Inside Tracks #37: "Do Anything You Wanna Do," Eddie & The Hot Rods, w/Covers by Huw Gower, Manfred Mann, Flashcubes, Michael Monroe & More

Apparently, punk didn't want them or the song. Fine; marketed in the punk arena, is "Do Anything You Wanna Do" masquerading as one of the best power pop songs, after all? Contradictions abound!

The Hot Rods (l-r): Dave Higgs (guitar), Barrie Masters (lead vocal), Steve Nicol (drums), and Paul Gray, bass. Guitarist Graeme Douglas (previously with the Kursaal Flyers, a British pop band that also housed drummer Will Birch, who left the Flyers in ‘77 to help form noted power pop band, The Records), joined the line-up by the recording of their second album. There was no actual “Eddie,” except in the guise of a dummy Barrie used to beat up onstage early on. Eddie was quickly dispensed of, though, as the band gained traction and a bigger audience; just in time, too, as that gag was quickly wearing thin.

This “Inside Tracks” was inspired by the recent article by

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of The Song’s the Thing. Nic was an assistant audio engineer at London’s iconic Trident Studios in the early ‘80s. He began in January 1981 at age 18. It’s fair to say he was smack-dab in the middle of all that was happening, UK/’80s/pop music and trends.

He mentioned having seen The Rods at the equally iconic The Marquee, which he claimed “was just heaving chaos.” I take that two ways, and either would be accurate….as the two-word adjective, “heaving-chaos,” as well as a noun preceded by a verb; from what I remember reading about The Marquee (and its heavily punk-weighted bookings), it fairly heaved chaos nightly!

Nic’s eye-popping article from the belly of that Soho-centered recording beast:

Soho, Kokomo, Backhanders, Dark Moments, & The Rabbit Punch — Part 1

Do these look like the first 2 record jackets of a power pop band? I don't think so, either. Yet, they positioned themselves right in the center of the late-'76/early-'77 punk rock explosion! Discogs' description: "Punk rock band, formed in 1975, from [England]." Their "Do Anything You Wanna Do," if no other song of theirs, courted a genre far-removed from the punk ethos. One might wonder how much of their image (and artwork) might've been contrived to exploit the day's punk furor.

Punk’s UK Rumblings

The 1976 rush of UK-based punk bands included Eddie & The Hot Rods. At least, that’s what I thought!

RateYourMusic.com has a chronological list of the UK releases of punk singles, EPs, and albums starting on October 22, 1976, which was the release date of the debut single by The Damned, “New Rose.”

But, the list doesn’t mention Teenage Depression, the Rods’ first album, which was released on November 22, 1976, a full month following The Damned’s single. Apparently, that source doesn’t place the Rods’ debut album into the punk genre. Fine. As long as we know where we stand.

But, as is so often the case when genre-slotting is attempted, there may be disagreement!