Oh, I wish I were as mellow, as, for instance, Jackson Browne
5 Out of 5 Stars
Tonio K totally rocked my world in 1979. The first time I heard "Life In The Foodchain," I couldn't believe how blunt and brutally funny this guy was. Imagine a punk rock Warren Zevon or a misogynistic folkie who just took a hypodermic full of adrenaline Pulp Fiction style right in his songwriting sternum. That's how far out of this world "Life In The Foodchain" was (and, frankly, still is).
Side one in the old days was a flawless four song sledgehammer the set its aim on the complacent California Rock scene and smashed it to smithereens. In addition to the title track, you get the modern rock hit "Funky Western Civilization," which takes a no-holds-barred looks at the hypocrisy of mankind and shoots it all down in what may be the most offensive/hysterical verse ever played on the radio:
"Well they put Jesus on a cross, they put a hole in JFK,
They put Hitler in the driver's seat and looked the other way."
The side closes with the best Bob Dylan re-write ever. "The Night The Clocks All Quit and The Government Fell" is, well, the only way I can describe it is imagine of Dylan ate some really bad acid in the recording studio, imagined he was watching the Armageddon/apocalypse and recorded his visions with The Clash as his backing band. That's just side one.
The second half falters a bit, since there was almost no way Tonio could have topped it. That doesn't mean the songs are bad, and "Life In The Foodchain" ends with what can only be said is the number one most viciously brutal and hysterically funny Eff-Off song that no-one, and I do mean, no-one, will ever be able to top. "H-A-T-R-E-D" starts off with Tonio gently strumming a guitar and warbling in a hurt, sensitive manner about how hurt he is that is woman has left him...before he softly whispers "But let me kind of put this another way, OK?" At which point all hell breaks loose as Tonio and the band let fly with a rage both frightening and laugh-out-loud nuts, as he screams "I'm gonna K-I-L-L one of us, baby, when I'm sober, I'll decide on which!" The song and the album come to a crashing close, with howls of feedback, chaotic drums, an organ doing the "Louie Louie" riff and Tonio begging "with a little counseling, maybe we can work this out."
That's the song were the Jackson Browne line comes from (and the obscene second line can't be printed). Like all of "Life In The Foodchain," it's chaotic and funny, brilliantly written and sarcastic as anything before or since. Tonio managed a few more great albums and even wrote a couple of hits, but this remains a defining moment in rock history. It's a biting 30 plus years on as it was on the day of release.
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