Dirty Impound

Troubled Youth Week continues with a sick ditty from Elton John and his dark-minded lyricist foil Bernie Taupin that originally appeared on 1972′s Honky Château. It’s utterly unimaginable in today’s climate that a major rock star would sing something of this ilk, but even in his day this was quite gallows-rich. Thankfully, long before he was Sir Elton he had a pretty big pair on him. Nice Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band shout-out in intro.

No one mopes about quite like Ryan Adams, whose catalog is littered with candidates for Troubled Youth Week. We decided to let Senor Moodswing rest his pipes and instead have the Dave Rawlings Machine work over this gem, co-written by Rawlings, from Ryan’s solo debut, Heartbreaker.

It ain’t easy being young. All those hormones and hard-ons. It jumbles up a body something awful. There, there, rock ‘n’ roll understands. And for the next week we’ll present some of our favorite troubled youth tunes, starting with this bark-along classic from The Tubes at their bedazzled, bugged-out best. Seeing this band as a prepubescent lad put the ultra-zap on Dennis’ head and perhaps helps explain his fascination with oddities like Of Montreal, Roger and Eno-era Roxy Music. The Tubes in their 70s glory were a fabulous gateway drug.