The Throbs

Pretty great NYC band from the tail end of the metal years, like so many they had great buzz but then slipped away with out much of a yelp. Was it the curse of Geffen again?

They were like primo early 70's Alice Cooper Band holed up in some far East opium den.

60's vibe and 70's drive, like Aerosmith courting Brian Jones era Stones or to keep it contemporary with the Throbs dancing somewhere between Faster Pu$$ycat and the Chesterfield Kings!

Their one and only album The Language Of Thieves And Vagabonds (1991) is a bit of a gem. A great decadant trip into Rock N' Roll bohemia with a guest appearance from Little Richard on piano and production from 70's super rock producers Bob Ezrin and Dick Wagner!

Having said all this, i think the similar (but different) transplant NY via Birmingham band Gunfire Dance should of been shakin' their purple n' black wares to the record backed deal the Throbs had back in the day!

RP really suggests you hook up with records by Gunfire Dance, Thee Hypnotics, Lime Spiders, Pillbox and Chesterfield Kings if you liked what the Throbs were on about.

Listen to the unreleased track Pin Up Girls, holy sh*t how did that not make it to the record!
http://www.myspace.com/thethrobsnyc

Come Down Sister promo

rattpoison wrote:

Having said all this...

Which was what? I can't understand you!

I recently picked this album up, and I really dig it. Great album. I actually bought two (they were $2), so if anyone is looking for an extra copy...nudge nudge, wink wink, diddle.

Basically my general praise for them.

In short i think The Throbs are a pretty boss band but i think another band who kicked around the same scene as them should of been signed instead.

I like The Throbs.

I like all the bands you mentioned save for CHESTERFIELD KINGS...I find them lackluster...

I had this Throbs disc as one point, but got rid of it when I was purging some of my "glammier" stuff. While they probably don't fit into the glam mold per say, they were certainly not in the same category as Megadeth and Anthrax.

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I had this Throbs disc as one point, but got rid of it when I was purging some of my "glammier" stuff. While they probably don't fit into the glam mold per say, they were certainly not in the same category as Megadeth and Anthrax.

The Throbs are definitely in the glam/sleaze rock genre IMO.

Shiney wrote:

I like all the bands you mentioned save for CHESTERFIELD KINGS...I find them lackluster...

I find you lackluster .

What records have you heard.....if it's Berlin Wall Of Sound, then fair enough. They were hanging around Thunders too much and tried a more current glammier sleaze rock then the great 60's Stones/Chocolate Watchband smut they'd been peddling. Seriously you gotta get the first couple of records or the last couple of records.

They're rooster haired superheroes dancing on the coffin lid of rock n' roll....wait that might be the Fuzztones.

No it was more recent the one I had picked up.....something "Sunrise"

I'd probably be a fan had I gotten the glammy sleazy one first...

tohostudios wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I had this Throbs disc as one point, but got rid of it when I was purging some of my "glammier" stuff. While they probably don't fit into the glam mold per say, they were certainly not in the same category as Megadeth and Anthrax.

The Throbs are definitely in the glam/sleaze rock genre IMO.

I thought so too. I was just pointing that out so if someone decided to go out of their way to correct me to the proper description/genre. "The Throbs weren't glam, they were blah, blah, blah". Yea, I know.

The Throbs are definately sleazy and glammy, but aren't all Rolling Stones derived rock n' roll bands.

What the Throbs had going for them that separated them from the pack and made them unique was a penchant for 'Paisley Punk' (Those 60's Nuggets Comps) and a courting of goth ala Love era Cult and Bauhaus.

Found a cool interview with the Throbs from around '91....

Shiney wrote:

No it was more recent the one I had picked up.....something "Sunrise"

I'd probably be a fan had I gotten the glammy sleazy one first...

If that's the case then you should get....




