More Royal Trux is the easy non-answer. The stuff leading up to that (second self-titled LP and Cats & Dogs) and the Singles, Live, Unreleased box are all stunning and of similar provenance. Sweet Sixteen has its moments, too, though it ain’t anywhere near as solid.

Ummm, what about Red Red Meat? Their best stuff works the same angles, though they aren’t ever quite as carnal. I’m particularly fond of the earlier, more explicitly rock records (the self-titled debut and Jimmywine Majestic), but it’s all pretty damn good.

Maybe too pop for ya, but I’m a big fan of The Kills‘ first LP, Keep On Your Mean Side. They got some of RTX’s boy-girl grind action, and the woozy Stones swagger, but prettier, and with fewer teeth. Not a polite record, exactly, but nowhere near as stoned (immaculate).

Indian fucking Jewelry. Their debut is just out through Monitor, and while it ain’t as formalist in its rockisms as Thank You, it shares a certain something. Lust-addled, drugged-out boy/girl stuff again, and I think that’s a big part of it, but this is quite a bit woolier and less pop (or “classic rock,” if you prefer) focused. Droney, scuzzy, pornographic swamp holler of the highest order.

Big Star’s Sister Lovers, of course, but then you knew that...

there’s probably some early Aerosmith record that hits it, but I wouldn’t know

i just got thank you in the mail yesterday!

Great album.

I’m gonna mention my own band’s album again, although it’s hard to find (who has all those remaindered copies?). 1995 on Sympathy for the Record Industry and there’s definitely an element similar to Cats and Dogs/Thank You-era RTX, though more of an overall psychedelic context:

And judging from that photo, you all probably did lots and lots of heroin!

I was just skinny because I was a vegetarian.

Early Aerosmith OTM. I remember the first time I saw Aerosmith in the Sgt. Pepper’s movie thinking, oh yeah, Royal Trux all the way.

First Kills album seconded, too.

I like that Kills album too. I was expecting them to suck, being one of that whole wave of The... bands churning out shitty indie post-Strokes, but it’s pretty good garage rock. Fried My Little Brains is a great song.

“Map of the City” is so so good. Some of the lyrics in that song are weird even by the standards of thee Trux.

“I rolled out from under the engine

And I saw her standing there

I knew right then that I could love her forever

Even when her breasts are rotted with cancer”

“the sailor has to masturbate until his ship lands”

is one of my favourites from that song

“Ray-O-Vac” was my fave for a long time.