"Bitchin' Camaro" is a song by American
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
the Dead Milkmen
The Dead Milkmen is an American punk rock band formed in 1983 in Philadelphia. Their original lineup consisted of vocalist and keyboardist Rodney Linderman ("Rodney Anonymous"), guitarist and vocalist Joe Genaro ("Joe Jack Talcum"), bassist Da ...
, released on their debut album ''
Big Lizard in My Backyard'' (1985). The song was written by vocalist
Rodney Linderman, guitarist and vocalist
Joseph Genaro, bassist
Dave Schulthise, and drummer
Dean Sabatino. The track contains an extended, nonsensical intro of two characters having a conversation, after which the song shifts into a
hardcore punk
Hardcore punk (also known as simply hardcore) is a punk rock music genre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots can be traced to earlier p ...
song about the
Chevrolet Camaro
The Chevrolet Camaro is a mid-size American automobile manufactured by Chevrolet, classified as a pony car. It first went on sale on September 29, 1966, for the 1967 model year and was designed to compete with the Ford Mustang. The Camaro ...
.
Though not a single, the song was the band's first to achieve popularity and airplay on college radio stations in the U.S. It is considered one of the band's best-known songs, alongside their later 1988 hit "
Punk Rock Girl
"Punk Rock Girl" is a song by American rock band the Dead Milkmen. It was the first single released from the band's fourth album '' Beelzebubba'' (1988). Released in December 1988, the track was primarily composed by guitarist and vocalist Joe ...
".
Background
![Chevrolet](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a5/Chevrolet.camaro.IROC-Z-red.front.view-sstvwf.JPG)
The song features a rambling, extended introduction over a
bluesy bassline of two characters speaking to one another.
It parodies partying, rich kids, and surfer culture.
Linderman got the idea for the tune after overhearing a conversation. He and Genaro told the band at rehearsal they would be improvising an intro to the song, and Schulthise began playing the bassline. After that, the song was completed.
Linderman portrays the "talking-too-fast jokester" while Genaro acts as a "clueless airhead".
The two individuals discuss going to
the shore and
Doors
A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide security by ...
cover bands before arriving at the point of the song: the
titular vehicle.
From there, the song shifts into a hardcore punk song. The song's hardcore segment was inspired by the
Suicidal Tendencies
Suicidal Tendencies is an American crossover thrash band formed in 1980 in Venice in Los Angeles, California by vocalist Mike Muir. Muir is the only remaining original member of the band. Along with D.R.I., Corrosion of Conformity, and Stor ...
song "
Institutionalized".
Daniel Brockman, in a review for the website Vanyaland, says that in its quiet-loud dynamic, the track is not far removed musically from the band's forebearers, comparing its style to the
Dead Kennedys
Dead Kennedys are an American punk rock band that formed in San Francisco, California, in 1978. The band was one of the defining punk bands during its initial eight-year run.
Dead Kennedys' lyrics were usually political in nature, satirizing p ...
and
Circle Jerks.
WXPN
WXPN (88.5 FM) is a non-commercial, public radio station licensed to The Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, that broadcasts an adult album alternative (AAA) radio format, along with many other format shows ...
in Philadelphia was an "early champion" of the tune, according to Sabatino; they played the homemade demo frequently which led to audience attendees knowing the song in full before its proper album release.
Though not a single, the song achieved airplay on college radio stations across the U.S. The song was later featured in the ''
Orange Is the New Black'' episode "
Appropriately Sized Pots".
Reception
A 1985 review by ''
Spin'' underground columnist Andrea 'Enthal calls it "an '80s answer to the
Beach Boys
A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shell ...
car-and-surf songs,
hich
Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
blisters with high-speed drum bash and the ranted
yrics"
Jason Heller of ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' considers the song a sendup of "white-trash culture", and describes the song as "a hyperactive,
stream-of-consciousness
In literary criticism, stream of consciousness is a narrative mode or method that attempts "to depict the multitudinous thoughts and feelings which pass through the mind" of a narrator. The term was coined by Daniel Oliver in 1840 in ''First Li ...
splatter of snotty vocals, jangling guitars, and wiry irreverence that was as much a
comedy skit
Sketch comedy comprises a series of short, amusing scenes or vignettes, called "sketches", commonly between one and ten minutes long, performed by a group of comic actors or comedians. The form developed and became popular in vaudeville, and i ...
as it was a punk parody." He considered it the quartet's "first enduring classic."
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
reviewer Ned Raggett says, "As left-field a fluke hit single as it gets, its mix of bad taste,
rock star mockery, and
stoner humor still works well."
Daniel Brockman praises the song in a review for the website Vanyaland, dubbing it the "quintessential viral-before-there-was-such-a-thing underground of hit of its time." He places it in the context of its importance to teenagers of the decade:
Personnel
Adapted from ''Big Lizard in My Backyard'' liner notes.
;The Dead Milkmen
*
Joe Genaro –
guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...
,
vocals
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...
, songwriting
*
Rodney Linderman – vocals, songwriting
*
Dean Sabatino –
drums,
percussion
A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...
, songwriting
*
Dave Schulthise –
bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...
, songwriting
;Production
*Bob Dickie –
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stati ...
*John Wicks – production
References
External links
Lyrics of this songat
Genius
Genius is a characteristic of original and exceptional insight in the performance of some art or endeavor that surpasses expectations, sets new standards for future works, establishes better methods of operation, or remains outside the capabili ...
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1985 songs
American punk rock songs
Chevrolet Camaro
Comedy rock songs
Songs about cars