The Kuepper Files: Mojo - 100 punk scorchers!


"100 Punk Scorchers!"

Mojo Magazine (UK) Issue no 95, October 2001

In this issue Mojo presented a list of the 100 most 'punk' 7-inches in 1977... Numbered from 100 (which was Eddie & The Hot Rods' Live At The Marquee EP) all the way up to no 1, which (not surprisingly) was God Save The Queen by The Sex Pistols, each entry accompanied with a short article about "who, where, why and when"... The Saints was one of the few (if not only?) band who managed to take two spots on this list. At number 14 you could find This Perfect Day and even higher, at position 7, was I'm Stranded. Here is the two articles as they could be found in the October issue of Mojo 2001.Click on the images for a larger picture of the article.

Number 14: This Perfect Day by The Saints

"I wrote it on my father's classical guitar, on Christmas Day (1976) at my parent's place when everybody had gone to church." Ed Kuepper, 1989 This single – the last from The Saints' first, primal phase – tightens the mesh further into an ultimate expression of teenage nihilism. Starting with a riff that echoes Paint It Black, Chris Bailey spits the words over a rock-solid rythm section and Ed Kuepper's overdriven, monstrous-sounding guitar. Winding itself into a final paroxysm – "I don't need nothing/Nothing at all!" – This Perfect Day accelerated punk's furious speed into a brick wall, just as the movement reached its commercial and creative peak. The Saints' only Top 40 hit, it was promoted by a famously static TOTP appearance. In that, The Saints were true to the negation that This Perfect Day freezes just at its liberating zenith. [Jon Savage] Chart peak: 34

Number 7: I'm Stranded by The Saints

	"It was our first adventure in a recording studio. I recall it all felt rather natural. Drink and go to work" Christ Bailey, 2001 Out of the cultural wasteland that was mid-70's Brisbane, Australia came this kinetic howl of suburban frustration. Recorded at a local 16-track jingle studio, the single was first released in September 1976 as a private pressing on the band's own Fatal Records label, but was initially ignored. However, the record's reputation grew by word of mouth, and its arrival on import in Britain neatly coincided with the rise of punk – though its recording actually pre-dated the first offerings by The Damned and The Sex Pistols. (I'm) Stranded caught a mood that teenagers could relate to anywhere, expressing a punchy mixture of sexual repression and peer alienation – like a punk update of The Rolling Stones' Satisfaction. Behind guitarist Ed Kuepper's agile power riffs, Chris Bailey's vituperative snarl perfectly captured the prevailing mood, with each "Aw-right!" perversely implying that he was secretly getting off on the sheer hellishness of it all. In keeping with the track's sulphate-snorting velocity, the band's EMI debut album – named after the single – was recorded non-stop within 48 hours. True blue punk pioneers, cobber. [Andy Neill] Chart peak: none


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