INTRODUCING YOU TO BANDS YOU MIGHT  NOT KNOW, BUT TOTALLY SHOULD.

Jay Reatard

Jay Reatard was perhaps one of the best punk musicians to have emerged from the United States, and it’s a crying shame that he’s no longer with us to expand on his canon of work. Eschewing the baffling trend of many “punk” bands that pointlessly devolve into agonizing screaming and tiresome noise disguised as hooks, his brand of punk/ garage rock/ post punk centers around solid lyrics and tight instrumentation.  Born Jimmy Lee Lindsey, he adopted his punk stage name early on at 15 (just shortly after dropping out of school at 8th grade) and has expressed some regret that it remained with him for the next 14 years of his life. Juvenile names or not, Lindsey’s musical talents are impressive, earning him fans like Beck and Ryan Adams. He played almost all of the instruments on all of his albums and crafted punk rock that he has called “hand made” rather than “low-fi”. He preferred to output his music unpolished because it reflected his spontaneity and the realism of his bare bones musical construction. With major influence being The Oblivions, you’ll also hear hints of older UK punk like Wire and The Vibrators in his work. Unfortunately, Lindsey passed away in 2010, so we won’t see where his music might have been taken him.

Notable Songs

My Shadow

It Aint Gonna Save Me

Nightmares

Hang Them All

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