It's Swell To Own A Stiffie!

Nick Lowe portrait by Dick Wingate

This whole Stiff thing has swollen out of proportion, you might say. I've collected over a hundred Stiff covers. Today's set is (mostly) punk.

Stiff released some significant early punk records, such as "New Rose" and "One Chord Wonders". In fact, "New Rose" was the first British punk single, and Damned Damned Damned the first British punk LP. The Damned was also first to tour the US. 

Stiff also released the immortal Snuff Rock EP by Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias, which parodied the Damned and the rest of the Class of '77. 

Plenty of Damned songs here, as well as covers of The Plasmatics, Tenpole Tudor, and Devo. Plus some punk covers of Stiff classics and deep cuts like J Church's version of "Mary Provost", The Mr. T Experience's take on Rachel Sweet's "Cuckoo Clock", Screaming Believers' live version of "Is Vic There", and Nikki Corvette singing "They Don't Know". 

Self-effacing self-promotion at its finest

"Stupefaction" isn't exactly a cover: Graham Parker performs it with The Figgs, who backed him in concert and on record for 17 years. The Figgs have recently made most of their three decade catalog available on Bandcamp (as well as solo records by Mike Gent and Pete Donnelly). 

The Figgs are one of the tightest bands I've ever seen. This might seem ironic coming from a mp3 blogger, but working musicians like The Figgs need our financial support now more than ever.

Thanks to Draftervoi for the Dyan Diamond record!