Wow, 1991 was a good year! And boy, were The Throbs gonna be the next big thing....formed in 1988, these NYC sleaze merchants, fronted by the elegantly named Ronnie Sweetheart, were signed to Geffen records and the buzz surrounding them was huge. However, like most magic bands, it soon dipped, and The Throbs disappeared up their own arses into the foggy avenue of rock 'n' roll folklore....drenched in scarves, bangles, lipstick and lace, and with enough sex, drugs 'n' rock 'n' roll to last a life time, The Throbs played it real, but not for long. 'The Language...' was the only release by the band, and with more Rolling Stones nods than one could imagine, just like Gunfire Dance, and all those who trod this diamond path before...those feet became bloody and those bodies toppled from the pathway into the pits of nowhere.
Sure, a lot of this kind of stuff could be considered a little pretend...maybe even fake, the swiggin' of JD, the clothes, the Stones' trip ('Honeychild' for starters), but if the chemistry is right, this type of retro rock can work, otherwise you end up sounding washed out like so many sleaze bands from the time. Even so, as debut albums go, despite too much hype, the final product was pretty cool and hip-shaking, but when you've heard the Stones, Hanoi Rocks, and New York Dolls, who in turn spawned a million imitators in the '80s and early '90s, I can see why The Throbs didn't work. Okay, the drugs probably didn't help...and neither did the drink...but for gritty, street-wise, lothario sleaze, The Throbs are a fuckin' wicked experience. 'The Language...' beats the hell out of most and of course has that tragic element, which adds a little haze to the glitz.
8/10
1 comment:
Always felt this album was a let-down. After reading the occasional piece about them in Kerrang!, particularly when Ginger joined them after being kicked out of the Quireboys (he lasted about two weeks), and then a demo did the rounds ('Crying' was a great track) before eventually the album arrived and it was nothing like the demo!
Fair enough, it turned out that the demo was a few years old and by 1991 things had changed greatly and other decent albums - such as Vain's 'No Respect' - were just that little late to the party.
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