You think that people would have forgotten the eighties by now. Dodgy fashion, dodgy hair and dodgy music made it a decade best forgotten. Atomic Bitch (a duo made up of Ursulla and Brad D), however, will not let it fade away and have released an album that conjures up that hell of John Hughes’ movies that Bluesbunny had been trying to wipe from his memory.
Name checking brands of hairdryers as a commentary on consumerism? It certainly seemed that way after listening to "Suspicious Hair Dryer". “Leather Jacket” is an almost perfect pastiche of the “bad boy” theme so prevalent in the movies of that time period. You know the thing. From the wrong side of the tracks but love conquers all – in under 90 minutes too! The catchy title track, “Prom Nite”, is so delightfully cheesy that you could eat it whilst “Hillbilly Swing” – the best song on the album in our humble opinion - has a snarling bit of attitude with Ursulla coming over like an all grown up Debbie Gibson suffering from a bit of trailer park isolation.
This band have managed to escalate the triviality of eighties music into something of an art form. The arrangements are uniformly -and deliberately bland – as so much of the chart music from that decade was. However, there is that knowing sense of humour displayed in the lyrics that brings a smile to your face as you recall those halcyon days. An affectionate pastiche, and quite entertaining at that, but perhaps a lot of people these days just won’t get the joke. And that would be a shame.