Breaking Artist: Bang Camaro Burn Rubber Reviving '80s Metal

Who: Boston band that lovingly pays homage to the big-hair metal they loved as kids with anthems built out of chugging riffs, wailing guitar solos and choruses (no verses!) sung by not one, not two, but upwards of 17 lead singers. Led by guitarists/indie-band vets Bryn Bennett and Alex Necochea, the band released its self-titled debut in February 2007. A for-fun throwaway song called "Bang Camaro" landed big on MySpace, and the rest is spandex-n-Aqua Net history. As Bennett puts it, "Just because you've started reading serious music criticism doesn't mean you can't love Def Leppard anymore."

Chorus Lines: Tracks like the Motley Crue-esque "Pleasure (Pleasure)" and cowbell-heavy "Out on the Streets" boast the kind of nudge-nudge-wink-wink wordplay that made the Darkness famous, but Bang Camaro also know the virtue of a great, simple lyric, like "Push Push (Lady Lightning)'s "Ooh, come on / I want to take you higher / Ooh, come on / Let's make electric fire!"

Hear It Now: Fist-pump your way through single "Push Push (Lady Lightning)" from Bang Camaro, then catch the band on tour this summer.

Watch It: Check out this clip of the entire crew from Bang Camaro introducing themselves in all their unironic glory [video by Rob McLain].

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Song Stories

“Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Nirvana | 1991

"Smells Like Teen Spirit," named after a brand of deodorant marketed to girls, was Kurt Cobain's attempt to "write the ultimate pop song," he said, using the soft-loud dynamic of his favorite band, the Pixies. Cobain "had that dichotomy of punk rage and alienation," the song’s producer, Butch Vig, told Rolling Stone, "but also this vulnerable pop sensibility. In 'Teen Spirit,' a lot of that vulnerability is in the tone of his voice." Sadly, by the time of Nirvana's last U.S. tour, in late '93, Cobain was tortured by the obligation to play "Teen Spirit" every night. "There are many other songs that I have written that are as good, if not better," he claimed.

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