By Alan Cho
Listening to this debut from the Star Spangles evokes an imaginary childhood we all should’ve had in the 80s. One wrapped in a battered leather jacket and torn jeans, spent sedated in a pungently smoky bathroom with a punk named Judy and a headbanger named Suzy. Bazooka!!! is so singularly derivative of the Ramones, one suspects that somewhere in the Star Spangles’ garage, the head of Joey Ramone sits in a jar of embalming fluid, still murmuring new songs. Despite the band’s slavish adherence to the Ramones’ aesthetic, the New York band’s earnestness and energy is dangerously infectious. This is punk stripped of the bullshit and wanky ironic fart jokes.