Fire Of Love

Fire of Love is the debut album from the American rock band the Gun Club. This groundbreaking album was one of the first of its kind to combine punk rock with Americana music which includes genres such as folk, gospel, blues, country, bluegrass, jazz, and rock & roll. This combination went on to inspire the punk blues and garage rock genres. It is a critically acclaimed album that conjured up a type of blues rock that hadn't been heard before. At first I was confused by this album and didn't know what genre of music I was actually listening to. There's so many influences and themes swirling around on this album that it made for an interesting listen. Although I'm not sure if I would say I enjoyed it. It's not bad, but something different I haven't heard often.

It's punk. lol. Hear a little bit of The Doors here and there. It accomplishes what it's meant to accomplish. I really like For The Love of Ivy. You can hear how the White Stripes were influenced by them in Jack On Fire.

5/10 for me. Just felt like an album

It's like Violent Femmes if Violent Femmes was much less fun and sang a little worse. I love Violent Femmes but I didn't enjoy this album at all except for little glimmers here and there. Might be an acquirable taste but I don't see why I would bother. A generous 2.

I've never heard of The Gun Club before, but based on the fact that they're early 80's post-punk, I expected that I would enjoy this album. Sadly though, that was not the case. As I was listening to this album, I thought about other post-punk works from that period that I enjoy: Gang of Four's "Entertainment!", Talking Heads, Joy Division, and Echo & The Bunnymen. This album just didn't come close to any of that. All of the songs sounded mostly the same, and instrumentally, the only interesting thing happening here is that I could hear a smidge of blues influence on a couple of songs. Lyrically, there were a couple of songs that I thought were interesting: "Promise Me" and "Jack on Fire," but that was it. As much as I was underwhelmed by this album though, I'd be willing to give it another shot someday down the road.

No

I'd probably call it grumble punk

Bit much ain't it, just can't get into this punk stuff. The odd bit of alright, but other than that its teetering me towards mental instability. One or the purists I think

Starts off alright but by the end it's very tedious. 2 and a half stars.

J'aurais mis 2.5 si on me laissait le faire...

cest nan

Punk stuff

I can understand the appeal, but I can never get over the sloppiness and lack of care I often hear in this kind of music.

pretty punky but not my style

Not really good. Bad singing and I get it's punky but usually punk songs go harder/have good music. This has neither. 5/10.

really early punk the super rough and not angry punk that Im not a huge fan of

I wasn't in the best mood to listen today (I think Jesus hates me)...and that may have tainted my opinion. I think that if I knew this band and was hanging out at a venue listening, then I might like it. But since I don't know these cats and I wasn't hanging out at a concert, it kind of just sounded like whining to me.

The music is good. The singer is annoying and some of the lyrics are problematic (For the Love of Ivy).

There's a time in my life where an album like this might have made me angry — just the sheer disinterest in performing at a level of competence on any given instrument would have rankled me... why waste my time with your music if you won't take a little of yours to figure out how to play your instrument? I'm way past that, I can appreciate (and enjoy) the appeal of a punk-tinged art-splattered indie garage band vibe with limited acumen on instruments and vocals. But for it to be an enjoyable or satisfying listen, the material has to be stellar. This starts off with some promise, the first three songs are compelling enough, but it dissolves as the album progresses and the material gets more hackneyed and repetitive and ultimately, uninteresting and, finally, just noisy.

I was not picking up what these guys were throwing down, though track three was kind of interesting.

Yikes. Some of the lyrics on here are purportedly from the perspective of a psycho but they're like 8 different kinds of racist and not effective.

An OK listen but nothing that was super memorable

I’m no fan of Post Punk but this is an interesting take. Blues and kind of surf rock. I’m not a fan but it wasn’t unpleasant.

Dude has a slightly annoying voice

Meh

Starts out strongly but as it goes on, it feels like the songs get longer and longer - heavily reverbed production, long periods of yelling over drums and bass (sounds influenced by Suicide but less successful), some nice post-punk guitar lines but few and far between. The singer's voice is quite grating after a while so the songs blur in to one.

Some of the rhythms weren't bad, but overall, pretty forgettable.

