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Track 0157: BLITZKRIEG BOP (Ramones) 2:45 (BLITZKRIEG BOP) (20th May 1977)
Musicians: John Hodgson – lead vocals, Dimmer Blackwell – fuzz guitar, backing vocals, Ann Hodgson – guitar, backing vocals, Mick Hylton – bass guitar, Alan Cornforth – drums, backing vocals
Recorded: The Barn, Norton (room 2) 2 x reel-to-reel tape recorders (7 ½ ips) + Heathkit mixer (produced by Alan Cornforth)
The transformation to a fully fledged punk band was now complete, so much so that at each rehearsal there was an informal competition to see who would arrive in the most outlandish dress, Alan turned up in a white boiler suit hand painted with graffiti, and I started to wear a garish striped blazer that I wore so often onstage it became something of a trademark.
On the 18th May I went to see The Clash at The Rock Garden, it was a magical night, and convinced me more than ever that punk was happening big time and that I wanted to play my full part.
It was around this time that we all adopted stage names just like our “heroes”, so I became Blank Frank (inspired by a Brian Eno song), Mick became Mick Sick, Alan became Nicky Knoxx, Dimmer changed to Fred Fret and Ann chose Pat Pussy.
Within days Dimmer changed again to Telly Sett and Ann chickened out of her risqué name to the more sedate Gloria.
To avoid confusion, all the credits going forward in these notes will ignore stage names and refer to real names.
It was decided that, in line with many other punk bands, we would finance the release of our own single. For years I had fantasized about releasing a record, but it seemed a far off pipe dream, until punk arrived.
It now seemed possible, so I grovelled at my local bank and persuaded them to lend me £250 to pay for it.
We had to have music to put on it and towards that end Alan set up the Heathkit mixer and reel-to-reels and we started recording.
One of the biggest mistakes the band made at the outset was to ignore their own music at the expense of well known cover versions. The old way of doing things was to play a set of songs that hopefully the audience would be familiar with, and we carried on this philosophy when we changed to punk rock. Although we were writing some original material, 90% of the songs were by other artists, and we persisted with this policy for far too long.
So, it didn't seem odd to us that we taped so many cover versions, starting with the song from which we took our name, “Blitzkrieg Bop” by The Ramones.
Alan was still experimenting with the sound, and on this occasion, probably in an attempt to sound as punky as possible, Dimmer had his guitar sounding far too fuzzy, and ultimately this meant that we couldn't use any of the evenings recordings for the vinyl release.

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from Legend & Luancy: 50th Anniversary Box Set Vol​.​9, released May 1, 2016

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fast cakes Stockton On Tees, UK

Fast Cakes aka John Hodgson presents his Fast Cakes releases, plus his older releases with other bands, and also the massive "Legend & Lunacy" a 50th Anniversary box set of 1261 tracks celebrating 50 years of songwriting and music making with a variety of bands including Blitzkrieg Bop, Basczax & Makaton Chat amongst others. From pop tunes to indie anthems, all human life is here. ... more

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