Artist:Eddie & the Hot Rods
Song:Do Anything You Wanna Do
Album:The Singles 1976-85
The British band Eddie & the Hot Rods were a bridge from the Pub Rock sound of the 70s and when Punk became popular in the late 70s. The 1977 single Do Anything You Wanna Do was a top ten hit in England. That was their one big hit. I heard of them at the time but their music never crossed the pond. If you are a British rock fan, they are worth checking out. They were formed in 1975 in Essex, England with lead singer Barrie Masters, guitarist Dave Higgs, bassist Rob Steele and drummer Steve Nicol. There was no Eddie. Eddie was a dummy that the band brought to early gigs as a gag and it was soon discarded. Guitarist Pete Wall was added and Ed Hollis became their manager and wrote lyrics. His brother is Mark Hollis of Talk Talk. After performing regularly in London clubs, they signed with Island Records. Paul Gray replaced Steele and Lew Lewis joined on Harmonica. The Sex Pistols opened for them at London's Marquee Club and proceeded to destroy Eddie & the Hot Rods' gear. That got press attention and I'm sure it influenced Eddie & the Hot Rods' transition to punk. They also played gigs with AC/DC which was also crazy. The single Teenage Depression charted. It was on the EP Live at the Marquee. While promoting the EP Live at the Speed of Sound, former Kursaal Flyers guitarist Graeme Douglas joined them on stage. He eventually joined Eddie and the Hot Rods and helped give them a more commercial sound. On the 1977 album Life on the Line, Douglas wrote a lot of the songs with Hollis and Hollis produced the album. They wrote Do Anything You Wanna Do which reached #9 on the British Singles chart. The album reached #27 on the British Album chart. This turned out to be their greatest success. Eddie and the Hot Rods toured the US to support the album. They opened for The Ramones and Talking Heads but it didn't help. They recorded three albums for Island then split up in 1981. This 2CD comp has all their singles and is available on CD. They reformed in 1984 and a version of the band still tours, There are no original members. Masters usually led these bands until his 2019 death. Here's Eddie & the Hot Rods performing Do Anything You Wanna Do on Top of the Pops 1977.
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