2000 Great Songs #1302: City Kids
I've never quite figured out what to do with the Pink Fairies. Are they a psychedelic band? Prog? Heavy metal? British guitar boogie? Punk? Given the number of iterations the British band has gone through over its on again/off again half-century-plus history, maybe all of these? I can't say I'm much of a fan, but 1973's Kings Of Oblivion did a decent enough job of mashing up these disparate styles. And lead-off track "City Kids" was probably the closest they'd come to an almost-radio-friendly pop-rock song. A catchy, driving number that could be a great lost Pretty Things or Status Quo track (with some Iggy/Stooges in the mix), it's maybe too weird for basic hard rock, or just a little too proto-punk for classic rock... just a cool little rocker that defies pigeonholing. Larry Wallis, the singer/guitarist on that album, went on to help form Motorhead (with Lemmy from Hawkwind), and brought the song with him for the first Motorhead LP, 1979's On...
