The expanded, re-mastered edition of I Don’t Wanna Be Too Cool is out now!  In the early ‘80s, Kate Fagan took the Chicago punk rock scene by storm with her self-released single, and in 2016 we reissed the coveted 7”, which quickly sold out. The expanded edition features four additional unreleased, ahead-of-their-time tracks, originally composed for Kate Fagan's  rock opera The Kissing Concept, a semi-autobiographical love story inspired by the ‘70s/’80s nightclub scene that Fagan had explored during her time in New York.


Over the years, Fagan has remained a stalwart in her local music scene, and she continues to perform and organize shows in her new home of New Orleans. She’s even helped shape new generations of musicians through the several chapters of Girls Camp of Rock. While the 2016 reissue re-established Fagan’s cult-classic status for a new audience, this new expanded release solidifies her place in a tradition of trailblazing, powerhouse frontwomen.



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WHO IS KATE FAGAN?

Kate Fagan took the Chicago punk rock scene by storm in the early 80’s with her self-released single “I Don’t Wanna Be Too Cool, ” which became the best-selling single ever by a local artist at the legendary Wax Trax! Records. Today, Captured Tracks is thrilled to present an expanded, re-mastered edition of I Don’t Wanna Be Too Cool as a full-length vinyl album, featuring four unreleased, ahead-of-their-time tracks.

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WHO IS KATE FAGAN?

Before she was opening shows for The Clash and The English Beat as the founder/ frontwoman of long-running Chicago ska trailblazers Heavy Manners, Kate Fagan released the cult new wave single I Don’t Wanna Be Too Cool on the tiny local imprint Disturbing Records.


Upon its early-1980 release the pogo-ready “Too Cool” single was immediately embraced by local club DJs and radio stations and tastemaking record stores like Chicago’s legendary Wax Trax, where it became the best-selling release by a local artist ever. The flipside, “Waiting for the Crisis,” also gained notice for its raw musical style and politically charged Reagan-era lyrics, which still resonate today.

RECORDINGS/VIDEOS

Fagan bought a cheap bass guitar and started writing songs intuitively, recording them at Chicago’s Acme Studios. There, she’d meet the fellow artists with whom she’d form the Disturbing Records label, which released the “I Don’t Wanna Be Too Cool” single as well as early singles by Heavy Manners. 

TOO COOL

Manufactured Recordings is excited to present this seminal U.S. new wave/post punk single, reissued here with two unreleased bonus tracks Kate recorded in the early 1980’s with members of My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult and Scarlet Architect. “I thought the reissue was a prank,” says Fagan. “I didn’t fully believe it until I flew to New York to meet them in person. 

It’s particularly gratifying because after the original single sold out in 1980 I did a second run of 1,000 copies out of my own pocket, and they were all lost in a house fire that destroyed literally everything that I owned at the time. So this is like unfinished business, and I think the songs are as relevant today as they were then.”

SONGWRITER

Kate wrote the title track after moving to Chicago from New York in the late 70’s. “I pretty much came to visit Chicago and fell in love with the scene and never left,” remembers Fagan. “At the time I’d been working at New York magazine and was getting dismayed watching the CBGB scene give way to the whole Studio 54/velvet rope thing. So I spontaneously moved to Chicago, which was much more inclusive and everyone wasn’t standing around peering at each other from behind their shades. But eventually I saw that same kind of divisive hipster culture start to creep in. ‘Too Cool’ was my reaction to that.”

HEAVY MANNERS

Heavy Manners’ high energy performances live on as some of Chicago’s most legendary ska dance parties. Throughout the eighties audiences thrilled to their appearances with The English Beat, The Clash, Third World, Jimmy Cliff, The Ramones, The Go Gos, Grace Jones and Peter Tosh among others. The night they played with reggae legend Peter Tosh in a sold out show at Chicago’s famed Aragon Ballroom was especially memorable. The reggae superstar, often referred to as the “Mystic Man” was immediately grabbed by the impassioned live performance and the quality of Heavy Manners’ songwriting. Studio sessions were soon set up in Chicago and Tosh flew in from Jamaica to produce along with his guitarist Donald Kinsey and his engineer Dennis Thompson. 


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