Holly and the Italians - The Right to Be Italian
#69
February 1981
Holly and the Italians
The Right to Be Italian
Genre: Rock
3.75 out of 5
Highlights:
I Wanna Go Home
Miles Away
Tell That Girl to Shut Up
This album bashes right from the start. Holly and her Italians are rock cousins of the Ramones in so many respects and Joey and the boys are her spirit animals.
Frustratingly, I think the world was sort of over this power punk grrrl sound by this point. The Runaways had broken up, Suzi Quatro couldn’t score a hit and if you weren’t named Joan Jett I’m not sure any radio station was going to give you the time of day.
While this record is one solid rocker after another I can’t help but think…dammit, Holly. If you just jumped into surf rock you might have been The Go-Gos. But that wasn’t what she was about, was it?
I know that Dire Straits’ “Romeo and Juliet” is a poison pen tune about Holly and Mark’s relationship but there couldn’t be two sounds more different as far as I’m concerned. She is more Courtney Love and Bianca Butthole than she is wistful Irish noodling.
Even when Holly swings and misses, as on the bloated “Just Young”, at least she’s aiming for the fences and she gets it all the way to the warning track as well.
Holly is a decade too early, tbh. But that just means she paved the way.
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StJUxSrcpIE&list=PLlvn8uktX5LtbPMkX-oSBaIT8UsadGIjd
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