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I WANNA BE CONSIDERED A NICE GUY (1977)

Ok fuckers, this is where it all started for me. The Normals are arguably Montreal’s first punk band & after first seeing them one night after being suspended from high school for protesting the flattening out of the hills we used to hide behind while skipping class to smoke pot, I decided I wanted to be in a band too & I’ve been playing ever since. And guess what? I ended up playing with ex-Normals Rob Labelle, the singer/guitarist of this mind-blowing song, after he joined my band The American Devices, for 30 years. This recording's my fave from about a half a dozen other tunes on their one & only (quickly deteriorating) reel-to-reel demo tape which has never been released before (besides 25 CDR copies I sold at our 25th anniversary show 5 years ago) so this is a rare treat. Enjoy this hunka MTL punk history. Lyrics below. For more information on The Normals, dig around snubdom.com. Yours “Normally,” Rick Trembles. Click on the images or HERE to listen to the song.

Pictured below: The Normals opening for The Screamers (!) at Montreal's Hotel Nelson in 1978.

I WANNA BE CONSIDERED A NICE GUY (by Rob Labelle)

I wanna be considered a nice guy, I wanna be considered a nice guy, I wanna be considered a nice guy, But I don’t wanna sell myself down the river, Tried to be it, I deceived it, talking about collective health, I’m hired: Bang! I’m fired, I’m lucky I don’t get called up, It’s acquired, never seen one before & now everyone’s happy & my problems are in order, The general tyranny, general tyranny, general tyranny, Raining down blows that are never felt, Tried to be it, I deceived it, talking about collective health, I’m hired: Bang! I’m fired, I’m lucky I don’t get called up, My reassigned heart is a registered vehicle, My feelings when I check them is a part of the fiction, The general tyranny, general tyranny, general tyranny, Raining down blows that are never felt, I’ve been stuck in a rut, Typical for anybody like me, People always asking me what I do, People always asking me what I do, I wanna be considered a nice guy, I wanna be considered a nice guy, I wanna be considered a nice guy, But I don’t wanna sell myself down the river, Raining down blows that are never felt.

© 1977 The Normals

Come see Montreal's longest lasting "post-punk" band The American Devices (since 1980) with Futensil plus an extremely rare special screening of Montreal punk documentary The Normals (1978) Saturday, July 3, 2010 @ L'Escogriffe 4467A St-Denis (corner Mt-Royal)!

Below: Drawing of Rob I did in the late-seventies.