Eddie and the Hot Rods – Do Anything You Wanna Do

I was looking through some pub rock bands lately and found this band. It’s such an interesting musical era in the early to mid-seventies with pub rock. I love the stripped-down feel of that music. They almost go back to a ’50s sound. Barrie Masters was their energetic lead singer. He was skinny and hyper with great stage presence. I love the live performances I’ve seen from them. He was all over the place. 

This band was between Pub Rock and Punk with a little Power Pop thrown in. They seemed too musical for punk but too edgy for radio, but this one hit the charts. Later on, bands like The Jam, The Undertones, and even early Blondie were picking up the same feel. Do Anything You Wanna Do peaked at #9 in the UK in 1977.

On how they got their name and why they were not Barrie and the Hot Rods, lead singer Barrie Masters said: “Because Barrie and the… would’ve sounded STUPID! The only reason it was Eddie and the Hot Rods… We loved the name when Dave came up with Hot Rods! And then we wanted Something and the Hot Rods. Do you remember those old Cruisin’ albums? The guy in those cars was always called Eddie. That’s how it came about — Eddie and the Hot Rods, and it stuck.” 

They formed in 1975 in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, England. They came up in the pub rock scene that rebelled against prog and glam. Bands like Dr. Feelgood, The Count Bishops, and Kilburn and the High Roads were doing away with glitter and mystique, trading them in for raw stripped-down R&B. Between 1976 and ‘79, the band (Barrie Masters, Dave Higgs, Paul Gray and Steve Nichol, later to be joined by Graeme Douglas) released three great albums and toured extensively in the UK, Europe, and America.

By 1980, the constant touring took its toll. Paul Gray and Graeme Douglas left the band and joined The Damned. They released another album after that, but a lack of promotion caused poor sales, and they broke up. 

Masters would reform the band multiple times in the decades that followed, keeping the Hot Rods on the pub and festival circuit. Barrie Masters passed away in 2019. 

Do Anything You Wanna Do

Gonna break out of the cityLeave the people here behindSearching for adventureIt’s the type of life to findTired of doing day jobsWith no thanks for what I doI’m sure I must be someoneNow I’m gonna find out who

Why don’t you ask them what they expect from you?Why don’t you tell them what you are gonna do?You’ll get so lonely, maybe it’s better that wayIt ain’t you only, you got something to sayDo anything you wanna doDo anything you wanna do

Don’t need no politicians to tell me things I shouldn’t beNeither no opticians to tell me what I oughta seeNo one tells you nothing even when you know they knowBut they tell you what you should doThey don’t like to see you grow

Why don’t you ask them what they expect from you?Why don’t you tell them what you are gonna do?You’ll get so lonely, maybe it’s better that wayIt ain’t you only, you got something to sayDo anything you wanna doDo anything you wanna do

Gonna break out of the cityLeave the people here behindSearching for adventureIt’s the type of life to findTired of doing day jobsWith no thanks for what I doI’m sure I must be someoneNow I’m gonna find out who

Why don’t you ask them what they expect from you?Why don’t you tell them what you’re gonna do?You’ll get so lonely, maybe it’s better that wayIt’ain’t you only, you got something to sayDo anything you wanna doDo anything you wanna do

…

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

26 thoughts on “Eddie and the Hot Rods – Do Anything You Wanna Do”

  2. You’ve been in my record collection again, haven’t you? 😂😂😂

    Great band. Saw them live in one of their regroups … Would have been @ 2006 in Blackpool. What an atmosphere!

    (Used to be that ‘Eddie’ was a mannequin / dummy they had on stage during shows … But they ditched the idea after a while.)

    😄

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    1. I’m sorry Mr Jackson…I won’t scratch any!
      Yea I read off and on about that Eddie mannequin and then he joked that they gave it to Iron Maiden lol

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    2. I saw them in the late 90’s in some dive in my home town, which has gained city statues since. I really only liked the songs they wrote around the time of Do Anything …. A mantra that at the time I thought it was rude not to adhere to. I believe the single release after this one was Quit This Town and after my period of doing what I wanted to do I was kind of forced into relocating.

      I think it’s only recently that people are recognising the pub rock scene. There were so many bands around that time that became idols of pine. The Pirates, the Feelgoods, the Count Bishops and for a change Kilburn and the High Roads.
      Of course Nick Lowe is an all round genius, Elvis Costello, Lew Lewis, I could go on.

      When the punk scene came along I was in my element. Everywhere I turned there was a new band to see. Some memorable nights were had but nothing has really had the same vibe since, although acid house and the few illegal parties I went to come close but for different reasons.

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    1. I almost wrote that twice. I do like that movie. Yea I really like these pub rockers before everything went to punk. Though I do like some punk as well

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