In their contrary way,
Girl Trouble may be the ultimate Pacific Northwest rock band; their purposefully lo-fi attack and primitive sound make them one of the few acts that boasts a musical kinship with both
Mudhoney and
Beat Happening, but they're clearly influenced by the vintage garage-era sounds of
the Sonics,
the Wailers, and
the Raiders, and their swaggering, snotty outlook is timeless in its own flip-the-bird way.
Girl Trouble's debut album, 1987's
Hit It or Quit It, isn't necessarily their best work, but it effectively laid out the plan of attack that the band would follow for the next couple decades: rough, echo-laden guitar work from Kahuna, simple but hard-hitting drumming by Bon Von Wheelie, subsonic bass work courtesy of Dale Philips, and attitudinal vocals from Kurt P. Kendall that split the difference between Gerry Roslie and Lux Interior. Fold in muscular tunes about cage dancing, alluring but dangerous gals, treacherous men of the cloth, biker gangs, new dance sensations, and all sorts of crazed good times, and you get
Hit It or Quit It, a big slice of fuzzy rock action that shows you can have a lot of fun and still take rock & roll seriously. Along with some swingin' original tunes,
Hit It or Quit It includes a few well-chosen covers, and
Girl Trouble strip
Paul Revere & the Raiders' "Steppin' Out" to the frame while still staying true to its sneering nature, as well as turning
George Jones' "White Lightning" into a hard-stomping rocker.
Girl Trouble have made a bunch of great records over the years, but
Hit It or Quit It shows they knew what they could do right out of the box, and this music hasn't gone the least bit stale more than a quarter-century after the fact; just add beer and some room to groove, and this album will get your rock & roll party started. ~ Mark Deming