Teenage Depression

Eddie & the Hot Rods were not, as their name might suggest, a doo-wop group or a fictitious leather bound movie band. Instead they were an energetic British early punk rock band (or, depending on your point of view, a late pub rock band). Influenced by 60's rock and early pub rock groups like Dr. Feelgood, Eddie & the Hot Rods (who never had any Eddie's in the band ) played simple bare-bones rock and roll; they just played it faster and louder than most earlier groups, helping to pave the way for punk rock in Britain. Yet at its core, the Hot Rods' music came from good old rhythm and blues (in fact the flip side of today's song was Sam Cooke's "Shake). Their 1976 single, "Teenage Depression", hit the UK top 40 and appealed to the same sensibilities as the Stones and Who spoke to kids a decade earlier

"Same thing every day, well I can't get out of bed.

Too many questions are confusing up my head

I can't stand the thought of another day at school

But I know the weekend's coming so I gotta keep my cool."

Listening to the fast driving beat today, "Teenage Depression" really sounds very similar to the garage rock songs that influenced it. Indeed, soon music by groups like The Clash and The Sex Pistols (who opened for the Hod Rods at the Marquee Club only to be kicked off tour after the Pistols smashed the Hot Rods gear) would be even harder and faster, and The Hot Rods would decline in popularity after a couple more UK hits.