They're like punk rock and a bit of blues mixed in. Punk Blues Jeffrey Lee Pierce drops the n word in "For the Love of Ivy", but he may just be playing a character, hope he isn't actually racist.

It has its place, and that place is in the cutout bin.

Kasniji su bolji nikako mi nije lega ovaj

Bog punk/early HC. About as interesting as a glass of water by 2022 standards. Might have worked if it was on the Jackass soundtrack or something, but otherwise nahhh. 2/5.

2.5 Nice!

Pretty much unlistenable with these vocals.

2.5

On paper, this album should be well within my wheelhouse – fast-paced, deeply rhythmic, guitar-driven, and lo-fi as all hell. Where the LP loses me is its inability to see beyond progressions with more than the same 2-3 chords. /Everything/ seems to be centered around a C or Emaj, so the initial excitement quickly gives way to melodic blandness. Really wanted to love this mix of proto-punk with a little twang, but the substance just isn't there.

Couldn't get into it.

Inge vidare rock

Old school blues/punk which was probably important but I really don't think stands up to modern listening.

Never heard of it, listened to it, realise why I'd never heard of it.

Not my favorite punk album. Highlight: 4.

... like an Adderall fever dream

This one really ran out of steam for me after that song with "Heroin" in the title. That's a real problem when you're talking about the 4th track. But the three before it I enjoyed! I definitely would pick this up over that record from the Cramps again, and I genuinely like the guitar sound on this album. "Preaching the Blues" worked for me, mostly, and I kind of perked up again when it got to "Black Train." I think the idea of this album, and mixing blues and punk, is better than the execution. There's been some good stuff fairly recently that resulted from mixing blues-based ideas with hardcore (OX from Coalesce) and metal (Devil is Fine from Zeal & Ardor). But somehow the usage on this record made me think more of The Doors than anything else. I think it's the frontman. Something stylistically here felt like bo-bo Jim Morrison ,and I could never wrap my head around whether or not the vocals and singing added, detracted, or was indifferent to the music around it. I'll give it this: it was interesting.

Very incongruous cover for the music style! Sex Beat is probably the easiest song to like. The electric US roots/blues/punk style is quite good, but needs more hooks and melodies.

Yet another album in this list that I can only shrug at and move on with my life.

Very frenetic energy. Kind of hard to listen to. I get that that's punk for you, but this one's just not for me.

Just standard USA punk in my opinion. Quite fun but nothing to change my life. The 1001 albums review of this album is laughable btw.

eh, was ok

Punk/blues rock, energisk, 80’er

Eh

I don’t know this genre well, it’s not for me

Was alright

was it just me or does this seem like the same as the last two albums? Wasn't impressed. Not looking like a good week! Just a very very basic rock album.

Post punk whiskey preachin'. Best Tracks: Preaching the Blues; She's Like Heroin to Me; Ghost on the Highway.

Good

Interesting and fun in the beginning; didn't capture me enough to finish the album though.

16th August 2021 Listened on my phone while working and recovering from a fucking big few days. Quite forgettable to be honest, cool story about the front man being the president of the Blondie fan club and getting to collaborate with her but that's probably the main thing I took away from this.

Just wasn't for me, I don't love the chanting vocals. I like the combination of punk and bluegrass influence somewhat, but I don't think this is gonna find its way into my normal library

## tracks - sex beat: surprisingly subtle lyrics for punk. no such luck on the melody. 6/10 - preaching the blues: cool vibes 7/10 - promise me: slide guitar mmm, - she's like heroin to me: strong 8/10 - for the love of ivy: same chords, rythm, vibes as she's like heroin? was I expecting punk to be creative.. - ghost on the highway: - black train: actually different, vocals ## overall thought hear one song and you've heard them all but that's the genre right? pick a different rythm, key, vocal delivery. innofensive background energy. 80s must have been dire if this is some of its best 5/10 mother of earth came on right after and hooo boy!

Punk halt, mittelmäßig hörbar

It was ok. Haven’t heard of this band or any of their music. Bit unmemorable.

dogshit

Sub Lou Reed

Yeah I doubt I'll get through this whole thing either. Kinda boring punk rock.

i've heard worse, but not really for me

Blondie

Not really my thing, but it was ok

It was ok, was something different to listen to but nothing really grabbed me. 2*

Nothing stood out really.

