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Old 01-03-2015, 05:57 AM   #66 (permalink)
Oriphiel
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Detroit, Michigan, is an incredibly important city in the history of American culture. In it's day it was one of the musical centers of the world, becoming an artistic playground of sound and attitude in the 1960's and 1970's. There were the soulful Motown darlings who went on to help define the sound of their generation, the underground rockers and proto-punks who got the wheels of the Motor City spinning out of control with their brand of Garage-y Hard Rock, and the Funk heroes who combined the sounds of both cultures to get their own unique brand of music. Beyond the amount of studio songs that came out of Detroit, it was also well known as a mecca for live show fanatics. With infamous clubs and venues spread across the map, and acts like The MC5, The Stooges, Ted Nugent and Alice Cooper pushing their live performances to be as extreme as possible, people from across America flocked to Detroit to find the exciting music that at that point had become almost legendary.


Behold! Don't be fooled by their innocence; They were the face of teen rebellion.

Before their break-up in 1972, The MC5 had a reputation for being one of the wildest acts around. Going to one of their shows was practically a rite of passage for the youth of Detroit, who usually had to sneak away from their uncompromising parents to get a glimpse of the proto-punk legends on the stage. One 16 year old girl, Dominique Lorenz, was forbidden to see the MC5 in concert, and was left with only one viable option; she ran away! Starting a new life for herself in the hopes of becoming a musician, she changed her name to Nikki Corvette and became apart of the underground scene. She got her start at around the age of 21, when she managed to land a gig at a bar owned by one of her friends, however there was one key flaw to her plan; she had no band.

Hastily assembling her crew, she joined forces with local musicians Lori Jeri and Sally Dee, dubbing them Nikki and the Corvettes. Without any time for rehearsing or writing new material, they simply played covers of songs that everyone in the band knew (apparently, they once opened with the Beach Boys' "Fun, Fun, Fun", and quickly realized that trying to sing a song with so many vocal harmonies without rehearsing it beforehand is not a good idea!). They played the live circuit of Detroit through the late 1970's, during the years when bands like The Ramones were coming on the American Punk scene with their unique brand of Punk Rock, and eventually they caught the eye of the Shaws and their project "Bomp! Records" (if you've forgotten about them, I believe the entry about the first volume of the Pebbles compilation goes into their history and impact). Before breaking up in 1981, they cut a handful of singles and a self-titled debut LP. Even though their music was obscure and overlooked in their time, they became a very well-known cult band in underground circles, to the point where their low-budget LP has never gone out of print, and her growing fanbase has allowed Nikki to start touring again in 2003. She continues to tour and play with various bands to this day. Without further ado...

Nikki and the Corvettes



1. "He's a Mover" - Right off the bat, Nikki and the Corvettes hit you with a very odd and unique sound. While Nikki's vocals are extremely clean and bubble-gum sweet, the guitars and drums are as loud and rough as any other Punk band. I think this track actually benefits a lot from the album's low budget, as it gives it the perfect amount of grit and authenticity to balance out the sweetness of it.

2. "You're the One" - Another great Pop-Punk number with catchy vocals and exciting instrumentation! Nikki and the Corvettes are definitely indebted to bands like The Ramones, with their short, simple and lighthearted Punk songs, but they really have a great sound of their own. The perfect blend of rebellious and commercial!

3. "C'mon" - Returning with their signature sound, Nikki and the Corvettes hit hard with another Punk toothache. However, while their songs are certainly fresh and catchy, they could use a little more variety in the mix.


Nikki and the Corvettes! Right to left in the picture of their profiles: Sally Dee, Nikki Corvette, and Lori Jeri.

4. "Just What I Need" - Gotta love the clapping in the intro! Of all the songs so far, this one is the most reliant on it's chorus. The result is that it's very catchy, but the hook comes with the price of it being repetitive. One of the longer songs of the album, at roughly three minutes.

5. "Boys, Boys, Boys" - Before Motley Crue got girl crazy in 1987, it seems like Nikki and the Corvettes were cruisin' for some action! It's a fun tribute to looking for love in the city, and sounds just as fun and carefree as you might expect it to.

6. "Let's Go" - The shortest song of the album at just over a minute long, this is a tribute to Rockabilly foot-stompers like Little Richard's "Rip It Up", complemented with a fantastic guitar solo. It's pure sugar-coated fury, and is my favorite track of the album so far!


Nikki Corvette finds a use for her extra 45's.

7. "Shake It Up" - I love the Rockabilly style guitar solos and breaks that pop up throughout this album, as they really help to change things up and keep them exciting! This Pop-Punk track has a great guitar break, and is otherwise a pretty solid chorus-heavy number.

8. "Back Seat Love" - Nikki and the girls beckon cute boys to hop in the back of their Corvette with this adorable track! I love the intro, by the way!

9. "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend" - Of all the tracks on this album that I've heard so far, this one sounds the most like a Ramones number. What really makes it stand apart from the others is the fantastic drumming and guitar work, especially during the break in the middle.


Krysti Kaye, in the middle, was also a member of the band for awhile.


10. "Summertime Fun" - This one has a bit of a Surf/Rockabilly feeling to it, and the background "Hey!"'s give it a very 1980's feeling. All in all, another fun and solid number that easily could have dominated both the mainstream and underground radio stations of it's day.

11. "Gimme Gimme" - The sound of the intro kind of reminds me of ACDC for some reason ("It's a Long Way to the Top", maybe?)... This one combines all of their strengths, having a twangy guitar break, a strong chorus, fantastic drumming, and a perfect length, making it one of the strongest songs of the album and a perfect example of what these girls are capable of.

12. "You Make Me Crazy" - A nice experiment in a slightly darker direction, with a bit of a rougher and more jarring approach to their Pop-Punk sound, this one is still very sweet and innocent compared to pretty much every other Punk band of their time.



Nikki and the Corvettes dish out a great amount of carefree fun and no-strings-attached antics, giving fans of both Pop and Punk something to dance to! They certainly achieved their mission-statement of having fun and living large, and their energy shows in all of their songs. Normally, Pop-Punk bands are often criticized for relying too heavily on recurring sounds and formulas, as well as overly simplistic lyrics and themes, and Nikki and the Corvettes are certainly not known as one of the more experimental or political bands of their time. However, their songs have a fun spectrum of variety to them, as they summon up elements of Pop, Punk, Rockabilly and Surf Rock. Not only that, but this album is extremely short, clocking in at under twenty three minutes, ending before it gets a chance to become grating and repetitive. They played to their strengths with this one, and even though they do rely on hooks/choruses more that I'd like, I have to forgive them. Why? Because even when someone does something that you don't like, it's easy to forgive them when you can tell that they're having a blast while they do it!

Last edited by Oriphiel; 01-03-2015 at 01:30 PM.
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