Earth Versus the Wildhearts

Earth Versus the Wildhearts

Built on rock essentials such as passion, feel, and humor, “TV Tan” is such a heady, Marshall-stack anthem of self-realizing disaffection that it might be the best combination of power pop, heavy metal, and punk rock ever concocted. Led by a carrot-topped guy called Ginger (a former London Quireboys guitarist), The Wildhearts happen to have the headbanging soul of Lemmy and the songwriterly chops of Phil Lynott. There’s as much melody and heart here as wallop and punch, from Motörhead-like crunches (“Suckerpunch,” “Drinking About Life”) to Thin Lizzy–like laments (“Shame on Me,” “The Miles Away Girl”). There’s a reason that Wildhearts shows are packed with fist-jacking metal dudes and swooning women. As Ginger points out in “News of the World,” he’s a man who remembers passion over rage. Though this was a Stateside stiff, the U.K. rock bible Kerrang! listed this 1993 debut album as one of hard rock’s all-time best.

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