Consumer Guide Album

The Blasters: American Music [Rollin' Rock, 1980]
One of two bands cited as proof that L.A. punks aren't just bigots with mohawks (the other, the Go-Go's, has--gulp!--girls in it), these rock and rollers don't quite fit their rockabilly revivalist pigeonhole. Where the average Whitecat is so pencil-necked he can hardly hold up an acoustic bass, they have muscles, and where the average Rockin' Ronnie Weiser signing is a barely literate has-been who never really was, they have brains and potential. Or so songs like "Barn Burning" and, believe it or not, "American Music" lead one to believe. They do get that chickenshit Scotty Moore guitar sound right, though. With Ronnie at the boards, they don't have much choice. B+