s greatest strength.
 
With most tracks clocking in at a blisteringly brief sub-two minutes, this is a wonderfully distorted take on classic rock and punk, with the simple two chord structure and chaotic solo of “Memphis Blues” being some of angriest sounding music put down on cassette tape. As the title suggests, this is an album drowning in angst and fury, with “You Build Me Up Just to Bust Me Back Down”, “I’m so Gone” and “When I’m Mad” giving the then still teenage frontman a raw outlet for his neurotic and self-deprecating musings on the typical adolescent issues of boredom and love.
 
With a significant early garage feel not present on his later (and more widely appreciated) pop-influenced solo work, Reatard is almost ironically clearly indebted to Elvis rather than attempting to usurp him. While the album’s emphasis on passion and rage over sonic fidelity may deter many listeners, Teenage Hate/Fuck Elvis Here's the Reatards documents the beginnings of one of the garage community’s biggest stars, biggest losses and biggest influence on many of the current figureheads such as Thee Oh Sees and Ty Segall. Here’s the Reatards indeed!