This is one of those 7″ singles that I genuinely cannot recall buying. It’s not showing up as one that I purchased through Discogs, and I can’t think, given the mint condition it is in, that I got in a charity shop or in the second-hand section of a record shop. By the process of elimination, it must have been bought as new back in 2010, partly on a whim based on my enjoyment of the first two LCD Soundsystem studio albums, both of which I have long had on CD.
It’s a song I didn’t know when I bought the single. I would have been aware, from the music press, that a third LCD Soundsystem album was on the way, and so Drunk Girls would have been acting as my taster, albeit an earlier single, Pow Pow had come and gone without me noticing. I’ll admit to being underwhelmed by Drunk Girls which then had a lot to do with why I didn’t rush out and buy This Is Happening when it hit the shops a couple of weeks later.
I’ve listened to it again a couple of times in recent weeks and while I don’t think it’s one that is essential for any collection, it’s not nearly as awful as I had remembered. If I had to give it a score, then it would be 5 out of 10.
mp3: LCD Soundsystem – Drunk Girls
My issue is down to its overreliance on a repetitive two-word shout-along with no real semblance of a chorus, with more than a passing note to the structure of White Light /White Heat by The Velvet Underground. Maybe my expectations were too high.
The b-side was a tad unusual in that in involved a cover version by Wooden Shjips, a San Francisco-based band of whom I know very little but, based on this one song I have of theirs in the collection, are accurately described as a psychedelic rock band.
mp3: Wooden Sjhips – Drunk Girls
The single didn’t crack the charts, but the album did go Top 10.
Oh, and while doing a wee bit of background research on this one, I learned that the video was one in co-directed by Spike Jonze and James Murphy. It’s one I’d never seen previously. It’s bonkers and a bit scary!
Ah…i’d gladly take it off your hands JC… Drunk Girls is a superb track. Its the sound I think of James Murphy sticking his middle finger up to the record label who wanted him to write a hit single.
Swc
Murphy / LCD / DFA / The Rapture – i so happened to be in a town in England called London (im X Scottish fi NBRA buttav lived in the Southy France since the back endy ’97 when Roni Size dropped Reprazents) when I didiscovered “I’m Losing My Edge” which actually gives a wee heads upty ma old skoolpals fi ma class – “FIRE ENGINES” kool eh? I bumped inty Hendo in June in North Berwick while I was over t see Sofia Isella for the 2nd time in Glasgow this time at the 02 Academy. Anyway – that LCD debut 45 rpm 12″ on DFA was fab so naturally 3 years later 24.07.2005 there was a Groovy Free One Day Festival au “PONT DU GARD” which is about 45mins drive fi where i live – its a beautiful Roman Aqueduct over the river “Le Gardon” and the show opened with – cannae mind if it was “HOT CHIP” or “RINÔÇÉRÔSE” our local “Montpellier” Electro House Rock Combo – known for their hit “Cubicle” which Apple used to promote the iPhone 4 (i think? – I myself was the face of the iPhone 15 Pro which we shot at the Huntly & Palmers Mansion in Dunns!!!! Believe it or not – not only at skool wi 2 Fire Engines in ma class but also the original bassy for Another Pretty Face / Waterboys and oney the early bassy’s for The Exploited – I was the one who signed the most mental recording contract for ma own band but these days i also model for things like iPhones or Adidas or Vivienne Westwood etc 🤪😝😜) so back t that Groovy Free Concert at the “Pont du Gard” which we were blessed to have ‘chez nous’ I mean – ye hadta be reasonably “HIP” t have the foggiest who either of them 3 bands on the bill were back in 2005! Coz they were all a wee bit aheady the pack! So when RINÔÇÉRÔSE hit the stage i think it was Bnann Watts (singer for Infadels) who strutted out wearin a big black afro and bust into “BITCH” the joint erupted!!! We were a few thousand in this amazing natural setting with the Aqueduct on two or three levels as the backdrop and the beautiful “Gardon” river flowing on the left of stage. I had my two young boys Sacha who had a coke bottle fulla Tadpoles he’d caught in the river and his wee 3 year old brother Cheeba – then we waited for LCD SOUNDSYSTEM and we waited and waited it was probly 01h00 in the mornin when the cops 👮♀️ woke me & ma kids sleepin among some rocks wonderin WTF I was doin wi them two wee boys – We told them exactly where t GO!!!!! Murphy eventually arrived wi a nasty gnarly voice trashed as this was the final date of (up till this point) his biggest ever tour having just played at “Rock en Seine” up in Paris – the fatigue was evident – shame coz for all the band gave its best the SPARKLE seemed DULL t me . I dug the debut album but never ever went any further wi the Murphy – not even his remixes for ma mainman DB. 😉😝😉
I love Drunk Girls, one dimensional perhaps but a blast of energy. Wooden Shjips are very good too and their version of Drunk Girls works for me
“Drunk Girls wait an hour to pee”… Don’t we just! I like it, it is like a witty nod to VU. I like when James is playful, as with Losing My Edge. Lorna, Hit The North UK x