Redd Kross--The Band That Just Can’t Get No Respect

The double bill of Redd Kross and the Nymphs at the Palace on Friday was an oddly interesting mismatch of prized Los Angeles bands with completely different styles but a shared Catch-22: Their most-noticed elements are their biggest stumbling blocks.

With Redd Kross, the catch is the humorous, pop-trash orientation that’s been its trademark for more than a decade.

On Friday, the band often came off as a cross between the Archies and the Damned, but they just as often achieved a blend of the Beatles and Led Zeppelin.

By the end of the headlining set, Jeff and Steve McDonald and their three latest partners had offered material with as much musical richness and lyrical affection for the youth condition as anything by the touted Teenage Fanclub.

But many seem unable to take this funny band seriously, which leaves it without a record deal at this time.

For the Nymphs the Catch-22 is the outrageous behavior of singer Inger Lorre, who had publicly promised that at Friday’s show she would pull her most outrageous act yet.

And in a way she did: She just let the music and her own naturally dramatic presence speak for itself. But it’s so to easy to get wrapped up in anticipation of antics that many may not have noticed how much this band--filtering Black Sabbath through Siouxsie Sioux--has grown as a performing entity.