Additional personnel: Ronald Binder (vocals, handclaps); Fuji, James Sliman, Michael Sticca (handclaps).

Recorded at Electric Lady Studios and live at C.B.G.B.'s, New York, New York.

Fellow Cleveland types Pere Ubu may have won the artistic kudos for their adventurous, surprising work, but if the goal was just to rock and rock again, the Dead Boys had them totally trumped. As both title phrase and capsule description, Young, Loud & Snotty accurately defines the predominating aesthetic so well that one could just leave it at that, but there's a lot more going on here than on the face of it. With perhaps surprising great production from demi-famous '70s rocket Genya Ravan, the five-some found something sonically smack in-between the US garage/punk heritage of the past and the more modern thrashings from overseas. Bators sneers, gobs, gasps, and whines with the best of them, but he knows his rock history, as does his bandmates. Zero and Chrome aren't guitar virtuosos, but they do know what makes a song great and aren't afraid to concentrate on that, while the Magnum/Blitz rhythm section keeps things moving as it does. In some ways songs like "All This and More" and "I Need Lunch" simply emerge from an alternate '50s, with admittedly much more feedback and stereo sound. Stone cold rock classic "Sonic Reducer" starts things off -- amusingly -- with all sorts of phased drums and other fripperies that later generations wouldn't consider punk at all. That said, it's still blunt, brilliantly sung by Bators and kicks out the jams with messy energy. Other all-time greats include the perfect bored-and-needing-kicks anthem "Ain't Nothin' to Do" and the thoroughly wrong "Caught With the Meat In Your Mouth." There's even a rock oldie -- a cover of "Hey Little Girl" live onstage at spiritual home CBGB's. And why not? With great punk rock and great rock, Young, Loud and Snotty still packs a punch. ~ Ned Raggett

There was definitely a dank underbelly swelling during the punk explosion of the late '70s. The Dead Boys crawled under it and found themselves quite comfortable. Making music in New York's subterranean regions allowed the band an unparalleled sense of vulgarity and a freedom to assault for assault's sake. Thus, YOUNG, LOUD, AND SNOTTY is as artless and rude as its title.

Led by the gnashing, noxious, and rail-thin Stiv Bators, the Dead Boys wreaked havoc like the most destructive of party crashers. The vicious "Sonic Reducer" offended everyone it was meant to offend and became the band's anthem. Such havoc is hard to sustain, and the career of the Dead Boys was similarly brief. The band's legacy, however, did not pass unnoticed. Both Pearl Jam and Guns 'N' Roses have covered the often-overlooked band. Bators went on to form the not-nearly-as-threatening Lords of the New Church before he was hit and killed by a passing car in 1990.