Dead-Metal (Turbonegro and Betty Page)

Betty Page died the other day. (These things do happen.)



The above song, retrospective of her passing, must be considered a loving, rather moving tribute.

Download TURBONEGRO's "(I Fucked) Betty Page"

Turbonegro are a sorta punk, sorta metal band. I just got into them recently, but supposedly they have 8 albums. (That's more than you.) This is how the lead singer typically performs:

(With that physique, you might be forgiven for being surprised that he didn't die BEFORE Betty Page...)
They are somewhat daffy, but it stays fun and doesn't get old. Partly because, musically, they are way rad. But even the lyrics, which are where the tomfoolery enters into it, rarely are straight-up stupid.
Turbonegro are daffy in that they talk about sex and coke and erections (independent of sex- see below) and "ROK und ROLL" and ask questions like "Do you do you Dig Destruction?" (to which they answer "Latino lovers often do" ???). They obviously aren't taking it all so very seriously, but they aren't in it just to joke either. So when, in "I Got Erection", they say:

"Every time I walk down the street - Erection -
When I think of blood I think of love - Erection -
When I set a house on fire - Erection -
When I dig a hole in the ground - Erection -
When I hear that death punk sound- Erection"

they are probably mostly joking. But when they say that 'Turbonegro Hate The Kids' (you know, 'the kids'), I get the feeling that they mean it.



They played at Madison Square Garden a little while ago, which is a slightly odd venue for them. And, slightly related: when uploading "(I Fucked) Betty Page" (click to download), A pop-up ad informed me that The Hold Steady (who I don't know about, but am sure that they are "The Kids" and very dumb and bad and all that) and their tour are sponsored by Duracell. they are sponsored by the Pink Rabbit!



This is why we all need bands like TURBONEGRO, by the way.
Well, one more for the road- and I promise, you all will like this song; it has homoeroticism, international travel, the bars of "New York, New York" (they call it that because they are from Norway, by the way).