From 1990, more 70's glam sleazy sounding then the 60's sound they were on about for most of their career. It's not bad....but i still prefer the first couple like Here Are the Chesterfield Kings (1984) and Stop! (1985) which are at the pointy end of the 80's garage rock revival scene. But you gotta ask yourself if you like Brian Jones era Stones and all their great American copy cats from around that time to like those records....but as i say essential for fans of attitude driven rock n' roll.

I like to throb

Love this album. I pull it out fairly regularly. It's so different from their first EP Proud To Be Loud where they basically sound like the Ramones, from what I remember (Ronnie Sweetheart, I think, is the only member who plays on both - in fact, I think the EP was recorded when before he went down to New York).

I volunteered at a campus radio station in Ottawa a few years ago and they actually had that EP on vinyl (that's where I heard it) - if I had known how damn rare that thing is, I'd have offered to buy it off them (pretty useless as I don't own a turntable ) or at least bootlegged it.

Guess what Hellraiser? I found that Proud To Be Loud EP down here in Melbourne, Australia for the paltry sum of AUS$5.

Not that special, but still worth it.

Hellraiser, you heard of Gunfire Dance?

You should check them out if you dig The Throbs style of garage glam......

http://www.myspace.com/gunfiredance

Yet another zombie thread back from the dead! Braaaaaaiiiiins....urrrrgh.

Anyway, I randomly picked up a copy of the Throbs' Language of Thieves & Vagabonds dirt cheap this week, and so far it sounds pretty damn good. One of my friends was really big on this band when we were in college but I hadn't heard it since then, so it's been like listening to it for the first time.  

I agree w/the dearly departed RattPoison (whatever happened to that guy anyway?)'s assessment at the top of this thread - very much in the '70s Alice Cooper band vein, maybe with some NY Dolls flavoring.  I get the feeling that post-"Ballad of Jayne," L.A. Guns may have been trying to achieve a similar vibe w/their Hollywood Vampires album, but they weren't as successful with it. Must be an East Coast thing.

The Throbs slot in nicely next to Princess Pang's s/t debut (another great one-and-done NYC band, who also sported the same taste in thrift-shop chic paisley duds) in that "Lower East Side bluesy sleaze" category.

tohostudios wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

I had this Throbs disc as one point, but got rid of it when I was purging some of my "glammier" stuff. While they probably don't fit into the glam mold per say, they were certainly not in the same category as Megadeth and Anthrax.

The Throbs are definitely in the glam/sleaze rock genre IMO.

Since this last post in '08, I have picked up another copy of this album. Ill be holding on to this one for awhile though.

Fat Freddy wrote:

I agree w/the dearly departed RattPoison (whatever happened to that guy anyway?)'s assessment at the top of this thread - very much in the '70s Alice Cooper band vein, maybe with some NY Dolls flavoring.  

I miss ol' "RP".  That guy put me on to more glam/sleaze bands than I can even remember back when I was first getting into the genre.  It cracks me up that his age shows as '30' in this thread now; that kid was in his early 20s back then.

I dug out the Throbs disc earlier this week and turned it into a new installment of my "Forgotten Hard Rock Albums" column.



https://discover.hubpages.com/entertainment/Forgotten-Hard-Rock-Albums-The-Throbs-The-Language-of-Thieves-and-Vagabonds-1991

That album is a sleaze rock classic.  It's sort of in the same vein as Electric Angels but it's got a rougher, looser vibe to it. But I frequently listen to The Throbs and Electric Angels (as well as Child's Play) one after the other.   In fact I think I need to rip a comp of that kind of stuff; I got a TON (and as I noted years ago in this thread, a lot of what I bought consisted of bands the dear, departed rattpoison recommended).

That gives me an idea.  I need to go "rattpoison mining" and dig up all his old threads; I bet I bought stuff on his recommendation that I've totally forgotten about.

I bought their CD because they sounded like THE ALMIGHTY.
First and foremost.
I also like the ROXX GANG vibe that I get,
that’s here and there within many of the songs.
Little Richard on the piano for a few songs too.
All in all, it’s quite good !