Did you ever wonder why Riff Randell, the teen-songwriter heroine of the '79 Ramones flick "Rock 'n' Roll High School," didn't start her own group instead of giving her songs to the Ramones? If she had, the result might have resembled Nikki and the Corvettes, a Detroit punk-pop outfit led by the candy-voiced rocker Nikki Corvette, and Romantics guitarist Peter James.

The group plied their brand of bubblegum punk from 1977 to 1981, before falling off the rock radar. This fresh-sounding reissue of their self-titled 1980 album (which includes two singles not found on the original) should help change that. Like the Ramones, Nikki & Co. mixed punchy three-chord guitar rave-ups (with pre-Cars titles like "Let's Go" and "Shake It Up") with an appreciation for pre-Beatles '60s pop, particularly the Shangri-Las and the Shirelles. (Many tracks here would go just fine on the soundtrack to "Hairspray".)

Corvette and backup singers Lori Jeri and Sally Dee caked on the bad-girl mascara, but most of their lyrics deal in quaint, romantic sentiments; even the cheekiest song, "Back Seat Love", is more sweet than raunchy. Still, fans of the Donnas and the Rondelles will enjoy the vibe here, and the album's best traks -- "He's a Mover", "You're the One", and "Young & Crazy" are enthusiastic relics of a rock era gone by.

Lisa Gidley, SonicNet.com

It's 1980, punk music is tearing holes in the collective consciousness of American music. In a Detroit garage, Nikki Corvette, Lori Jeri, and Sally Dee with the help of Pete James (from the Romantics) are making rock'n'roll based firmly on 50's/60's doo-wop sensibilities.

They would only record a handful of singles and one LP. This record lies somewhere between the Go-go's and the Ramones with bubblegum teenage libido maxed out.

These are standard pop gems with sugary sweet vocals and the whole band harmonizing on each chorus, the occasional guitar solo, all on top of vaguely psychedelic surf rock riffs and an omnipresent snare drum.

With lyrics like "C'mon Boys, let's take a chance, C'mon Boys, let's have some romance" and "I don't care what you say cuz I know it's right, I don't care what you do, I'm gonna stay with you tonight" it is clear the thesis statement of this album is rock'n'roll, driving fast, sex and dancing. Hooray!

Any fan of the Rondelles, Bangs, or the Donnas will hear some remarkable coincidences in the Corvettes' sound and lyrics. The most obvious one being the Corvette's "Shake it Up" with the Donna's "Hook it Up" from Get Skintight. But who really cares? There's plenty of room in my record collection for girly, sleazy, pop music.

I encourage everyone who buys Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera records for their kids to try switching in a Nikki & the Corvettes tape next time. It's just as giddy and catchy (sing-along-able, if you will) and Nikki is such a better role model! Listening to this brings back all those beautiful memories of rocking out to Jem and the Hollograms I had as a little kid. But this is hip and acceptable whereas if I tried to bring back those old Jem tapes people would probably think I was a pedophile.

A must for any fan of the Runaways, Lesley Gore, Bis, the Beach Boys, and Sleater-Kinney.

Jennifer North, epinions

This reissue, courtesy of the impossibly beautiful Nikki (with her Corvettes): bratty 60s busying itself with rock and sex and cars. Has a kind of hush that keeps it from sounding dated.

Brutarian #33

Two decades before the Donnas were doing their best to be the "chick Ramones," we had Nikki and the Corvettes, who, besides cranking out some wonderfully catchy pop tunes, had a front woman who was surely many a punk boy's wetdream. Bomp has reissued on CD the band's sole album -- think of a sexed-up punked-up Shangri-Las, fueled by Chuck Berry guitar riffs -- along with their two singles. You get 16 foot-tappin', head-boppin' songs about boys, "Backsteat Love," and dancing that I think would require a supreme effort to NOT enjoy. Bubblegum punk that tastes as good as it looks.

