The Giant Panther

Yet another Boston band from the 80's was a band called The Del Fuegos. In the late eighties an artist named Juliana Hatfield immortalized The Del Fuegos in her song "My Sister" by name checking them as the warm-up act for a potential Violent Femmes show her sister might have taken her to if she'd stuck around. Before they had a record out, before they went gold...and started to grow. I always liked that line. In 1985 The Del Fuegos released an album called Boston, MA. WBCN was squarely behind them and the first single was "Don't Run Wild." It took me a few spins to warm up to it, but I was soon a huge fan of this single.

I wasn't really sure what to make of The Del Fuegos when they released their first album in 1984. Yeah, they were a garage rock band, but aside from "Longest Day" and "Backseat Nothing" there wasn't much to write home about relative to radio airplay. Led by brothers Dan and Warren Zanes, the band had an awful lot of hype around the station, but I didn't really get the feeling they were headed for big things at the time. If memory serves they were toppled by the Aimee Mann led 'Til Tuesday in the 1983 WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble (a battle of the bands for the unfamiliar). In fact the runner up was The Sex Execs of "My Ex" fame. Talk about where are they now huh? And I'm dead certain none of the judges were dazzled by Aimee's drop dead good looks either. In fairness "Voices Carry" was and is a tremendous song and The Del Fuegos had yet to unleash "Don't Run Wild." The Fuegos were left behind with the likes of Digney Fignus and their hit "The Girl With The Curious Hand." I'm sure they were hoping for more as good as that song was.

After "Don't Run Wild" became a WBCN staple the world was The Del Fuegos' oyster. They had another track called "I Still Want You" and "The Sound of Our Town" that did some minor charting, but "Don't Run Wild" was a killer track. I don't know what exactly happened to these folks after 1985, but it was all over by 1989 for The Del Fuegos. No matter. Every time I hear "Don't Run Wild" I think very fondly of this time of my life. And to name their record Boston, MA was pretty ballsy even though it guaranteed some airplay with a title like that in this town. I hope you like this track as much as I do. I love the whole feel of it. Great tune.