Decent if mostly unremarkable Punk rock with a hint of blues. 2/5

Un dels discos emblemàtics del post punk, que moltes bandes han referenciat anys/ décades després. Mai li he trobat el punt i no serà per oportunitats. Temes molt genèrics amb actitud, però sense res especial a oferir

Don't have a lot to say except welcome to the 80s?

Punky and bluesy, some decent beats. Singing is punk, not my favorite. Not awful, overall.

2.5

it was ok - all to say really.

2.5

This album did nothing for me. This is not a post punk album, this is a raggedy, hook free blues country tinged ramble.

Who? Bases on the T1001 so far, let me guess, they are a Brit band from the foggy town of Fingringhoe (Essex) who had a hit in 1981 but no one outside of England has ever heard of them. Sound right? Wrong, turns out they're from L.A. and no one from England has ever heard of them. For a 45 year old album no one has ever listened to it, the most popular track "Sex Beat" has just over 10M listens and not another song has over 2.5M. Must hear? Who thought this should be included? This is a REMASTER I'm listening to, who begged the label to remaster it? This got included but we skipped Petty's "Full Moon Fever", INXS "Listen Like Thieves", Journey's "Escape", Weezer "Weezer", Killers "Hot Fuss", Pink Floyd "Animals", etc? This is literally garage rock, no one would pay to hear this. The vocals suck, the songs suck, the musicianship is weak, no hooks or anything to draw the listener in, zero payoff. I've heard better bar bands on a Wednesday night in Beaverton, Oregon. No hits, no good songs, no legacy, no influence. 1 star.

Just...not...in... the...mood... for...this. zero stars

This dude seems like a fucking loser

album cover feels like what the album sounds

Not my ting and dat

not for me

Verse 3 on For The Love of Ivy. Yeah, I'm not listening to anymore

Was stoked to dive into this record. My knowledge of music history is sparse but I know from listening to a lot of modern bands that I'm always excited when I get to discover new punk and rock records. The cover art is simple but effective, and I was liking it... Up until the gratuitous use of the n-word. It may be him doing a character, playing up the absurdity, perhaps a daring mockery of the powers that be. Maybe it isn't serious enough for me to be so harsh, and I can tell its genre mixing of punk and blues was novel for its time. But using this album as my only reference, to me it's just not excusable every which way you slice it. It really was shaping up to be 3 stars but I bumped it down to a 1 (a rating I never anticipated myself using as I'm an open-minded person when it comes to finding the good in all music). Beyond that, there are quite a few enjoyable songs, but it did become a little repetitive as I listened through.

Listened to A side of the album and the next song after. Didn't need to listen to the rest, absolutely mid! I don't know why this album is in top 1001 albums to listen to. Skippable for sure

Lowkey bootyhole

rough. and a little racist

Boring

Estaba emocionada de que por fin me tocase un álbum del género punk, solamente para terminar completamente decepcionada... Escuchando los primeros temas, pensé que iba a ser entretenido, pero terminó convirtiéndose en un disco repetitivo y que podría confundirlo por cualquier álbum genérico de rock de la época. Las letras me transmitieron poco y nada, y la excusa de mediante ellas 'personificar a un personaje racista' como una crítica a esas personas –a mi parecer– termina simplemente en un patético intento de parecer "transgresivo", en lugar de realmente criticar al racismo social. No volvería a escuchar este álbum. ↑: Sex Beat ↓: Jack on Fire, Black Train, Cool Drink of Water Blues

I don't hate it, it's alright. I just don't really care about it.

The Blues get the punk treatment with a frontman who wants to be Lou Reed/ Iggy Pop- what could go wrong? Everything, it turns out. Grating and atonal, these dudes seem to want you to hate them and I am taking the bait. Unlike other punk provacateurs like the Sex Pistols, they desecrate their idols but do not create anything worthwhile in its place. Would give it zero stars if I could.

