Song of the Day 6/9: Garland Jeffreys, “Wild in the Streets”

Thanks to the Trump administration’s desire to declare marshal martial law and its constant need to change the subject from its latest fuck-up, the excitable homunculi in charge are treating localized vandalism in Los Angeles as if it were the Watts Riots. We should have learned from protests in Portland a few years back that TV coverage can make such vandalism, particularly arson, look like Ragnarok. Given that Trump spends a major portion of his waking hours watching TV, he naturally reacted as if it were his thinning hair that was on fire.

Garland Jeffreys’ best-known song was released as a non-album single in 1973. Though it didn’t make the Billboard charts it gots lots of FM airplay, and lots of critics thought Jeffreys was going to be a major star. Rolling Stone named him their Best New Artist of 1977, seven years after his first LP. It helped that his 1977 album “Ghost Writer” included “Wild in the Streets.”

Despite the respect of peers like Lou Reed and Bruce Springsteen, Garland never had a commercial breakthrough. His 2011 comeback album “The King of In Between” re-established his reputation, but declining health forced his retirement from performing in 2019. An interview with his wife in Rolling Stone touting an upcoming documentary about his career revealed that Jeffreys, now 83, is in the late stages of dementia.

A younger generation knows the song not in its original form but as a punked-up cover the by Circle Jerks, the title track of their 1982 LP. It became an anthem among the skatepunk set.