Vintage Review: Cloverbottom's "Anarchy In The Music City" (1980)

The long-awaited Cloverbottom EP is finally on the street. For dedicated fans of Nashville’s most visible punk group, this collection of four new wave classics is a delayed Christmas present that just keeps on giving.

Containing such jewels as “Anarchy In Music City,” “Life Is A Game,” “Cottage Cheeseheads,” and “Nuclear War”, this self produced record has captured the raw energy of Cloverbottom. Anyone who has seen this power trio live in town will be able to feel the stage presence that screams out of the grooves on this disc.

If you haven’t experienced new wave music, this EP offers a quickie course. There aren’t any female singers with blonde hair, or fashionable lead singers in skin tight pants. These guys didn’t name themselves after a form of transportation. They took their title from the local mental institution. That alone should give you a hint of their attitude.

If the name isn’t enough, listen to some lines from this record:

Life is a game I ain’t ready to play…
(“Life Is A Game”)

If you Don’t Like Us You Can Leave.
(“Anarchy In Music City”)

And finally

Monotony will drive you insane.
(“Cottage Cheeseheads”)

Rock Strata, Johnny Hollywood and John Elliot (who has since left the band to join Actuals, no the, just Actuals) capture the raw underbelly of Nashville Punk. $2.00 and a trip to New Life Records on Charlotte Ave. will provide a primer and teaser for a new form of Nashville Music.

Review by Thom King, originally published in The Nashville Gazette, 1980