Song of the Day
My favorite punk pop song, today’s song of the day is from Philadelphia’s own Dead Milkmen – 1988’s Punk Rock Girl. From their album Beelzebubba, its a love story between a conservative wanna be and the titular punk rock girl (complete with mohawk in the video), and a hilarious send-up of what life would be like if you indeed had a punk rock girlfriend. This was the band’s only hit, reaching number 11 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks, and giving the band some mainstream exposure. The song has a number of Philadelphia references (Zipperhead was a famous Philly punk clothing store and the Philly Pizza Company is a … well you know), rhythms with girl – Minnie Pearl, Duke of Earl, swirl and tons of funny lines – “She took me to her parents for a Sunday meal, Her father took one look at me and he began to squeal”
And the video is great – an MTV staple, complete with Zombies. A must.
Oh, and by the way, the Beach Boys in fact did a cover of California Dreamin’ – in case you wanted to know.
For fun, here’s a photo of Zipperhead, when it was on South Street.
