The Mutants
So American b/w Piece of Shit
scum stats: two pressings, just based on that, gotta be a couple thousand out there...it was the Seventies!
Back in the homeland means I'm beholden to other people's records here and Buick's desk offers up a classic, quintessential Detroit punk slab.
I saw this in bins here in town for YEARS before I ever even bothered to be curious about it. I'm rather embarrassed to say that, for longer than I care to admit, if someone didn't specifically TELL me to check out a record, I would usually just ignore it. I had a very narrow field of focus...60's garage, Seattle Sub Pop shit, Stooges and MC5...that if something didn't conform to that EXACTLY...I had no time for it.
I cringe imagining what records I browsed past in the years I operated under this belief.
Eventually, I feel like someone styled me with a stack of Detroit punk singles FOR FREE and only then was I able to acknowledge, you know, this shit ain't bad. If you talk to those who were around at the time, they oftentimes get super territorial and dismissive, spouting off shit like "they weren't PUNK, they were NEW WAVE" or "ugh, East Side bullshit" or any number of unwarranted complaints by old white guys whose prominence and influence is thankfully evaporating.
These two songs are solid. They're worth the $10 or so most record stores would ask for it (I think you can still turn this up any day of the week at most spots in Detroit) and I think that is beautiful.
I prefer "So American" and its quasi-ironic tone while "Piece Of Shit" has far more attitude and posture. A good two sides of the coin. Opened my mind a little bit all those years back and hope it does the same for you to...Detroit punk or just keeping your mind open in general.
Sorry, I found them at a local Goodwill store, not at the TMR store as I wrote it. I was in Detroit visiting TMR and while I was there I went out to dig through some record bins. Sorry, my brain takes short-cuts sometimes………………..
Ben, don’t know if you read past posts, but this weekend while in Detroit visiting TMR, I scored three 45’s by the Mutants. 1. Bossman on Rox 002, I Say Yeah on FTM 002 and my prize, a test pressing of FTM 001, So American b/w Piece of Shit, the one you portrayed here. I wanted to thank you for turning me onto them or I may have passed them by!!! Thanks!!!
Love the guitar sounds , it’s buzzingly beautiful. This record would fit nicely anywhere in my collection, 70s, 80s, 90s 20s & now. I could play it between The Beatles "Birthday " and Aerosmith’s "Lick and a Promise ". You know if you continue to come across enough "stuff " maybe a nuggets type collection outta Detroit and surrounding areas. Not an original though but what is. I certainly would listen. Bring out your dead and smell the rot and roll. What dies is our memories,flesh and bones. So listen up and behold the resurrection of stuff.
That actually not bad!!! I, like you, tend to buy more stuff if I’ve never heard of them before. More of the rare stuff. Everybody has the Beatles, everybody has Aerosmith. Give me a 45 or 78 that no everyone in the world has it. I even buy the albums of those gospel bands that originate 60 miles in the sticks (I grew up in WV) because everybody else threw theirs away. History drives my addition!! Thanks for the Record of the Week, they give me names to look for….,…