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NOTES AND CHORDS MEAN EVERYTHING

Tracing six decades of the legendary Redd Kross.

December 1, 2024
Brian Turner

Possibly one of the best markers to explain the DNA of Redd Kross unfurls in Amoeba Records’ What’s in My Bag? YouTube series, where Jeff McDonald and younger brother Steven get the prerequisite shopping spree in the store and eagerly explain their baskets of CDs and DVDs that sport James Taylor, Ty Segall, and John and Yoko’s Dick Cavett Show takeover, among other finds. When it comes to showing Steve’s copy of REO Speedwagon’s 1979 opus Nine Lives, there’s bemused squabbling on whether Cronin & Co. were attempting pre-hair metal or post-glam easy listening, finally deciding it was MOR new wave. It’s this attention to the finer details of rock excess, coupled with their being quite aware of what makes its elements succeed (or fail), that somewhat guides RK’s 40-plus-year span. Maybe they haven’t scored their own “Can’t Fight This Feeling’’ (however, they once grazed the U.K. Top 50 with a Carpenters cover in 1994), but they’ve got zero failures and are arguably at their peak these days.

It’s easy copy to plumb the McDonalds’ mythos by pointing out their Hawthorne/suburban L.A. upbringing, Partridge Family/KISS/Runaways/ Beatles obsessions, and unabashed allegiance to the minutiae of ’70s cultural signposts, but they’re no Civil War reenactors when it comes to their interpretation of it all. The Redd Kross code has always coupled a reverence of the glory days of pop/trash culture with a serious evolution in their own sound, all without sacrificing what they do for an easy brand stamp from record-company marketing teams. Their souls belong to the music hooks from a vast field where glam, pop, arena rock, bubblegum, and heady psychedelia coexist in style, and over the years they have amassed a track record with a fiercely dedicated, and growing, fan base. This saga has expanded exponentially in the past year with the fantastic Andrew Reich documentary Born Innocent: The Redd Kross Story; a dynamo 18-song double LP just titled Redd Kross (a not-so-subtle nod to the Beatles’ “White Album”); and now a collaborative memoir with Dan Epstein out called Now You’re One of Us: The Incredible Story of Redd Kross. Recording and touring with strength and cohesion in reference to all they’ve done to date, it’s indeed an incredible story. What bands beside the Fall and Sparks have had such a strong run over such an extended period of time? Sure, there’s a list, but it’s a short one.

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