Human Skab/ Thunder Hips and Saddle Bags

Human Skab
Thunder Hips and Saddle Bags
(Family Vineyard)

Oh bloody hell, there should be a law prohibiting people under the age of 15 from making records. With the exception of the now defunct Australian pop punkers Noise Addict who were excellent, children have never made good records. From the Jackson 5 to Hanson to the St Winifred’s School Choir bands featuring children have always been abysmal. I wish I could say Human Skab was the exception to the rule but sadly he is the reason the rule exists.
Human Skab was a 10 year old boy from Washington, USA who in 1986, along with his siblings and some neighbourhood kids released a cassette called Thunder Hips and Saddle Bags. Rather than singing, this 10 year old whined, screamed and shouted through this cassette accompanied by his own stomping feet and fists banging on tables as well as the others bashing pots and pans and a three-string guitar (you can imagine this being a young Seasick Steve, only the dates don’t add up).
Not just inaccessible but unlistenable too, god only knows why Family Vineyard saw this fit for re-release. Supposedly these are the insights of a young boy living through the mid eighties fear of nuclear war with the Soviet Union. In reality they sound more like the rantings of a precocious brat who should have been sent to bed without his tea. I blame the parents.