Dragstrip Riot is an album by the American punk rock band the Flesh Eaters, released in 1991.[2][3] It was their first studio album since 1983's A Hard Road to Follow.

Lyrics to "Dragstrip Riot" appear in Bruce Harris Craven's novel Fast Sofa, published in 1993. The Flesh Eaters recorded a new song to promote the book, which was included with Fast Sofa as a flexi-disc.[4] "The Youngest Profession" was rerecorded for 2018's I Used to Be Pretty.[5]

Production

The album was made with a new lineup of the band, with Chris D. the only longtime member.[6] It contains covers of the Flamin' Groovies' "Slow Death" and Mott the Hoople's "Moon Upstairs".[7]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
The Encyclopedia of Popular Music	[9]
Spin Alternative Record Guide	5/10[6]

Trouser Press concluded that the new band "proves potent enough to keep pace without clinging to their leader’s tornado-swept coattails, whether the context is quietly malicious delta blues ('The Youngest Profession'), Alice Cooper-via-Jim Thompson power-metal ('Sugarhead and Panther Breath') or stripped-down docudrama (the ten-minute title track), not to mention a handful of territory-defining covers."[10] The Los Angeles Times called the new Flesh Eaters "a more tempered band with a blues and garage-rock sound that sometimes echoes such punk precursors as the Stooges, Television and the Patti Smith Group ... Formerly a ranter and raver, Chris D. now can sing when he wants to."[7]

The Arizona Daily Star wrote that "lead screamer Chris D. has reassembled his semi-legendary L.A. punk band, rediscovered the blues and now occasionally forgoes his trademark from-the-crypt wail to actually sing his lyrics, a combination of beat poetry, pulp fiction and B-movie themes."[11] CMJ New Music Report thought that guitarist Wayne James's "every move is a new extension of L.A.M.F./Link Wray squint-eyed grace; his guitar/co-writing skills are within the bounds of both old Flesh Eaters style and stereotype bad-ass rocker blare."[12]

AllMusic determined: "Overlong, but after over a decade they're in great shape."[8] The Encyclopedia of Popular Music thought that the album "saw the band crashing out riotous swamp rock of a virulent, Cramps-type character."[9]

Track listing

References