I have a bias towards this record because my good friend Steve Sheatzle gave it to me. He was, of course, half of the duo that made up The German Shepherds.
That said, I always felt they stood apart and approached their music in a unique way that is simultaneously comic and frightening. Almost always spoken rather than sung, The GS's addressed their fears so convincingly over-the-top that one has to laugh to avoid shrinking in a corner in a fetal position in absolute horror.
Make no mistake, this record is against what it pretends to endorse; homophobia, pedophilia, religious hysteria, homocide, and so on. The GSs take aim from inside, not outside, the enemy camp, in the best diguise they could muster; one of them. They expect the listener to be brave enough to follow them, or they'll find themselves part of the joke.
It's a great record of the ultimate art paradox; It's an ugly world, and The German Shepherds made it more beautiful by making it more ugly.
That said, I always felt they stood apart and approached their music in a unique way that is simultaneously comic and frightening. Almost always spoken rather than sung, The GS's addressed their fears so convincingly over-the-top that one has to laugh to avoid shrinking in a corner in a fetal position in absolute horror.
Make no mistake, this record is against what it pretends to endorse; homophobia, pedophilia, religious hysteria, homocide, and so on. The GSs take aim from inside, not outside, the enemy camp, in the best diguise they could muster; one of them. They expect the listener to be brave enough to follow them, or they'll find themselves part of the joke.
It's a great record of the ultimate art paradox; It's an ugly world, and The German Shepherds made it more beautiful by making it more ugly.