condition (record/cover): NM / NM Jeffrey Lee Pierce's 1981 debut with The Gun Club on Italian Expanded Music. Pierce synthesized blues, punk, and gothic rock into something entirely new and uniquely American - his lyrics explore violence, sex, and American mythology with poetic intensity that transcends simple genre exercises. Kid Congo Powers' slide guitar slithers through songs like a poisonous snake while Pierce's voice alternates between croon and howl. The production is raw but clear, capturing the band's live intensity without sanitizing their sound. Songs like "Sex Beat" and "She's Like Heroin To Me" became underground classics, influencing everyone from The Birthday Party to The Afghan Whigs. This launched Pierce's too-short career as one of punk's most visionary songwriters and most doomed romantics.