UNDER APPRECIATED ROCK BAND OF THE MONTH FOR SEPTEMBER 2016 – LIGHTNING STRIKE
The Under Appreciated Rock Band of the Month for September 2016 is LIGHTNING STRIKE; I know them from a 1988 RCA Victor Records album, Lightning Strike that I picked up years ago. This was an early attempt at a punk and hip hop fusion that works really well to these ears.
In one of the sources for this post, the online magazine Louder than War, Paul Fischer describes the music by Lightning Strike as “an incendiary mix of Clash/B.A.D. and the Beastie Boys”. Big Audio Dynamite is the original punk/rap band, formed by Mick Jones in 1984 after he was thrown out of the Clash the year before. Most, though not all info on Lightning Strike lists them as a punk band or even a hardcore punk band.
Meanwhile, Lightning Strike sends up tinges of hip hop throughout the album and covers a Furious Five classic, “Beat Street” as their first single. “Get Ready” starts the Lightning Strike album off as a serious party, and “Beatbox International” is one of several songs that references hip hop culture.
The Nuzz Prowling Wolf blog quotes one member of Lightning Strike about their Clash roots: “The last review we had said, ‘The singer must have stood and practiced in front of the mirror for hours to be Joe Strummer’. And the geezer was right. I did! So what? We like the Clash so I don’t take it as an insult.”
* * *
The first single by Lightning Strike was “Beat Street” b/w “The Pack”, featuring their twisted coat of arms on the front side of the jacket. “Beat Street” is their only cover, though the apparent songwriting credit on the 45 doesn’t acknowledge that; the other songs on the album are originals. Maria McKee of Lone Justice has a vocal interlude on this song.
* * *
“Beat Street”, the debut single by Lightning Strike has true royalty among its songwriters: Melvin Glover (rapper Melle Mel of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five), Sylvia Robinson (“the mother of hip hop”), and Reggie Griffin. As recorded by Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five, “Beat Street” is the title song of the 1984 hip hop movie Beat Street, featuring a host of rap pioneers.
Oddly though, “Beat Street” does not appear on the Beat Street soundtrack albums – issued in two volumes – although “Beat Street Breakdown” by Grandmaster Melle Mel and the Furious Five does (along with several other songs having “beat street” in the title). “Beat Street” is included in the Rhino Records retrospective from 1994, Message from Beat Street: The Best of Grandmaster Flash, Melle Mel & the Furious Five.
* * *
Lightning Strike is a British band but spent some time in New York successfully drumming up a major-label recording contract. Bandmembers as listed on the back of the single sleeve are Dave Earl (vocals and guitar), Eddie Auffray (guitar and vocals), Teb Scott (drums), John Brooder (bass and vocals), and Sten Stenhouse (keyboards and vocals). Kevin Daly, their manager is listed as “mouth”.
* * *
Nuzz Prowling Wolf mentions that Lightning Strike toured the UK with Boys Wonder and Crazy Pink Revolvers in the Jiffy Condoms-sponsored Safe Sex Tour.
Paul Fischer, in his interview with Eddie Auffray for Louder than War, gives this overview of the scene around Lightning Strike: “If you were a leather-jacket wearing teenager in London around that time you couldn’t miss them, they were the house band of the ‘Intrepid Fox’ and at the hub of a scene that has never really been documented, based around said boozer in Soho’s Wardour Street where everyone congregated before gigs at the Marquee which was over the other side of the road.”
Replies to the Nuzz Prowling Wolf post on Lightning Strike says that the band was an opening act for Stiff Little Fingers, for Crazyhead, and for Mega City Four.
* * *
“Beat Street” was actually the second choice by Lightning Strike for their first single. As related by Paul Fischer: “Debut single was due to be live favorite ‘Exocet Alley’, a blast of Rick Rubin-esque rap-rock via Sigue Sigue Sputnik, which derided Jeffrey Archer in the lyrics.” Jeffrey Archer is a Conservative Party politician in England who had been caught with a prostitute in 1986. In July 1987, Archer launched a high-profile libel suit against one newspaper who reported the story, the Daily Star; and the record label decided to pass on the release.
* * *
There is an alternate release of the Lightning Strike album, as shown above. Not surprisingly, the album was “Banned in Britain”. As a bonus, this edition includes the uncensored version of “Exocet Alley”.
As a self-titled album, Lightning Strike by Lightning Strike suffers from a name problem. Many websites show the band name as Lightning, and the album name as Strike. Even the record label on one of the RCA releases got it wrong.
* * *
In the Paul Fischer interview, Eddie Auffray reports that Lightning Strike worked for two years on demos for a second album on RCA, but the label wasn’t interested.
Eddie Auffray stuck with it; as reported by Paul Fischer: “I continued to play in different bands one of them being Trash. Eventually Trash split and just after that I auditioned for Speedway, the bass player being a mate of mine and suggesting me. The rest is history! Ha! I wish!” But Speedway did wind up recording an album called Entertainment (1999) for Socal Records.
* * *
Eddie Auffray relocated to Barcelona and recently joined a punk rock band called Ravales. “After about 6 months, I started to put out adverts and eventually got back into playing. Maxi Santapa (vocals/bass) put Ravales together based around his skate shop HEY HO SKATE. I was put forward by the (then) drummer, auditioned and joined. Drummer left due to personal circumstances, and Mauricio Schneider joined.”
Paul Fischer reports about their debut album: “Ravales’ debut album Barrio Chino has just been released [2012] and is a fierce collection of 17 punked-up rocky gems. At its best it really does sound like Steve Jones and Paul Cook [of Sex Pistols] playing a Ramones set, albeit mostly sung in Spanish!”
* * *
In December 2014, Ravales released a Christmas single (!) called Merry Jingle Bells featuring punk-rock versions of “We Wish You A Merry Christmas” and “Jingle Bells”.
When I first researched Lightning Strike several years ago, I found a great post about the band. I dutifully bookmarked the website, and now I can’t find the bookmark; and I have not been able to find the website again either. But I did the best I could with what I had.
(September 2016)
* * *
Since I am down to a quarterly schedule rather than a monthly schedule, my annual list is a lot shorter, so I will try listing all of the people that I have discussed in some depth rather than just the Under Appreciated Rock Band and the Story of the Month. They are all punk rock bands of one kind or another this year (2015-2016), and the most recent post includes my overview of the early rap/hip hop scene that an old friend, George Konstantinow challenged me to write – probably so long ago that he might have forgotten.
September 2016 – 1980’s punk/rap band LIGHTNING STRIKE; Story of the Month on Patti Smith; also, Hamilton, School of Rock, MFSB, Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Bob Dylan, Run-D.M.C., Aerosmith, LL Cool J, Snoop Dogg, the Fat Boys, DJ Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince, Kid ’N Play, MC Hammer, Rick James, Vanilla Ice, Blondie / Deborah Harry, Salt-N-Pepa, the Sugarhill Gang, Nile Rodgers / Chic, Ravales.
(Year 7 Review)
