Alvin Rotten, Simon Vicious & Theodore Thunders

I just finished reading "ROTTEN" by Johnny Lydon. It's an autobiography all about his days with the Sex Pistols. I'm not going to tell you it was great because there were parts where it was really hard to get through and I almost didn't finish it. It was informative but a little bit too self-righteous. Regardless, it did get me in the mood for some good old 70s punk. Then I thought of that great TV commercial that was on television in 1980 for an album called "Chipmunk Punk". Chipmunk Punk was the "comback album" for the Chipmunks. They had been in the "where are they now" file for years due to the death of their creator, Ross Bagdasarian a.k.a. David Seville. No one had even thought of the Chipmunks until one day when a DJ on at KMET named Chuck Taylor played the 12" version of the Blondie's "Call Me" at double speed and announced that it was the Chipmunks' latest single. So many requests came for this "new" Chipmunks release, that Ross Bagdasarian Jr. and his collaborator Steve Vining rushed to record this album, which became the first new Chipmunks album since The Chipmunks Go To The Movies in 1969. This was the start of the "second generation" Chipmunks. The Chipmunks returned to public view via Saturday morning repeats of the cartoon series The Alvin Show on NBC. The album sparked a second run of the characters and led to another Saturday morning cartoon series, Alvin and the Chipmunks, which began in 1983 and also aired on NBC. And then there was that movie last year. In all honesty, the "second wave" of Chipmunks never really appealed to me other than this album. Since there was new technology in the recording industry, it was easier to make the voices and as a result, they lost something that the original recordings had. Either way, this album was huge and I remember wanting it so badly. Of course, the title should have been "Chipmunk New Wave" as it didn't feature one punk song. Anyway, here is that album for you now. As a side note, the CD release of this has the songs in a completely different order. Here is the original album in the original order. Enjoy!

Chipmunk Punk

And as an extra bonus, here is the infamous commercial: