The biggest rockers have always been exhibitionists. Iggy Pop cut herself on stage with shards of glass. Johnny Rotten taunted his audience. Lux Interior dropped his pants in full halls. Singer Sebastian Murphy of the Swedish Viagra Boys fits effortlessly into that list. He gladly shows his fully tattooed body, even though he seems pregnant with half a brewery with the ambition to drink the other half as well. He bellows his texts into the hall without tone, often lying on the floor or bending over the first rows. Danger, he radiates, plus the attitude that he doesn’t care at all.
Evidence number two of the repulsive appeal of the Viagra Boys is the lyrics to “Troglodyte,” in which Murphy accuses humanity of reverting to the caveman mindset as he races across the stage like an unleashed gorilla. Behind his primitive act is a sane person who questions toxic masculinity and loudly apologizes for the fact that “this fucked up society” made him that way.
Musically, the band is a rock monster storming straight ahead that isn’t concerned about melodic development. The shrill sax and synthesizer sounds are reminiscent of The Stooges at the time of the free jazz injected album Fun House† In the confrontational ‘Ain’t Nice’ the audience was allowed to roar along that they are not sweethearts either. Stage diving was encouraged, climaxing with Sebastian Murphy himself being lifted over his head as he continued to hammer in his brutal lyrics. The band pounded on, sometimes for fifteen minutes in the same chord. The result was over an hour and a half of pure excitement.