That Petrol Emotion

Time to change things up and bring some obscure rock from across the pond. That Petrol Emotion was an Northern Irish, London Based band that featured an American vocalist. Formed in 84, the band was together for a decade before calling it a day. They did reform for a short period of time from 08-10, but now are once again done. The band had a style that was kinda hard to pinpoint, getting called everything from a revved up version of Television, to a youthful version of The Rolling Stones, to a mix of The Clash and CCR. Their first single was released in 84 and by 85 their major label debut 'Babble' was released and received universal acclaim in the UK. Shortly after lineup changes began to take their toll and the band managed to release a few more records before calling it a day. While the band is no more they remain an influence to the Britpop and Madchester scenes. This is for the fans of that whole UK scene and it's a chance for someone to check out this band and see what they're missing. Also this is the deluxe reissue edition that featured some bonus tracks.

That Petrol Emotion was never a band that I would have found on my own by any means. I had found them through a friend who described them as a toned down version of The Clash. 'Babble' features some really good tracks including 'Swamp', 'Big Decision' and 'Creeping To The Cross'. Musically you can kind of hear some of the influence in modern rock bands today. One odd one is Nickelback. Listen to the intro riff to 'Swamp' and then listen to that dreadful track 'Something In Your Mouth'. Riff sounds oddly the same. Always nice to see a fairly unknown band in the states have such an influence on American rock bands.

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