- Blank Generation (album)
Infobox Album
Name = Blank Generation
Type =Album
Artist = Richard Hell & the Voidoids
Released = 1977
Recorded = Plaza Sound, New YorkElectric Lady Studios
Genre =Punk rock
Length = 39:44
Label = Sire
Producer =Richard Gottehrer Richard Hell
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:yem1z88ajyv5 link]
Last album =
This album = "Blank Generation"
(1977)
Next album = "Destiny Street "
(1982)"Blank Generation" is the first album by
punk rock bandRichard Hell and the Voidoids , produced byRichard Gottehrer and released in 1977 onSire Records .The lyrics on the album, in keeping with the late 1970s punk style that Hell helped to create when he co-founded Television, are nihilistic but poetic.
The music is driven largely by
Robert Quine 's rapid, complex, angular guitar licks, in particular on the lead song "Love Comes in Spurts," in which Hell rages against the impermanence of love in the real world compared to the imagination of his youth::'Cause love comes in spurts
In dangerous flirts
And it murders your heart
They didn't tell you that partHell maintains that the title song is meant as a comment on "generation" songs, such as
The Who 's "My Generation ", and that it was not really about "being" blank but about having a free choice as opposed to being labeled by others, in the sense of fill-in-the-blank. In a letter to "The Wire" magazine, Hell pointed out that there are other obvious resonances in the lyrics, such as in references to blank walls and vacant lots. Fact|date=July 2008:it's fascinating to observe what the mirror does
but when I dine it's for the wall that I set a place:...
:To hold the TV to my lips the air so packed with cash
Then carry it up flights of stairs and drop it in the vacant lotNot to mention in some rather stark nihilistic thoughts:
:I was sayin let me out of here before I was
even born--it's such a gamble when you get a face(These lyrics are taken from the titles of two poems in Hell's satiric poetry collaboration withTom Verlaine , "Wanna Go Out? " The book was written under the pseudonym ofTheresa Stern , supposedly a half-Puerto Rican, half-Jewish former prostitute. The book was recently reissued in a French/English bilingual limited edition as [http://www.richardhell.com/helllit.html#theresa On Decolle? Wanna Go Out?] .)Cover design
The original album sleeve feature a front cover photo of Hell in black jeans and shirtless, opening a frayed jacket to reveal the phrase, "YOU MAKE ME _______", written across his chest. The photo was taken by
CBGB 's unofficial photographer,Roberta Bayley . The back cover featured a posed photo of Hell and the Voidoids taken byKate Simon .1990 CD reissue
The 1990 CD reissue of "Blank Generation" differs in several ways from the original vinyl album. It includes two bonus tracks: a version of the pop
standard , "All the Way ", and an original, "I'm Your Man" (not theLeonard Cohen song of same name). Both areouttake s from the original album sessions. Also, "Down at the Rock & Roll Club" is a noticeably different take than that which was on the original LP; it features no drums during most of the verses. The CD album cover is also different than the original.Track listing
All songs written by
Richard Hell except as indicated.ide one
#"Love Comes in Spurts"
#"Liars Beware" (Hell,Ivan Julian )
#"New Pleasure"
#"Betrayal Takes Two" (Hell,Ivan Julian )
#"Down at the Rock and Roll Club"
#"Who Says?"ide two
#"Blank Generation"
#"Walking on the Water" (John Fogerty ,Tom Fogerty )
#"The Plan"
#"Another World"CD reissue bonus tracks
#"I'm Your Man"
#"All the Way" (Sammy Cahn ,Jimmy Van Heusen )Personnel
*
Richard Hell - bass, vocals
*Robert Quine - guitar, backing vocals
*Ivan Julian - guitar, backing vocals
*Marc Bell - drums
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