Earth vs The Wildhearts

Earth vs The Wildhearts is the debut on which THE WILDHEARTS carved a fierce identity, blending the explosive power of punk, the weight of metal and pop hooks. The songwriting of the band’s central figure, Ginger, collides raw impulse and surprisingly sweet melody within the same song. Heard by working back from the polished later image, roughness shows, but that unrefined quality is precisely the record’s great appeal. On “Greetings from Shitsville,” “TV Tan,” “Suckerpunch” and “My Baby Is a Headfuck,” unexpected choruses leap out from the destructive momentum. Songs like “Everlone,” “News of the World” and “Drinking About Life” breathe the band’s firm melodic sense too. There is a momentum from before the riffs, singing and rhythm were fixed into one mold, and the core of THE WILDHEARTS surfaces from the trial and error of each song. An important debut that leaves at once the line leading to later signature works and a raw brilliance found only in that period.