365 Days of Song Recommendations: June 4 [Stiv Bators edition]

Open Your Eyes—The Lords of the New Church

That Stiv Bators is not better known today is really a bit of a cultural crime. He was never going to be a household name, mind you, but he ought to be better known than he is.

In the halls of American punk, few figures were more omnipresent than the man born Steven John Bator in Ohio in the year of our lord 1949. His first musical success, the Dead Boys, were CBGBs darlings at a time when that was literally THE place to be if your were anybody.

Go check out the pictures. Is that Stiv with Debbie Harry? It is. Is THAT Stiv, with Johnny Thunders? Yep. Stiv again. And wait, is that Stiv and Dee Dee Ramone? Uh-huh …

Musically, the Dead Boys produced just two seminal punk album, and there’s only really one song you’ll see continually cropping up on early punk compilations and playlists; that’d be “Sonic Reducer.” Lyrically, it wasn’t exactly high art. Honestly, it was pretty run-of-the-mill young punk stuff:

I don’t need anyone
Don’t need no mom and dad
Don’t need no pretty face
Don’t need no human race
I got some news for you
Don’t even need you too
I got my devil machine
Got my electronic dream
Sonic reducer
Ain’t no loser
I’m a sonic reducer
Ain’t no loser