Baking a Motherfucking Pizza Pie

Today's song is performed by the Norwegian "death punk" band, Turbonegro. The leadoff track on the 1998 album, Apocalypse Dudes, "The Age of Pamparius," starts with a guitar riff almost identical to that played during the intro to the 1972 Alice Cooper (Group) song, "My Stars." This is followed by verses and choruses of the kind of hard-driving cock rock you haven't heard since the last time you listened to it, with a brief Big-Ben-by-way-of-Cheap-Trick bridge thrown in for a few good measures.

Turbonegro - The Age of Pamparius

Judging from the photos I'd seen of Turbonegro over the years, I'd always just assumed they were a gay version of The Village People. Album titles like Ass Cobra and song titles like "The Midnight NAMBLA" and "Young Boys Feet," simply cemented that image in my mind. So puffery on the band's website proclaiming Turbonegro "the most evil band in the world" seemed believeable.

On Apocalypse Dudes, Turbonegro have a "Rendezvous With Anus," while celebrating "Good Head" and "Zillion Dollar Sadist[s]." Clear musical references to (The) Alice Cooper (Group) and the Ramones abound, peaking on the track "Get It On," where the "Like it / Love it / Like it / Love it" refrain from the Cooper hit "Eighteen" is quoted directly. Elsewhere, the band cops blatantly from Ted Nugent, Black Flag, and the Rolling Stones.

Now, then... Listen to today's song again. Pay particular attention to the lyrics this time. Note, in the second verse, how "pepperoni" is rhymed with "calzone." Note how the hook line in the choruses is about "baking a motherfucking pizza tonight."

Turbonegro, then, is a band with tongues planted firmly in cheeks.

April 3, 2005 | |

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