Monday, September 22, 2008

suzi quatro, little bitch runaway



BELL 1302.

Bubblegum glam prom queen, Suzi Quatro - born 1950, Detroit, Michigan - is kitsch godmother to Kim Fowley's punk Runaways and real life aunt to actress, Sherilyn Fenn.

In an ironic 'Twin Peaks' blurring of actual events, she is possibly more famous in the United States in her honorary role as the Fonz's girlfriend, Pinky Tuscadero's younger sister.

Discovered by Donovan's manager and producer, Mickie Most, Quatro was huge in the UK and Australia between 1973 - 1974. Recording for Most's RAK label, the original leather 'Little Bitch Blue' delivered a tidy string of Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn produced hits, but despite extensive touring in her native U.S. as opening act for superstar, Alice Cooper, success in her homeland eluded her. Just as frustratingly, while she and long-serving guitarist, Len Tuckey - who Quatro married in 1976 - proved themselves capable as songwriting partners, it was Chapman & Chinn's label penned compositions which won promotion as singles and secured Most's team all the royalties.

Suzi Creamcheese Tuscadero. Fun. And a tight little ass.

Just don't let Henry Winkler catch me saying that.

SUZI QUATRO: CAN THE CAN from "Can The Can b/w Ain't Ya Somethin' Honey" 45 (RAK) 1973 (UK)

SUZI QUATRO: 48 CRASH from "Suzi Quatro" LP (RAK / Bell) 1974 (US / UK)

PURCHASE SUZI QUATRO CAN THE CAN

11 comments:

Your driver said...

I hung onto this album through thick and thin because I wanted to keep my LP's alphabetical and I wanted something filed under Q. There was only one other Q band and I hated them. I won't even mention their name. Even without that strong incentive, she wasn't bad. The influence on The Runaways is obvious and almost never cited. No fair.

ib said...

Who was the other 'Q': Queen ?

I'm intrigued.

I'm glad you had this album. It's nowhere as good as the Runaways, of course, but it wears its heart in the right place.

Your driver said...

I'll not soil my keyboard with their name. They were extremely popular and fronted by a man whose name was something like Chuckie Zinc. He wanted to bring opera to the masses. The masses know about opera, they don't like it. For some reason, they liked it as interpreted by Mr. Zinc. I'd prefer to hear it from Wagner or Mozart.

Your driver said...

I do kind of like Mozart. Wagner cracks me up. Pretentious old fuck that he was. Really, I don't much like opera. Insofar as I can stand the stuff, I like it by those two. Operatic rock like that other Q band, Meatloaf and Springsteen at his worst makes me want to hurl. I did say Springsteen at his worst. He has redeemed himself many times over, even though I'm not a big fan.

ib said...

Ha. Yeah, Wagner was a pretentious old nazi. That much is true. Some people have been genuinely surprised that I like the "Ring" cycle.

Mozart = too many notes. Salieri was right.

I know what you're saying with regards to Springsteen, but your mention of Meatloaf reminds me of an interview I saw him give on a BBC chat show. The gist of it was his daughter was dating some bad boy 'biker' who turned up at the Loaf residence to pick her up. According to the lumpen one, this kid was terrified at the prospect of bringing Cinderella back home one second too late.

It cracked me up.

Does he not realise he is less threatening than a John Waters drag creation on a Harley Fat Boy ? With bigger tits than Pamela Anderson, granted.

His operatic rock, agreed, is as entertainingly turgid as sewage floating out to sea. With or without the accompanying video footage.

WZJN said...

Hail to anyone who brings in the name Suzi Quatro! I don't give a single wrist wank what anyone says - Suzi ruled. Albeit for a short time, but she was over the top and I liked it that way.

I don't know how many I turned on to her ... what the hell was it ... the album with "You Keep A Knockin'" and "Devil Gate Drive". Many others I could cite that were unpretentious great fun!

Hail jb!

ib said...

Hey, wzjn,

glad you approve.

Actually, it's ib, not jb. A nod to the wise.

I didn't want to mention it previously - but what the f@ck - after several instances of the misspelling, both here and on your site, I think it's safe to assume it cannot be a typo.

Sorry to be pedantic. SQ was cool. And I liked the way a bass guitar always looked way too big in her hands.

WZJN said...

Damn man, I'm flabbergasted! I should have noticed way sooner. I'm sorry for that. Won't happen again.

Lesson - never too cool to wear your glasses!

ib said...

No problem, man. My own reading glasses are gathering dust while my eyesight continues to deteriorate.

Peewit said...

I return from 2 days in Brum for work to find you've posted about one of my all time musical heroines. Leather: bass guitar: good looker what more could a spotty adolescent wish for whilst wearing his flares and his NHS specs?

Her occasional Radio 2 show shows she is knowledgeable about her music too. Check it out if you haven't already

ib said...

This is building into quite a fan club.

I remember I constantly wore a horrendous denim waistcoat over a white t-shirt at the time. I liked to think it was very "Heat Of The Night", but it was more Status Quo in appearance, sadly.

I will check her Radio 2 show some time; I didn't know she had one. I seldom get beyond Radio 4 or The World Service.