As mentioned in the recent Naked Raygun post, I have seen quite a few early 1980s punk bands, particularly those from California, over the past years. Agent Orange, formed in 1979, were among the very earliest from the “California wave” and were a surf/punk hybrid and therefore were, I suspect, largely responsible for surf guitar as the foundation of many bands to follow.
To drive the point, Agent Orange covered Dead Kennedy’s “Police Truck” and it became apparent to me, for the first time, that a similar surf guitar was the basis for the whole Dead Kennedy sound, which, in DKs hands the normally bright surf guitar sound was twisted into a dark paranoid soundtrack to Reagan era America. I never noticed that before. I never said that I wasn’t a bit slow. Whatever the case, I thought this an interesting cover choice.
[audio: http://www.thesoundofindie.com/archive/2010/20100219/AO-PoliceTruck.mp3|titles=Police Truck (Live)|artists=Agent Orange]Download: Agent Orange – Police Truck (Live)
