A big part of what I want to do here is help you fine people find new music to love. See, I consume music like other people consume air, which means that my music discovery process tends to run sort of like this: 1. Hear song that moves me. 2. Buy album it’s on. 3. Listen to nothing else for two weeks. 4. Get burned out on it. 5. Begin searching feverishly for something new.

So I’m basically always on the prowl for both new music and new places to find new music, if you catch my meaning. And so, I figure if there’s any way I can help other people like me get their fix, well, it’s a moral imperative.

Which brings us to the first-ever Plastic Axe Deep Cut: “Kids in America” by The Muffs, which you can find on the Rock Band 2 disc.

I love this song for two reasons. One: The original (Amazon | iTunes) is one of the most profoundly catchy tunes of the ’80s, a decade known for profoundly catchy tunes. The song was performed by Kim Wilde and written by her brother Ricki and father Marty Wilde — all of whom were notably neither kids nor American when the song was released (though at 21 Kim could have passed for 17). Kim Wilde would go on to release another big hit with a cover of the Supremes’ “You Keep Me Hangin’ On,” but that’s not what I’m here to recommend.

This is what I’m here to recommend, and the second reason I love this song: The Muffs, one of the most unabashedly melodic punk bands I’ve ever heard. Wait, are they punk? Well: heavy guitars, snarling vocals, the occasional really really fast tune — if this isn’t punk I’m not exactly sure what is. But then an incredibly sweet bubble-gum melody or harmony pops up and you have to think about it again. Which is why I hate slapping genre labels on music.

Am I digressing? I’m digressing. Sorry. What I wanted to say was that “Kids in America” could almost have been written by Muffs singer/songwriter Kim Shattuck; its relentlessly catchy melodies and slightly unexpected chord changes fit right in with just about anything else the Muffs have put out. So if you like this tune, chances are good you’ll like more of their stuff.

I’ve got a soft spot for their first, self-titled album (iTunes), but they’ve been putting out hummable little nuggets of pop punk for over 15 years now, and just about anything up to and including their most recent — 2004′s Really Really Happy (iTunes) — should scratch that power-pop itch.

Honestly, ever since hearing them on a jukebox in Birmingham, Alabama, in the summer of 1995 (why in the name of all that is holy do I remember stuff like this?) I’ve been amazed that they didn’t get swept up to superstardom along with all those other pop-punk bands in the mid-’90s. Check out their stuff and see if you don’t agree.

[image: Kim Shattuck]