Creeps – Just What I Need

Four years ago, I posted a song by this band that I have loved ever since. It’s called Down At The Nightclub (I’m including it as well at the bottom). It was during the mid-1980s, and I so wish I knew about them then. This would have been what I would have listened to rather than the Top 40 in 1986. This is one band I found that I keep coming back to. 

They were fueled by Vox amps and a steady diet of Nuggets and Stax singles. This Swedish band is one of those rare bands you stumble across on a late-night college radio show. It’s the kind of band that never broke into the mainstream but somehow managed to bottle a sound so cutting that it demands rediscovery every few years. 

In the mid-’80s, while the rest of the world was drowning in synths and drum machines, The Creeps doubled down on garage soul. It’s a reminder that sometimes, all you really need is a fuzz pedal, an organ, and a chorus you can shout at the top of your lungs.

This song is on their debut album, Enjoy The Creeps, and it was released in 1986. Critics have said that they never managed to translate the excitement of their live show to records, but this one is an exception. They released it on a small label named Tracks on Wax, which was a Swedish Garage Rock label in the 80s.

They formed in Sweden in 1985. They were influenced heavily by the Animals and Yardbirds, Robert Jelinek (vocals, guitar), Hans Ingemansson (Hammond organ), Anders Olsson (bass), and Patrick Olson (drums). Whenever I think of music from Sweden, I think of Abba… This is not Abba by any stretch of the imagination.

After a few years, the band dropped the dirty sound of their debut album and went more for an ’80s funk dance sound.

Here is the song I posted earlier…Down in the Nightclub which is one of my favorite 1980s songs. 

 

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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.

36 thoughts on “Creeps – Just What I Need”

  2. Great stuff! Can’t say I’ve ever heard of them, but I love this style/sound. I definitely need to explore further!

    Just when you thought you’ve heard it all, here comes Max with another winner!

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  3. Pingback: Creeps – Just What I Need – MobsterTiger

    1. Thanks! I like their debut album but spotify doesn’t have it….I had to track it down on YouTube. The Night Club song is wonderful.

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  8. Now I recall you writing about them before… ‘Just What I need’ is pretty good, very retro-’60s …if I had to try to stretch for a comparison, I’d maybe say the Animals who you mention in there. Interesting sound

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      1. i like it. Too bad they didn’t get noticed more -probably a bit difficult overall for a Swedish act to do so over here, though certainly Abba and Roxette proved it wasn’t impossible

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      2. Well…they did after they changed to funk. and dance…they actually had some charting songs…it sucks though they couldn’t have hit at least college audiences with this.

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  9. First time hearing the Creeps…I dig it. Very reminiscent of the Animals to me. From that perspective, their foray into a more soulful sound than what you’ve turned us onto makes sense…Eric Burdon did that with War, which I loved.

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    1. Yea I wish I would have known about them back then. I love this sound…it never gets old with me. Yes they did change and had some success.

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  15. Dear Sir;

    Just a heads up Max, I commented twice on the McCartney post today and WP or whatever the Powers That Be sent it off somewhere, who knows where, maybe spam. Or maybe I fumble-fingeredly missent it myself? Who knows, my tech expertise is basically below Troglodyte level!

    Yours, etc Permanently Tech Disabled Obbverse

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  16. (All I can say is ‘WP-wtf?’ I have to check my spam a wee bit these days; most new comments from new readers generally gets put there- aha, usually, but not always! I guess WP likes to invoke a sense of mystery and drama into the everyday hum-drum experience of reading ones e-mails? I suspect it will all be resolved in the next New! Better! Updated! Uprated! Incredible! Easier Than Never! new version. Which will be, as we know, another downgrade in easy-to-use terms. Sigh. I’m now going to lie down in my safe dark room with soft padded walls now and quietly whimper. 🙄)

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    1. I don’t know why but ” I guess WP likes to invoke a sense of mystery and drama into the everyday hum-drum experience of reading ones e-mails? ” Got me chuckling really good…
      Every single time they update something…sometihng else breaks. Right now…you know the little bell in the right hand corner? When you get a new comment it shows you…well mine hasn’t since Feb…I still have a ticket in with them…I have to manually refresh my browser before I see comments. Sometimes I get 10 deep before I think of refreshing.
      Hmmm…that sounds good…give me the padded walls. I’m on the recliner right now watching Barney Miller.

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