Friday, February 2, 2018

Smooth Talking, Brain Washing


The Saints : Know Your Product


On February 3, 1978 The Saints introduced a truly revolutionary sound on the single "Know Your Product", punk with a horn section. The clever lyrics target the advertising industry with lines like "Our new soap that's peachy keen/ saves your soul and keeps you clean "/It's recommended, used by the Queen./Gonna improve your IQ, help in everything you do/It's economic, don't cost too much."

While The Guardian claimed the song"confused pretty much everyone: what the hell was a brass section doing on a punk record? The punchy horns are the perfect counterpart to Bailey’s drawled vocals and Kuepper’s buzzsaw guitar," there are many who believe it is one of the greatest Australian singles ever recorded. On YouTube you can find videos of Hunters and Collectors with Midnight Oil's Peter Garrett performing the song onstage as well as Courtney Barnett, King Khan and the Shrines and You And I .

It also made a list Kurt Cobain scrawled out of his favorite 50 recordings. Both "Know Your Product" and the B side "Run Down" would appear on the forthcoming Eternally Yours





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