MARIONETTE - Blonde secrets & dark bombshells

MARIONETTE Blonde secrets & dark bombshells lp 1985 Heavy Metal Records 320 kbps

Ain't nothin' to it / Is that you / On a night like this / You better believe it / Too far gone / Raise hell / Gettin' sticky / My baby suxx / Nothin' but the night / Take me home with you / Staggerin' back to you / My baby sucks real bad (T. O. D. version) / Too far gone (T.O.D. version).

Marionette : R. Zell : vocals / D. Veal : guitar / K. K. : bass / Pig : drums.

Of all the main bands of the '80s London Glam scene, the one band that received the most initial press and gushing reviews were the fabulous Marionette. They had it down man...they were punk as shit. Fashion over function...guts over chops...silly, un-pretentious, obnoxious, loud, snotty...all the qualities that make for a rock band you can get behind. They became the scene's answer to the Hollywood Brats and frontman, Ray Zell, was the Flash Metal era's R. Crumb. His Pandora Peroxide comic strip was a vital part of Kerrang! Magazine as it was establishing itself as the only good magazine of the '80s Flash Metal Movement. Zell's Pandora character was the ultimate rock chick. Blonde, bitchy and tough, with big tits and dicksucking lips...she took the piss out of ego driven Kerrang cover stars while championing her underdog faves...part Wendy O., part Cherry Pop Tart, to most real deal rock fans, Pandora is as much part of the '80s Hair Metal movement as Aqua Net and cowboy boots.

As Pandora took off, so did Zell's rock journalism career and unfortunately Marionette were placed on the backburner.

Despite their short career, Marionette deserve to be remembered. Their two contributions to the Trash On Delivery album are the compilation's crowning achievements. "My Baby Sucks Real Bad" and "Too Far Gone" are primal and raw, primo-punk rawk at it's best. Zell spits classic lines like "Oh so very chauvinistic, she won't let me use her lipstick" in "My Baby Sucks Real Bad" like he's delivering the manifesto for the hairspray sect. In "Too Far Gone", Zell removes his tongue from cheek long enough to slurr "Just get me a whiskey. Just get me a beer. I don't need no girls tonight, I think I'm turning queer...Just get me a whiskey...Just get me a beer...But if you get me anything....GET ME OUTTA HEERREE!" ...trading his studied Andrew Matheson lisps for his Iggy yelps like the un-seasoned pro he wuz.

Completed by Dave Veal on guitar and drummer "Pig", the band inked with Heavy Metal Records in 1985. Their first and only record "Blonde Secrets and Dark Bombshells" appeared soon after and it was a bonafide sleaze rock monster. A lost classic of Dolls-y swagger, shitty NWOBHM production value and Pistols bravado, the album earned rave reviews in the UK press. The band also contributed the LP track 'Gettin' Sticky Over The Girl Next Door' to the 1985 Heavy Metal Records compilation album 'Rock Pretty'.
Unfortunately for us rock fans, the band just seemed to fizzle out as Ray Zell's status as a rock scribe became more solid. And with the end of Marionette came the end of embryonic stages of the '80s Glam Punk scene, as endless hairsprayed hopefuls emerged from the English sticks looking for chart action and Kerrang! cover status. Sleazegrinder
Great cd cover by MAX !