MUSIC FROM SPACE: Edge of Etiquette - I HATE YOU

Kirk Thatcher is one of those cool Hollywood behind-the-scenes geeks you've never heard of, a guy who has played an important role in all sorts of beloved geek nerd franchises without getting any of the glory. He's done special effects for ILM, written and performed for the Muppets, he was the associate producer of Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home... But, as he readily admits in this interview, they will probably put his credit for Star Trek IV's Punk on Bus on his tombstone.

Not only did Thatcher portray the Punk, he was also responsible for the song blaring out of the Punk's ghetto blaster. Apparently the studio wanted to use some other song that Thatcher found insufficiently nasty, so he volunteered to record a suitable punk song himself. Thatcher got together with a few studio sound guys as The Edge of Etiquette, and in a couple of hours they knocked out I Hate You, an absolutely perfect little chunk of '80s punk.

I Hate You turned up again in the Frankie and Annette reunion movie Back to the Beach, but otherwise that was sadly the last the world ever heard of Edge of Etiquette. (The song didn't even appear on the Star Trek IV soundtrack!) Only a short excerpt of the song was featured in Star Trek IV before Spock put the Vulcan neck pinch on the Punk, but you can hear the full version in the clip above. Note that this clip features some very NSFW language as part of Thatcher's Johnny Rotten-esque ranting at the end.

As one Youtube commenter writes, this song would've been so much better than the Beastie Boys for the young James T. Kirk's joyride in JJ Abrams' Star Trek reboot. I think I would've liked that stupid movie about 87% more if Abrams had been cool enough to think of that.

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