Soundviews

They had a sound between The Romantics and The Ramones with a dose of the Shangri-Las. Led by a "new wave Betty Boop" to quote one review, this power vroup offered sounds and sex appeal. Combining those undeniable elements of energy, enthusiasm and amateurish rock, the Nikki & the Corvettes recordings presented here are fun, bubblegum rock classics. This is the original album, on CD twenty years after it originally came out. Four bonus tracks come from the 1977 single "Young & Crazy" and the 1981 single "I Gotta Move". Very few heard the '77 single, because only one thousand copies were pressed. Together, this shows us where the group came from and where they were headed.!!!

Tom Tearaway, Caustic Truths! #76

If you like tunes that are reminiscent of girl bands of the 1950s dabbled with the abruptness of the Ramones, then Nikki & the Corvettes is exactly what you need to pop into the car as you hop onto the highway in the morning. This early '80s band's fast talk about rock 'n' roll, boys, and partying, makes up most of their lyrics. Though Nikki's lollipop voice might repel at first, with a longer listening her kittenish appeal comes through with a tigerish strength. Most of the songs are inane cliches ("Baby, you're just what I need/Satisfaction guaanteed"), and will bomb immediately if the critic is more into a Pizzicato Five jumping about kind of mood. But if your tastes tend toward The Donnas or Shonen Knife, then the campy style of this band will rock your world and transport you into the days of drag races, shaggy hair, spandex pants, black eyeliner, and heels with bobby socks. Not to mention the inside pictures of Nikki Corvette posing pin-up-like atop a mass of forty-fives in a man's dress shirt, completely won me, always a poor sucker for greatr packaging, completely over and destroyed any bad feeling I had previously harbored towards this sexy, girl-whirly band.

VMag

Led by Nikki Corvette, this Detroit trio played basic new wave power pop with girl group influences. If you're looking for something rawer than the Go GO's, yet certainly not as raw as The Ramones, this could fill the bill, although they're not as accomplished as either of those two groups. Nor were they a self-contained group, using a backup group on their 1980 Bomp LP, whose dozen songs were all written by Nikki Corvette and lead guitarist/producer Peter James. The album was reissued on CD in 2000 with non-LP singles from 1977 and 1981 as bonus tracks.

Richie Unterberger, All Music Guide

Nikki Corvette is fucking back! In her first new release in who knows how long, Nikki picks up right wear her Bomp career left off: bubblegum power pop genius! Nikki co-wrote these tunes with TRAVIS RAMIN, the guy who I consider to be the leading voice in power-pop today (having organized female-fronted combos like CANDYGIRL and TINA & THE TOTAL BABES, not to mention pulling full-time duty in THE FEVERS). The results are authentic and infectious. There’s no reason to approach with caution-this is fantastic.

(MC) AMP

At the Coachella festival in April, members of the Donnas were fresh from a sweaty set and headed toward the media tent when an unassumingly sweet lady approached them. The band members shuddered in delight at the sight of Detroit legend Nikki Corvette. You see, the Donnas know their shit. And they know for certain that without Corvette's groundbreaking work, they might not be there.

Two decades after the breakup of her band, Nikki and the Corvettes, Corvette has returned to recording. Her new 7-inch is a glorious slab of ragin' full on bubblegum punk. Both sides of this record are short blasts of guitar-driven sweaty libido.

The A-side, "Love Me" is sweet pop with a knowing wink. Meanwhile, the flip side, “What's On My Mind,” has Corvette showing off the template she created for the Donnas. It's sexy and self-assured (cocksure isn't quite the right word, but the feminine equivalent would be). Let's just say empowered and leave it at that.

(Corvette looks mighty yummalicious on the sleeve in photos by CREEM honcho Dr. Robert, by the way)

Brian J. Bowe
CREEM MAGAZINE
June 2003

Remember Nikki Corvette? Super poppy, cutesy stuff with a bit of edge in the late '70's to about '81. Well, she's got a single, the first thing released in over twenty years. Can she still pull it off after all this time, you ask? Hell yeah she can! Fans of the Pinkz, Exploding Hearts, and Mand and the Marbles will love it. (Megan) Razorcake #14

Are we gonna buy into this latest effort of a cute girl doing powr pop circa LA 1980?

