"Fuck Off", also released as "(If You Don't Wanna Fuck Me, Baby) Fuck Off!!",
is the debut single by
Wayne County & the Electric Chairs
Wayne County & the Electric Chairs were part of the first wave of punk bands from the 1970s. The band was headed by Georgia-born singer Jayne County and became known for their campy, foul-mouthed ballads, glam punk inspired songs and image which ...
. It was released through Sweet FA, an
imprint
Imprint or imprinting may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Imprint'' (TV series), Canadian television series
* "Imprint" (''Masters of Horror''), episode of TV show ''Masters of Horror''
* ''Imprint'' (film), a 2007 independent drama/thriller film
...
of
Safari Records
Safari Records was a British independent record label based in London, England, and operating between 1977 and 1985. Safari Records was formed early in 1977 by Tony Edwards (former co-manager of Deep Purple), Andreas Budde (the son of German musi ...
.
The single's
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
was "On the Crest".
Playing piano on the record was
Jools Holland
Julian Miles Holland, (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Jayne County, Sting, Eric C ...
, then a
session musician
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...
in his late-teens.
Described as "trashy,
New York Dolls
New York Dolls were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes. Although the band never achieved much commercial succe ...
-influenced punk rock", the song was included in the book ''X-Rated: The 200 Rudest Records Ever!''.
Overview
The song begins with a
boogie woogie
Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually extended from pia ...
feel,
with the piano part played by a then-unknown
Jools Holland
Julian Miles Holland, (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Jayne County, Sting, Eric C ...
.
Toward the end of the song, however, the style changes to a
punk rock style with a
double-time
In popular music, half-time is a type of meter and tempo that alters the rhythmic feel by essentially ''doubling the tempo resolution'' or metric division/level in comparison to common-time. Thus, two measures of approximate a single measure o ...
feel.
In his 2007 autobiography, ''Barefaced Lies and Boogie-woogie Boasts'', Holland describes that on arriving at the recording session at
Marquee Studios
The Marquee Club was a music venue first located at 165 Oxford Street in London, when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. Its most famous period was from 1964 to 1988 at 90 Wardour Street in Soho, and it finally closed wh ...
in London, he discovered that the group had recorded a backing track for the song but had written no lyrics. County asked him to play "really
burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. ". Holland wrote that the first time he heard the song's lyrics was when playing the record to his mother, his younger brothers, and his aunt and uncle.
Background
The song was written when
Wayne County's band were still known as The Backstreet Boys.
[Not to be confused with the 1990s boy band of the same name]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 databas ...
describes the lyrics as County's way of "chastising those who won't take
erhome".
Originally titled "(If You Don't Want to Fuck Me, Baby) Fuck Off", the song was planned to be released on the group's début album. The album was never released, though some tracks were included on 1976's ''Max's Kansas City''.
The following year, the band renamed themselves as "The Electric Chairs" and the song was included on the 1978 compilation album ''Man Enough to Be a Woman'' and the ''Blatantly Offenzive EP''.
A dance remix of the song was released in the 1990s, remixed by Sleazesisters (DJ Pete Martine and Porl Young).
A bootleg dance version, "Fuck Off Sucker", was released as a white label in 2010 by That Queer Geezer, juxtaposing Jayne County's vocals over the instrumental of '90s dance anthem "
Hold That Sucker Down
Hold may refer to:
Physical spaces
* Hold (ship), interior cargo space
* Baggage hold, cargo space on an airplane
* Stronghold, a castle or other fortified place
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Hold (musical term), a pause, also called a Ferma ...
".
Reception
The ''
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is an encyclopedia created in 1989 by Colin Larkin. It is the "modern man's" equivalent of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music'', which Larkin describes in less than flattering terms.''The Times'', ''The Kno ...
'' described the song as "
nenduring low-rent punk favourite",
and the ''Encyclopedia of Punk Music and Culture'' described the single as "seminal".
Personnel
* Vocals —
Wayne County
* Guitar —
Greg Van Cook Greg is a masculine given name, and often a shortened form of the given name Gregory. Greg (more commonly spelled " Gregg") is also a surname.
People with the name
*Greg Abbott (disambiguation), multiple people
*Greg Abel (born 1961/1962), Canadi ...
* Piano —
Jools Holland
Julian Miles Holland, (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Jayne County, Sting, Eric C ...
* Bass guitar —
Val Haller
Val Haller (born Adrian Osborne) (1952 – 16 December 2012) was a British musician. Primarily a bass guitarist, he was also a vocalist, keyboardist, and composer. Haller played with Wayne County & the Electric Chairs, The Flying Lizards, The L ...
* Drums —
J.J. Johnson
J.J. Johnson (January 22, 1924 – February 4, 2001), born James Louis Johnson and also known as Jay Jay Johnson, was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger.
Johnson was one of the earliest trombonists to embrace bebop.
Biography ...
Footnotes
References
{{authority control
1977 songs
1977 debut singles
Safari Records singles