The Rubinoos

Just in time to capitalize on an unexpected bit of potential career luck -- Avril Lavigne's spring 2007 single "Girlfriend" blatantly (and without credit) plagiarizes the chorus from the Rubinoos' 1978 power pop classic "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend" -- Castle Records has resurrected the Bay Area popsters' key work, most of which has been basically unavailable for years. The exhaustive three-disc set is the first career-long anthology for the group, from its pioneering early work for the great Berserkley label through its collaborations with Todd Rundgren and Utopia, all the way up to its most recent album, Crimes Against Music. There's even a complete live concert, recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon in London in 1978. As with most power pop bands, the early work is the best, from a stonking cover of "I Think We're Alone Now" through "Boyfriend" to, improbably, the theme song to the quintessential '80s dumb comedy Revenge of the Nerds. The title is pretty much right on: this may well be all the Rubinoos most people will ever need. ~ Stewart Mason, All Music Guide