David Peel was the self-proclaimed “King of Punk from the Lower East Suicide”, but unfortunately, his mighty exploits seem to have been overshadowed by other cults of personality from NYC’s burgeoning punk days. Thanks to Chicago’s HoZac Records, though, this bombastic figure from rock’s more turbulent history can finally find his rightful place in the pantheon of Punk Rock Luminaries–as the label is getting set to reissue Peel’s 1978 trash masterpiece, King of Punk. I highly recommend checking out HoZac’s write-up about the man, for a more complete retelling of his story, but let’s hit some of the high points…
Peel’s band, The Lower East Side, was signed to Elektra Records in the late 60’s, and they fit right in with brash labelmates like The Stooges, MC5, and The Doors. In fact, Peel ran with a lot of counter-cultural heavyweights throughout the 60’s and 70’s–folks like John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Jerry Rubin, the MC5’s Wayne Kramer, and GG Allin–to name a few. So much so, in fact, that the artist even had a 40-page FBI file where it was noted that he used to play guitar in NYC’s Washington Square Park at Sunday Summer Singouts, and that he was “known among movement people as a “speed freak” (drug user)”. Guess the band’s 1970 LP The American Revolution must have really touched a nerve, and while it definitely had government people taking note, it’s “street rock” aesthetic would also help lay the groundwork for the coming punk movement.
You can find “The Master Race” on David Peel’s King of Punk, due out via HoZac on October 15th. A blistering jam full of revolutionary invective and political sarcasm, Peel opens things up by getting right in your face with this cheeky greeting: “My fellow slave Americans/I am the CIA”…before finishing, “Your life or death I choose for you/I am the USA”. Peel’s wicked humor can also be heard on the album’s title track, included below as a YouTube embed. Declaring himself the “King of Punk”, he and his gang unleash a series of “fuck you”‘s to punk icons like the New York Dolls, Television, and The Sex Pistols, before he declares simply, “If you wanna be a punk/go and live on the streets…”. Real talk, from a cat that really lived it!
