Song Of the Day: March 9, 2006
The Plugz – Achin’
Fatima Records 45, 1981
One of the greatest singles of all time. Made it onto nearly every rave-up party compilation tape I made during the 80’s. It’s the punk song that has it all. Everything one needs to get all revved up. Wonderful in-your-face trashy production, great instrument sounds, fabulously adenoidal nonchalant vocals courtesy of mastermind lead singer/leader Tito Larriva and the most brilliant and hilarious lyrics in the known universe. I’m totally serious. Plugz were probably the first Chicano punk band, part of the LA punk scene in the late 70’s and early 80’s, frequently opening for many of the punk heavies there. They’re mostly known for the flip of this self-released DIY single, a punk workout of “La Bamba”. A cool cover in its own right, but which has nothing on “Achin’”. They made two singles and two albums, the second featuring the cool title cut “Better Luck” (and for some reason an inferior alternate version of “Achin’”). Apparently they even backed up Dylan for four songs on Letterman in ’84, which is kind of wild to contemplate. Larriva went onto form the better known Cruzados after the Plugz demise. Over the years, I’ve lobbied hard and occasionally persuaded some of the bands I’ve been in to honor the song with a rousing rendition of it. Pull up a bottlecap, you juke box maniac.
-Andrew Chalfen
posted by Jon Harrison at 1:21 PM
18 Comments:
"...the way you crack an egg"
This one has stayed in my brain all those years since you first played it for me.
Thanks!
Not to go too mainstream on you, but they also did a fantastic cover of "Secret Agent Man" on the Repo Man soundtrack, which is a great CD in it's own right.--Mark Alfred.
Didn't they also do the Repo Man theme and the instrumental soundtrack music (which has never been released, I don't think)?
YES! I've been looking for this forever. A great record.
But what's the deal with The Cruzados?
Fantastic stuff, thanks!
I totally slept on them forever untill a few weeks ago, coincedently enough. I downloaded what I could and will look for the stuff. Electrify Me is now one of my fave punk records and the few tracks from Better Luck I've heard (posted here? elsewhere?) are amazing.
- The 45 was 1st released in 1979, but not with the skeleton cover of the 81 issues.
- Repo Man theme was by Iggy Pop, tho The Plugz had 3 songs (one being Hombre Secreto (Secret Agent Man).
- I remember the Dylan/Plugz bit on Letterman as more Plugz sounding than Dylan.
- michael
Tokyo Electron recently did a cover of 'Electrify Me' on their recent LP. Killer version. Agreed, the Plugz were up among the very best 70s punk rock had to offer.
This song is so good, it makes Anarchy in the UK look like The Good Ship Lollypop
The other 2 Plugz songs on the Repo Man album were "Reel 10" (the music at the end of the movie where Otto gets into the Malibu with Miller and they take off) and "El Clavo Y La Cruz" which was the Spanish language song played when Otto is driving around LA being a Repo Man.
I have been looking around forever trying to find the instrumental version of Iggy Pop's Repo Man.
Great article! Thanks.
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WOW!
I always assumed this was the version off of Better Luck. Thanks!
Elvis LOVES The Plugz!!
This is weird, but in the early 80s, as a youth in Manitoba, Canada, I saw the Plugz perform Achin on some kind of mainstream TV music show from the US. I can't remember the show but I remember being blown away by the song. In fact, I tried for years to find info on the band and song to no avail (my friends and I knew a lot of underground bands but no one knew about the Plugz, unfortunately) -- until last week when I accidentally found out the band's name is spelled "Plugz" and not "Plugs." Finally found the song on YouTube. What is really odd is that I had only heard the song that one time in the early 80s but still remembered how it sounded and still remembered little phrases from it such as "juke box maniac," etc., hooks from the song and could still hum the song. Not sure what it is about the song but it really stuck with me -- as did the performance I saw on TV, which really was out of place for the type of show it was on. Anyone know what show they were on and if there is a video of that performance?
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