Richard Hell Repairs the Voidoids' 1982 Album "Destiny Street"

In 1982, Richard Hell & the Voidoids released their second and final album Destiny Street, the follow-up to the group's punk epic Blank Generation. Now, 27 years after Destiny Street's release, Richard Hell is revisiting the album and putting it out as Destiny Street Repaired — Hell rerecorded the entire album with the help of three guitarists: Tom Waits collaborator Marc Ribot, jazz guitarist Bill Frisell and original Voidoid Ivan Julian. The album, which features fresh vocals but the original rhythm track, will be released in multiple formats via Insound on September 1st.

"At the time of the original recording I was so debilitated by despair and drug-need that I was useless," Hell says in a press release. "The record ended up being a high-pitched sludge of guitar noise. It was a shame because the songs were clean, simple, and well-constructed, but those values were sabotaged by the inappropriate arrangements and production." Destiny Street has been unavailable since 2006, when Hell deliberately made the album out-of-print after regaining the rights to the LP. Upon finding the original rhythm tracks, Hell decided to remake the album as it was originally intended. "I couldn't resist trying to use them to fill and patch up the sinking feeling that the thought of the record had always produced in me," Hell adds.

Destiny Street Repaired will come in two formats: The standard CD and the limited-edition deluxe CD/vinyl/poster set. The CD and the vinyl will both carry the 10 repaired Destiny songs — which include covers of Bob Dylan and the Kinks — however the deluxe will feature a bonus CD sporting two songs: the unreleased 1979 demo "Smitten" and the demo for "Funhunt," which was previously only available in a hard-to-find live version. Plus, all 1,000 of the limited-edition Destiny sets come hand-numbered and signed by Hell himself. For more details on the album, check out Hell's Insound page.

Related Stories:
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• Hell Remembers Quine
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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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