In 1976 Ludo Mariman took on the vocalist spot for The Crash, a group that would quickly change its name to The Kids. According to Mariman nobody in the band could really actually play an instrument so they ended up sounding like a “really bad version of Velvet Underground.” When punk rock began its search and destroy tour in the UK, it still hadn’t become a scene in Belgium yet with a couple of notable exceptions. Such as the band Chainsaw who if you blinked in Belgium back in 1977 you missed, and the wild success of Plastic Bertrand’s world-wide smash “Ça Plane Pour Moi.” Mariman headed off to London to see what all the fuss was about where he witnessed a live gig by the Ramones. It was then that Mariman had an epiphany of sorts and realized even though the Crash lacked actual “musical” talent they had the same kind of drive and energy that the quad from Queens possessed.

In 1978, when they were still quite literally kids (bass player Danny Haes was only fourteen at the time) The Kids put out two pretty blistering albums. The first was a self-titled record full of anarchic jams that all punched the time clock in under three-minutes like “Fascist Cops,” “Do You Love the Nazis,” and “I Don’t Want To Get a Job in the City.” The band’s second album, Naughty Kids was also full of catchy, pissed-off tracks including a fun sing-along I currently can’t get out of my head called “Jesus Christ (Didn’t Exist).”

As of last year The Kids were still touring rather extensively around Europe. I’ve included a few singles by The Kids below as well as footage from their first appearance on television in Belgium in 1978—which includes the band performing a cover of “Anarchy in the U.K.” If you dig The Kids, I’d highly suggest adding the 2006 compilation marking the band’s 30th anniversary that includes all the tracks from The Kids’ first two albums and a few live tracks put out by French label Wild Wild Records. Posers get LOST!
 
Listen the the Kids, after the jump…