Song:Smokin' in the Boys Room
Album:Legends: Get It On
Smokin' in the Boys Room was a top five hit in 1973. It was the only big hit for Brownsville Station. I think it's a song music fans know but they may not be familiar with the band. Brownsville Station were formed in Ann Arbor, MI in 1969 by Michael "Cub" Koda and Mike Lutz. Both guys played guitar and sang. Other members were Tony Driggins on bass and Henry "H-Bomb" Weck on drums. Koda was interesting because he was an authority on 50s music and he frequently wrote about it for Allmusic among other places. Brownsville Station signed with Palladium Records with Warner Bros. distribution. Palladium released early Bob Seger albums. Brownsville Station released their 1970 debut album No BS. It looks like Palladium closed. Veteran music exec Doug Morris moved his label Big Tree Records to Atlantic Records. He had previously been with Ampex and Bell. His main acts at Big Tree were Lobo and Brownsville Station. After he had success with Lobo, Morris and his house producer Eric Stevens wanted a big hit for Brownsville Station. They got it with Smokin' in the Boys Room from the 1973 album Yeah!. It reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. It turned out to be the only big hit for Brownsville Station. Some fans may be familiar with Motley Crue's 1985 cover of Smokin' in the Boys Room. The song also appeared in the popular 1978 film Rock 'N' Roll High School. Though Brownsville Station recorded mostly covers on Yeah!, Smokin' in the Boys Room was written by Koda and Lutz. They recorded four albums for Big Tree and one for Private Stock. They were never able to repeat the success of Smokin' in the Boys Room which you can get on this various artists budget comp. Koda recorded several solo albums and he formed The Points. And like I said, he wrote a lot for Allmusic. I used to see his writing in the record collector magazine Goldmine. He died in 2000. Lutz teaches guitar at an Ann Arbor music store and he has produced several Ted Nugent albums. Weck lives in Memphis and produced the band Blackfoot. Lutz and Weck formed a new version of Brownsville Station in 2012 and they released an album. They tour the nostalgia circuit. Here's Brownsville Station performing Smokin' in the Boys Room and Barefootin' on Don Kirshner's Rock Concert 1974.
I remember them all to well. Their only hit was played a great deal on the radio stations I listen to growing up. Sorry they did not have another hit.
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