I'm Bad

Personnel: Mars Bonfire (guitar).
One of rock & roll's great eccentrics, Kim Fowley has had a long and often successful career as a producer, songwriter, and talent scout (anyone who fronted the Hollywood Argyles, produced Helen Reddy, and helped form the Runaways is not going to be an ordinary guy), but on his solo albums, he's always given himself room to expose his more esoteric interests that might not fit his clients. Released in 1972, I'm Bad is one of Fowley's more outré solo projects, in which he raves like a feral Howlin' Wolf over a band whose sound is equal parts glam rock, proto-punk, and bar band blues. The melodies are minimal, with lots of fuzzy lead guitar buzzing up and down the scale, and Fowley's stream-of-consciousness lyrics sound like self-therapy as he wails about China ("Red China"), religion ("Man of God"), sex ("Forbidden Love"), and life in general ("It's Great to Be Alive"). The results are a matter of taste if there ever were such a thing, but there's no arguing that Fowley throws himself into this record with genuine abandon, and the best stuff here is both compelling and hilarious. It's anyone's guess if Fowley was being serious when he made I'm Bad (especially with a title that can be taken two very different ways), but even if this was intended to be a joke, it sounds like a joke that he meant in one way or another, and you can't say that about "Alley Oop." ~ Mark Deming