Toy Love - “Pull Down the Shades”
Toy Love is not a new band. Their sole album predates my birth by several years. Their members went on to be in more notable bands (Chris Knox and Alec Bathgate went on to form Tall Dwarfs). They were on Elektra Records for a hot second, but still remain somewhat obscure for a late '70s/early '80s New Zealand punk band.
Yet I can't help but keep listening to the band's best song, "Pull Down the Shades," decades after I first heard it. Perhaps it's the lyrics that ring true to our current predicament. Maybe it's my recent revisiting of the Ramones' early catalog and the realization that Toy Love and other international punkers around did just as good of a job (if not better). Whatever the reason may be, just know that Toy Love wrote one of the best pop and punk songs (not pop-punk, mind you) over forty years ago, and it sounds just as good today as it likely did then.
"Pull Down the Shades" by Toy Love is available on the album Toy Love, out now on Flying Nun Records. Please consider supporting the artist directly by purchasing their album.