You're damn right we are! Good power pop by a girl singer...you know the sound, you know the look. Just get it already. Lonely awkward guys to the left please.

(RL) MRR #241

Bad Girls who play rock'n roll never get boring. So with that said, Nikki's back, and she sounds exactly the same as she did in 1980, an d along with the FEVERS' Travis Ramin twiddling the knobs, there's no doubt it's gonna be a painfully sweet rock'n roll nugget. Great sound, great production, and one of rock'n rolls hottest ladies all come together to rip your underwear right clean off and sugar-shock your private parts in the most painfully wonderful way imaginable.

(Rod) Horizontal Action #11

Hands down the best single Rapid Pulse Records has ever released! The leader of one of the most rockin' "girl groups" of all time, Nikki Corvette (of Nikki and the Corvettes, duh) is back for the first time in eons to please your ears with two tunes that could have been alternate takes from the 1980, bubblegum power pop genius Nikki and the Corvettes LP. This time Nikki has teamed up with Travis Ramin who has been involved with a number of great, recent bands like The Fevers, Candygirl and Tina and the Total Babes to craft two absolute pop gems. Either song, "Love Me" or "What's On My Mind" would have worked as the A-side as both deliver catchy verses with a chorus full of amazingly huge hooks. One of the best pop singles of the past few years.

blankgeneration.com

The one-and-only Nikki & The Corvettes LP wasn't just one of the best power pop albums of its day. It's also one of the greatest rock n' roll albums of all-time, PERIOD. Blending the sunny, innocent charms of 60's girl group pop with the naughty allure of the "rock n' roll bad-girl" aesthetic, Nikki & The Corvettes typified adolescent rock's lusty, thrill-seeking spirit. Sure, they weren't a "real" band. But so what? Who cares if half the people who bought the album were horny teenage punk rockers who just wanted to jerk off to the cover photo? It's still a bubblegum punk rock masterpiece, and CLASSIC songs like "Backseat Love", "Summertime Fun", "He's A Mover", and "I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend" remain the high standard by which all "girl-fronted pop-punk" bands are measured. Producer/songwriter/band architect Peter James was nothing short of a musical genius, and Nikki Corvette gave his songs a sexy, candy-sweet voice. Fast forward to now. I have no idea what Peter James is up to these days. But Nikki Corvette is back with her first single in 22 years, and she has teamed up with perhaps the only man capable of filling James's shoes: Mr. Travis Ramin! Ramin, the mastermind behind groups like Candygirl and Tina & The Total Babes, has penned two more power pop gems that are TO DIE FOR! And Ms. Corvette still "has" it on vocals, sounding as spunky and girlish as any middle-aged woman possibly could. The mid-tempo "Love Me" is vintage late 70's power pop a la The Beat and Romantics. It's actually kind of similar to Candygirl's "Oh, Jacky Boy!" (the greatest power pop song EVER!). But "What's On My Mind", the B-side tune, is even better! It's a revved-up rock n' roll anthem that wouldn't have sounded out of place on Nikki & The Corvettes' aforementioned 1980 debut album. Fans of The Pinkz, Bobbyteens, and Riff Randells will cream their jeans for this song! Simply put, a timeless power pop single.

Now Wave Zine - REVIEW BY RUTLEDGE

Wow. No Corvettes in sight, but this is Nikki's first single since 1980, when she was the reigning, gum-snapping power pop queen of the nu wave scene. With the modern day Phil Spector, Travis Ramin (Tina and the Total Babes, the Short Fuses) behind the board, presumably waving guns around and gibbering about the perfect girl-pop song, you'd figure this single would be good, and it is. There's a signature Corvette sound, which involves a neo-punk guitar chug on the verses, and a full-on dreamy bubblegum chorus, and that's in full effect here, as if rock and roll was just standing around smoking Kools for 23 years, waiting for Nikki's eventual return. B-side “What's on My Mind” takes a more modern punk and roll approach, but for the most part, this single is as vintage sounding as an old Knack record, and just as catchy. Welcome back, Nikki, we missed ya.

Sleazegrinder