-1 star for the slur 😑

Album 106. Fire Of Love — The Gun Club (1981) Nope, I don't really like punk. It seems like not very smart music. And this is mediocre shit. The album is too repetitive, it's annoying. 1/5 No liked songs

Rly not a fan

Did not like

another YIKES of a lead singer/lyricist

I wish I was cool enough to enjoy post-punk or whatever this genre is called, but I’m really not.

this put me off listening to this list for a few days. Its a jumbled mess of noise, odd vocals and nothing ever really matches up musically.

62/1089 Couldn’t really get into this one. It felt quite underwhelming especially for punk. the songs individually didn’t really stand out to me and the vocals didn’t save it for me either unfortunately 1 star

It's getting annoying over time

More noise than rhythm. Not for me.

My expectations were low, they met them just fine

not much to comment

Heard some Gun Club songs before. Sadly I didn't care for this album at all. The songs were one big nothing. I'm looking forward to listening to their other albums though 1/5

Absolutely not.

Not sure about this.

Promise Me shat me to tears with its awful percussive noises featured within. I was so uninterested in this punk shite that at some stage I read a news article about how Ed Sheeran won his legal case regarding Thinking Out Loud vs Marvin Gaye’s Let’s Get It On. I straight away scooted off to listen to them both, gleefully forgetting that I was halfway through my album of the day. Both songs were a million times better than anything The Gun Club had to offer, and I’m glad Sheeran won the case.

I like one song so I will give it to one.

Varför är det här med på listan?

2.5/10. No. Shut the fuck up.

I lost my notes for this but I did *not* enjoy this. I think I said something about it being to same-y and I didn’t like the guys voice. 1 star.

Sounds like music written by an arsehole.

Nope.

40 minuter av repetitiva och störande instrument, jobbig röst. Inte min grej alls

I lost my notes for this but I did *not* enjoy this. I think I said something about it being to samey and I didn’t like the guys voice. 1 star.

Not a fan of this genre. Nothing saved to the playlist.

Not very agressive punk was my take away after the first song and I feel that I was right with that take. The songs were okay but not my kind of music from the start and they didn't win me over. I have mentioned it before but some albums on the list seems to be there because of the influence on the genre they had/have and this feels to me like one of those albums. Nothing bad about it per say but nothing that pulls me in and want to listen to it again either.

Bleh

Don’t care how “influential” this supposedly was. This is just edgy racist dogshit. Listen to The Doors, The Cramps, or some Howlin’ Wolf instead. Hell, listen to literally anything else.

Ugh. I had a headache before listening to this and it definitely didn't help. 1.45

I don't like it.

Nope

Alternative/ Punk band sound. Not great music.

A white band with this album cover and insane racism in the lyrics uhhhhh

Dull

i hate post punk.

i dunno it just kinda sounds like shit. horrid vocals, repetitive guitar, like whats the point NNN

Chalk up another punkish rock album getting a low review. Who knew there were so many of these terrible bands throughout the 70s and 80s? When Spotify ended the album and autoplayed the next song I knew it immediately because the Spotify selection didn't completely suck.

Call this post punk?? Sorry but American bands just can't do punk. This was repetitious rubbish. Vocals were awful. Would give it zero stars if the option was there but reluctantly it will have to be one 👎

