"Fuck Off", also released as "(If You Don't Wanna Fuck Me, Baby) Fuck Off!!",
is the debut single by
Wayne County & the Electric Chairs. It was released through Sweet FA, an
imprint of
Safari Records.
The single's
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...
was "On the Crest".
Playing piano on the record was
Jools Holland
Julian Miles Holland (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Marc Almond, Jayne County, To ...
, then a
session musician
A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...
in his late-teens.
Described as "trashy,
New York Dolls
New York Dolls were an American rock music, rock band formed in New York City in 1971. Along with the Velvet Underground, the MC5, and the Stooges, they were one of the first bands of the early punk rock scenes. Although the band never achieved ...
-influenced punk rock", the song was included in the book ''X-Rated: The 200 Rudest Records Ever!''.
Overview
The song begins with a
boogie woogie
Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, but already developed in African-American communities since the 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually ex ...
feel,
with the piano part played by a then-unknown
Jools Holland
Julian Miles Holland (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Marc Almond, Jayne County, To ...
.
Toward the end of the song, however, the style changes to a
punk rock
Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
style with a
double-time
Double-Time Records (a.k.a. Double-Time Jazz) is a jazz record company and label founded by Jamey D. Aebersold in New Albany, Indiana in 1995. Its catalogue includes albums by John Abercrombie, Bruce Barth, Jerry Bergonzi, Conrad Herwig, And ...
feel.
In his 2007 autobiography, ''Barefaced Lies and Boogie-woogie Boasts'', Holland describes that on arriving at the recording session at
Marquee Studios
The Marquee Club was a music venue in London, England, that opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. It was a small and relatively cheap club, in the heart of London's West End.
It was the location of the first live performance b ...
in London, he discovered that the group had recorded a backing track for the song but had written no lyrics. County asked him to play "really
burlesque
A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects. ". Holland wrote that the first time he heard the song's lyrics was when playing the record to his mother, his younger brothers, and his aunt and uncle.
Background
The song was written when
Jayne County
Jayne County (born Wayne Rogers) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, record producer, and visual artist whose career has spanned six decades. Under the name Wayne County (inspired by Wayne County, Michigan), she was the vocalist of infl ...
's band were still known as The Backstreet Boys.
[Not to be confused with the 1990s boy band of the same name]AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
describes the lyrics as County's way of "chastising those who won't take
erhome".
Originally titled "(If You Don't Want to Fuck Me, Baby) Fuck Off", the song was planned to be released on the group's début album. The album was never released, though some tracks were included on 1976's ''Max's Kansas City''.
The following year, the band renamed themselves as "The Electric Chairs" and the song was included on the 1978 compilation album ''Man Enough to Be a Woman'' and the ''Blatantly Offenzive EP''.
A dance remix of the song was released in the 1990s, remixed by Sleazesisters (DJ Pete Martine and Porl Young).
Reception
The ''
Encyclopedia of Popular Music
''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is an encyclopedia created in 1989 by Colin Larkin. It is the "modern man's" equivalent of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music'', which Larkin describes in less than flattering terms.''The Times'', ''The Kno ...
'' described the song as "
nenduring low-rent punk favourite",
and the ''Encyclopedia of Punk Music and Culture'' described the single as "seminal".
Personnel
* Vocals —
Jayne County
Jayne County (born Wayne Rogers) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, record producer, and visual artist whose career has spanned six decades. Under the name Wayne County (inspired by Wayne County, Michigan), she was the vocalist of infl ...
* Guitar —
Greg Van Cook
Greg is a masculine given name, and often a shortened form of the given name Gregory. Greg (sometimes spelled " Gregg") is also a surname.
People with the name
*Greg Abbott (disambiguation), multiple people
*Greg Abel (born 1961/1962), Canadian b ...
* Piano —
Jools Holland
Julian Miles Holland (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Marc Almond, Jayne County, To ...
* Bass guitar —
Val Haller
Val Haller (born Adrian Osborne) (February 12th 1952 - December 16th 2012) was a British musician. Primarily a bass guitarist, he was also a vocalist, keyboardist, and composer. Haller played with Wayne County & the Electric Chairs, The Flying ...
* Drums —
J.J. Johnson
J. J. Johnson (January 22, 1924 – February 4, 2001), born James Louis Johnson and also known as Jay Jay Johnson, was an American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger.
Johnson was one of the earliest trombonists to embrace bebop.
Biog ...
Footnotes
References
{{authority control
1977 songs
1977 debut singles
Safari Records singles