Tuesday 5 August 2014

Cherry Vanilla - The Punk

Cherry Vanilla's debut (I think) single and certainly one of the first women to release a punk single. Originally from the New York scene and was ahead of Patti Smith and Blondie in terms of releasing any songs. Apparently threatened by her front runner status they wrote the excellent "Rip her To Shreds2 which was released as a single by Blondie.

Cherry Vanilla also worked with David Bowie and in 1976 she left him to move to London becoming a part of the emerging punk scene. She made two releases, this single and one album "Bad Girl" both on RCA.

You can hear her early glam roots in both sides of this single. I can remember buying this and originally not rating it, and it was much later on that I listened to it again, and it slowly grew on me. The a-side "The Punk" is the standout track for me, but "Foxy Bitch" is not far away.

The picture below is a poster I ripped out from a book called "In The Gutter" and used to hang on my wall (I thought she was a real babe in those days). So I have included a high resolution scan so you can hang it on yours. The lyrics are on the back cover so as usual there is a high resolution scan as well.

So Leave a comment and say what you think of these tracks and Cherry Vanilla.

Band: Cherry Vanilla
Label: RCA
Year: 1977
Tracks:
1. The Punk
2. Foxy Bitch

Ripped from glorious scratched vinyl

If you like this you can get a nice clean digital version plus the rest of the album here (although as an import it is a little expensive):
Bad Girl
Bad Girl

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looking forward to this one. Fine work as usual.

Punkzer0 said...

Thanks anon, I hope you enjoy it.

Spizzle said...

Love this single...love the pic too!

Paul

Punkzer0 said...

Thanks Paul, glad you feel the same as me

Anonymous said...

I've still got this one on vinyl Gary but with no turntable now,its gathering dust like all the others. Once again, you save the day. This is a classic! Cheers mate.





Longy

Anonymous said...

Nice post Gary.

The picture is from the Roxy.
The Police were her backing band that night (But we won't hold that against her!) and that's Sting in the backround in the shades.

Anonymous said...

Great single, but the rest of the record is pretty crappy. She is yet another example of a NY transplant trying to hit it big in the UK punk scene.

Anonymous said...

even though I lived through the era of punk (coming from Boston, the Rat was my nightlife home pretty much most nights in 1975, '76 & '77), it's always nice to hear more about the origins & the early practictioners. thx

Punkzer0 said...

Cheers Longy, glad to help

Punkzer0 said...

Cheers anon for the comments on the picture. Never noticed Sting, I wonder why??

Punkzer0 said...

Hi Matt, thanks for the comments, I found that the album grew on me as well. Its not really punk but it sneaked up on me.

Punkzer0 said...

Hi Anon, I wonder how different it was in Boston versus London.

Have you got any rarities from the US (Boston) that you want to post?

Anonymous said...

This single is actually better than I expected. Kinda Doll'sy with (real, hehe) female vocals. I'm curious to hear the Bad Girl album now.

Punkzer0 said...

Give it a try anon, it took a couple of plays for me, but I think there's a couple of decent tracks on it.