ALBUMS: Life in the Foodchain (1978); Amerika (1980) La Bomba (1982); Romeo Unchained (1986); Notes From the Lost Civilization (1987)
MVC Ratings: Life 5.0/$$$$$; Amerika 4.5/$$$$$; La Bomba, 4.0/$$$$; Romeo 4.5/$$$$$; Notes 4.0/$$$$
Well, it’s finally time. Time for one of my favorite artists. Tonio K. (Real name Steve Krikorian; He takes his moniker from Tonio Kroger, a novel by Thomas Mann.)
I fell for Tonio K. the first time I heard the song ‘Life in the Foodchain’ at a watering hole/hamburger place in Athens, Ga., about 1980, or somewhere in that vicinity. I remember it took me a while in those days before Google to find anything about Tonio K. You couldn’t just find bios and histories and contact information with a few keystrokes on a search engine.
I ended up finding Tonio K. through my record expert Chuck at WUXTRY Records. Readers of this blog know I bought a significant amount of used records from WUXTRY, both in Athens and Chuck’s spinoff in Birmingham and Cahaba Heights.
Tonio K. was right up my alley. He was glib, cynical, angry and funny. I mean funny. I go back and listen to the records sometimes and marvel at the wordplay.
“Baby don’t leave me here alone, don’t break up our happy home, think of the children,’ Tonio sings. ‘I know we ain’t got no kids, but think of if we did, it would surely upset them.’
Another song, he sings she’ll be waiting for him ’till the cattle come home.’ He changes cows to cattle. One word change and he sets up some ‘t’s.’ so he can punctuate his angry delivery rat-atat-tat. That’s the small stuff.
His debut album was alternately a punk metal precursor to a group like the Bay Area’s punks Rancid and the already crazy Warren Zevon going more crazy. His first band while a teen was called Raik’s Progress, a psychedelic punk band worth seeking out a recent re-issue.
The opening lines tell you about the harsh realities faced in a survival-of-the-fittest world.
‘Well your mother was there to protect you’ (Wham a one-chord punctuation mark)/Your papa was there to provide (wham)/So how in the world did the excellent baby wind up in this hotel so broken inside.’
Then a little later: Cause it’s dog eat dog/and it’s cat and mouse/it’s watch your step and cross yourself and get back in the house/and it’s do or die/it’s push and shove/because everybody’s hungry and there just isn’t quite enough.
Beyond this survival theme, broken relationships seemed to be his inspiration. Here’s from the not-so-subtle H-A-T-R-E-D.
‘I wish I was as mellow, as for instance Jackson Browne, but ‘Fountain of Sorry’ my ass $%^&***/ I hope you wind up in the ground.
But then Tonio K. got religion, or at least his music did. From ‘You Will Go Free’ with T-Bone Burnett on back-up vocals.
You can call it the devil/call it the big lie/call it a fallen world whatever it is, it ruins almost everything you try … But in the midst of all of this darkness, in the middle of the night/The truth cuts through like a razor, a pure and holy light.
Tonio was in the Buddy Holly band, the Crickets, after Buddy Holly died in a plane crash. He has also collaborated with Burt Bacharach and has written songs for numerous other artists.
I see his musical career in two parts. The angry Tonio of younger years, hurt in relationships, wounded in love. That would encompass the Life and Amerika albums. Then La Bomba was kind of a transitional piece. The guitars were less grungy — just as loud — but not the same as amped up Earl Slick, Nick Van Maarth, Albert Lee and Dick Dale.
After the hard (but clean) rock of La Bomba, Tonio K. moved into a slicker 1980s sound with Romeo Unchained and the Lost Civilization that to these ears almost pushed the music to boring. Couple standouts though, ‘You Will Go Free,” and ‘Perfect World’ on Romeo and ‘You Were There,’ — which always makes my wife cry — and ‘Children’s Crusade on Notes.’ The records had talent to burn with the entrance of T-Bone Burnett. The albums appeared on an A&M subsidiary that promoted Christian artists.
- Life in the Foodchain (Life.)
- Funky Western Civilization (Life)
- Cinderella’s Baby (Amerika)
- You Will Go Free (Romeo)
- H-A-T-R-E-D (Life)
- Fool’s Talk (La Bomba)
- One Big Happy Family (Amerika)
- Perfect World (Romeo)
- You Were There (Notes)
- Children’s Crusade (Notes)
- Say Goodbye (Amerika)
- Trouble (Amerika)
- Willie and the Pigman (Life)
- American Love Affair (Life)
- La Bomba
This is not the full extent of K.’s discography. Go to his website www.toniok.com for more. I highly recommend getting Ole’ which has songs to match many on this playlist.