Song Bell Bottom Bliss: “Flirtin’ With Disaster” by Molly Hatchet
posted by on August 2 at 17:15 PM
Fuckin’ fuck yeah! The Hatchet!
Hailing from Jacksonville, FL—about four hours north of where I grew up—Molly Hatchet was HUGE on the county fair circuit when I was a kid. I never heard their music back then, but I was totally psyched on their album art. I ogled their posters at Spencer Gifts in the Palm Beach Mall:
Totally awesome, right? Artist Frank Fazetta did the first, two—Wolfmother used one of his pieces for their debut album.
Like a trashier, drunker, less Canadian Steppenwolf, the Hatchet slugged and chugged heavy-riffing, triple-guitar hard rawk with a Southern edge. “Flirting With Disaster,” from 1979, is their one hit, and they still probably play it a couple hundred times a year to county fair audiences all over the US. The singer’s voice bears an uncanny and probably studied resemblance to Skynyrd singer Ronnie Van Zant, down to the funky falsetto “woo” he tags on the end of certain lyrics. No surprise, Skynyrd was the best thing to ever come out of Jacksonville (later the birthplace of Yellowcard, Limp Bizkit, Shinedown, and Red Jumpsuit Apparatus. From a hotbed of southern rock to a hotbed of total crap. Civic decline, yikes!).
The song is—to quote the bearded, ponytailed fat guy riding fast on the Harley wearing no helmet and high on JD and barbituates and glue—“fugg yeah!”
Mostly, this song really makes me get really drunk and do something really stupid.
(Ignore the YouTube vid; it’s the most non-drunk series of happy family photos imaginable. But the audio’s really good. Just gaze on the pic below while you listen.)
I'm so glad I was punk rockin' that i did not have to listen to this type of er, ah song?
ok Jonathan, this is bad music right? and why take up your time writing about it?
In 1979 Television was going strong, The Buzzcocks were rippin up the airwaves in the UK, I know that these other bands are well represented in print, but why, why bad 'merican bands? Does this go along with the bad beer kraze eg PBR?
please continue with your fine writing- but perhaps aim your culture gun higher.
SUMMER SURPRISE, DOG!!! Pull yer hed out!
robert, you listened to the song, and you didnt like it?
AND YOU DONT LIKE PBR???
i dont think theres anything i can do for you. this bell bottom bliss series is all about cheap beer and good times. the heineken and buzzcocks series will come at a later date. and be written by someone else.
you really dont like "flirtin' w disaster?" i just cant fathom that. then youre gonna hate todays entry, too, and mondays. weve entered the "bad 'merican music" portion of bell bottom bliss, and theres no turning back.
Ah, the Hatchet... They practically issued their albums to people who were born in my hometown of Elizabethton, Tennessee.
Uh Womp Bomp Bomp Yeah
Punkers calling The Hachet's songs "low" culture? Huh?
They were very good at "phlegm-singing"
Yarling even? Can we get Grandy to confirm the Yarlyness of Hatchet?
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