I just don’t even want to write a review for this one. I’m so disappointed, man. Realistically, it’s actually a 1.5 bumped up to a 2, but because the white lead singer dropped the N word twice (hard R both times), I simply have to drop this down to a 1. If you go to the Wikipedia page for this album, you’ll get words like “groundbreaking,” calling it innovative, and saying that several musicians have cited the album as an influence. To be completely fair to this album, the only reason why this was at a 1.5 bumped up to a 2 is because I do think this instrumental style works – it’s very early garage rock, but with the sort of blues style flair that really got refined and perfected in the early 2000s indie scene. This is a genuinely innovative album in that sense, and I really liked a lot of the instrumentals here. If this album were just the instrumentals, I’d probably be at a 3, bare minimum. They are all wasted on some of the worst lyricism and vocals I’ve ever fucking heard in my life. I don’t even want to expand on that, but because I’m already giving this a 1, I may as well tear into them a little bit – they’re the fucking musical equivalent of Desert Bus. He can’t fucking shut up. Every time you play Desert Bus, you gotta nudge the bus a little bit to the right in order to keep it from going off the road, and that’s what his vocals are. Once you notice the “guitar riffs for 5 seconds, random ass lyric, guitar riffs for 5 seconds” pattern that permeates *so goddamn much of this album*, it is truly impossible to ignore. Those random ass lyrics are pushing the bus to the right. They’re annoying to listen to, and I genuinely believe they add almost nothing of substance to this album. The real stress test of whether or not you’ll like this album is entirely dependent on Fire Spirit, which I think is a genuinely encapsulating track of the entire experience. It’s got a fantastic fucking instrumental, and it’s got what I consider to be the worst storytelling and vocal performance of the entire album. It’s got a story, sure, but it’s like listening to the worst D&D player at your table explain his quest in the most unimaginative way ever. If you can handle that track without really wincing at either the vocals or the storytelling, there’s a chance you’ll genuinely like the album – I’m being harsh on it, but it’s not specifically bad, it’s just disappointingly mediocre compared to the expectations that were put on it – this thing got good reviews in 1981 and even got a 9.1/10 from Pitchfork in 2021, which is insane to me, because I did not fucking like this enough to even sniff a 3 on account of the vocals and lyrics alone. I really do think that there’s a great soundscape here, and it did pave the way for a lot of 2000s rock standards that I do like, but they have easily eclipsed what this album did. It just didn’t work for me – I think it drags on like hell, I think it’s draining to listen to once you notice the obvious structural patterns throughout the tracks, and I just don’t think the vocals or lyrics stack up to any kind of modern standard. It’s a 1.5, that gets bumped to a 2, that goes back down to a 1 for the slurs. It’s a damn 4/10 in my heart, though.

One long song with some short breaks every few minutes.

*I did not enjoy, seemed each track sounded alike. An ok album

Never heard of this band and not surprising as it appears they had little success in the UK. If I’ve never heard of an artist will always look at the accompanying wiki page to learn about them. They are heralded as the first exponents of punk and American roots music which sounded an interesting combination. But on listening this album did nothing for me at all. Was quite bored after a while. 1/5 8/8/24

Hard work but better than much punk I've had the misfortune to hear

not a punk rock fan. The lyrics feel a little problematic. Not going to finish the album.

Wow, the whole album was a guitar and drums doing the exact same thing throughout all of the songs and this guy singing in the foreground. You could say that it was very much out of tune but I am sure there was some weird tune that I couldn't catch properly. Anyway, this represents the average British band in the 80s and it is just... not very appealing.

Ekki fyrir mig

I am not a fan of spoken word singing honestly. Also alot of the lyrics were really troublesome and hard to get through. 1/5 could not finish.

Thin, no bass, no voice. A poor version of The Kinks.

So boring Never wanna hear this again 1

Yeah I can see why some people would like this - combination of punk and rockabilly .... I am not one of these people. I appreciate that the mix is fine for this genre i.e. this isn't a low-fi noise mess like Stooges (which they don't sound all that far from), but that's more than a bit of damning with faint praise. It's attitude music - it's an attitude album. Whereas I either look for or just gravitate towards melody and construction; some drama. We're just not ever gonna see eye to eye on this album/band/genre so let's call it a night and go our separate ways. ...I was considering giving a generous 2 but after 5 ... now 6 songs it's making me irritable. I'll never listen again and frankly hate it and so what else is a 1 for? EDIT: i actually had completed writing the above after 7 songs. I had to come back in during goddamn track 10 to reiterate how much i hate this. fairly unexpectedly not terrible mix be damned, this is utter shite. 2/10 1 star.

This might be the worst album I have ever heard. Definitely the worst on this list so far. It sounds like a band you would see in a house basement concert in the worst way possible. Worst track was cool drink of water blues

Thought I might like this. Did not.

Meh.

Today I learned I absolutely hate The Gun Club. It would be far more pleasant to listen to construction sounds as I try to sleep each morning than to ever listen to this album again in my life. If the vocals could be muted, the blend of blues and punk is at least a new taste in my mouth. An instrumental version of this album might actually be quite palatable. The band jams and guitar riffs were bright notes in an album that felt it was devoid of life. Tracks like “Jack on Fire” were so difficult to listen through due to the lyrics and voice. The guitar solo near the end of this track was the only musically redeeming element. “Cool Drink of Water” was indeed just that - the band had some tasteful moments together, while the listener had reprieve from Pierce’s sour vocals. I was so excited for “Goodbye Johnny” that I started doubting how much I disliked this experience overall. Then, I listened on, to the alternate version tracks. Reaching the alternate version of “For the Love of Ivy,” I was reminded all over why I hated this album on this initial (and hopefully final) listen. People who enjoy this album likely reread their original copy of the book A Clockwork Orange, ash their cigarettes into empty beer cans, and say things like “I just can’t get into the music these days.”

Like any other light punk band of the era whatever

Yikes

Rockabilly punk could be good. But this want. All the songs sound the same and I get the feeling I wouldn't like this guy if I met him in person.

Well, okay, The Gun Club hasn't done anything wrong (other than being on this list, while playing in a genre I really dislike), but this is just too much for me. I listened to fragments of few songs on this album, and I admit, it's far too much of that bland punk style. I don't have that much resolve in myself to force listen to this album. Just one too many, I guess.

day 21. easily the most obscure band I’ve had come up so far (going off Spotify listens). When I started these ratings I reserved a 1-star rating for the “ugh, get this out of my ears” albums, but I tend to be really open to stuff and not wanting to judge too harshly, so I didn’t know if I would actually use it. It’s here! Congrats, The Gun Club. You get my first 1-star rating. this is rough. First two songs were ok, but I quickly grew tired of this album. I just can’t listen to that annoying, whiny, talk-shouty style of vocals. It’s so grating to me and completely takes away from what would be ok sound. I do enjoy the bluesy-infused punk, I just can’t get past the vocals. And most of the songs were really lacking in substance which didn’t help. Also, two uses of the n-word?? no. lastly, good lord, some of their worst songs felt like they went on forever- For the Love of Ivy and Jack on Fire. Make it stoppppp! the ones that weren’t that bad - Preaching the Blues, Ghost on the Highway, Sex Beat. 1/5 not coming back ever please don’t make me

i've never heard of this band or album. they have three black people on their album cover, so i was confused to find out they were not that. but i let it go, and then i heard "i was huntin for n--gas down in the dark" and on another song "left the n**** lying dead by the river." don't think i was ever gonna love this one.

Some of the punk/post-punk movement brought some unbelievable bands with not so great vocalists, all the way from the Stooges up to the Pixies, where it just *worked*. What they lacked in vocal talent they made up for in spirit, sound, energy, meaning, passion. This album shows what happens when all of those crucial aspects are missing, and it's stripped down to a lazy punk album with terrible vocals. It's very rare I'd rank a rock album as 1 but here we go.

Anti gun and punk

I can’t really imagine why I list of the top 1001 albums would need this alongside other punk albums to be honest

Didn't love it, not going to lie to you. Wouldn't include it on the list.

Just bad.

This was not good.

Not a massive fan of this compared to other post-punk albums, the whole thing sounds like a poorly mixed live album. Also, a band comprised of only white members having the n-word in one of their songs? No. 3/10

me no likey

Awful

I actually kinda liked the backing music but dear god, everything else was so unbearable. The voice, the lyrics, and the rest of the overall feeling was awful. This is music to make you feel weird and disgusting. If that's your thing, more power to you.

Punk is not up my alley , I love metal and rock but punk is not my cuppatea

The Shite Stripes

Couldn't finish it

Not for me. 1/5 stars.

VU vocals without the poetry Television vocals without the virtuosity Violent Femmes without the humor Blind Justice without the warmth Blasters without the melody or soul

The sound is very empty or clean depends on your view of the album. I felt like every song was the same. And did they have a chorus in any of the songs? I couldn't tell. This shouldn't be on the top 1001 albums

Not good.

omg its got sounds of previous decades with the blues and punk rock but not really what i would listen to

Too samey

Naaaaap not for me

Nothing special. Guitar comp didn't vary much, if at all, between tracks. Vocals are fine but don't particularly grab me. 2/10, eh

The ivy song was OK. Everything else blended

really didn’t think this was anything special. it was all way too similar and there was no song I particularly liked. disappointing