Archive for July, 2005
Name Dropper Part 2
Thanks to all of your suggestions from the earlier name dropping post I was able to cobble together a part 2. Enjoy…
The Hate:
Accident - Kill The Bee Gees.mp3
Maggots - Let’s Get Tammy Wynette.mp3
Rotters - Sit On My Face Stevie Nicks.mp3
Anti-Heros - Jerry Was A Piece of Shit.mp3
Nine Pound Hammer - Bye Bye, Glen Frey.mp3
The Love:
Dirtbombs - I’m Saving Myself for Nichelle Nichols.mp3
Mr T. Experience - End of The Ramones.mp3
Posies - Grant Hart.mp3
The Snide:
Replacements - Something To Du.mp3
The Weird:
Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper - Debbie Gibson Is Pregnant With My Two-Headed Love Child.mp3
Is there anything left for a part 3?
20 commentsPegboy
15 years after their inception and I still think of Pegboy as the “new” band for guitarist John Haggerty. Haggerty’s 1990 departure from Chicago legends Naked Raygun pretty much sounded the death knell for that band. Haggerty however picked up where he left off, teaming up with ex-Bhopal Stiffs Larry Damore and Steve Saylors (and brother Joe Haggerty on drums ) to form Pegboy. The material they would release was at times poppier than Raygun, but carried a dark, muscular sound that killed any cloying sweetness. Sure, Damore was no Jeff Pezzati on vocals, but Pegboy nonetheless produced an impressive catalog that goes toe to toe with the later Raygun material. My personal favorites are 1993’s Fore 12″ (with interim bass player Steve Albini) and the band’s fantastic swan song Cha Cha Damore. The Touch&Go website states the band disbanded in 2000, but I think they’ve done a couple of reunion shows since. The tracks below are from the 7″ appearances:
from 1991’s Field of Darkness 7″
Pegboy - Field of Darkness.mp3
Pegboy - Walk on By.mp3
from 1996’s split 7″ with Kepone
Pegboy - Dangermare.mp3
Stuff:
Detention
Keeping in line with the death theme (and the name dropping post from a couple of weeks ago) it was only a matter of time before I posted some tracks from Detention. Their “Dead Rock and Rollers” was comped on Killed By Death #2 and is a crowd favorite. I don’t know much in the way of band history, other than they were from New Jersey and released an LP in addition to their “Dead Rock ‘n Rollers”/”El Salvador” single. The live material was originally released on BCT’s tape compilation I’m Buck Naked and subsequently reissued as a 7″. In 2001 Grand Theft Audio released the bands first album and a second, never issued album as Expelled.
From their 1983 single
Detention - Dead Rock ‘n Rollers.mp3
Detention - El Salvador.mp3
From their Live in 1984 7″
Detention - Too Noisy.mp3
Detention - Let’s Fight.mp3
Technorati tags:punk mp3
Heroin Hates You
AKA Too Much Junkie Business. I originally had planned a post featuring bands who’ve had members go on to receive their great reward. Once I got started it soon became apparent that there wasn’t enough time or space to fit all of that into one post. The plan now is to break it up into pieces, focusing first on the late, great junkies of the underground. Why not take a listen to some of the current residents of skag heaven? (apologies to Iggy Pop, Thundersm & Squirrel Bait for copping your titles)
GG Allin & The Jabbers - Dead or Alive.mp3
Anyone not familiar with the GG Allin story?
Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers - One Track Mind.mp3
from the remixed L.A.M.F. “Chinese Rocks” was the obvious choice, but I chose one of my favorites instead. Thunders would OD in 1991 and Heartbreaker co-founder Jerry Nolan would die of a stroke in 1992
Germs - Lion’s Share.mp3
Read the Darby Crash story. From the (MIA) Complete Anthology
Dee Dee Ramone & The Chinese Dragons - Chatterbox.mp3
from 1993, a cover of the New York Dolls. At some point I’m going to watch Hey Hey Is Dee Dee Home?
Ruts - Dope For Guns.mp3
from 1980’s The Crack. Singer Malcolm Owen overdosed in 1980
Janitor Joe - Limited Edition.mp3
bassist Kristen Pfaff left soon after the release of Big Metal Birds to join Hole. She died of an OD in 1994.
Flipper - Life.mp3
Life is the only thing worth living for. Bassist/Vocalist Will Shatter OD’d in 1987.
So, who have I left off the list? (Sid Vicious excepted)
16 commentsBastards
Despite being early label-mates of the Cows and Unsane, Minneapolis’ Bastards never achieved the recognition of their more celebrated noise rock brethren. Perhaps this is a function of their relatively short life span (1987-1990) and limited body of work, which consisted of 3 singles, an LP, and a couple of compilation tracks on Minneapolis’ Treehouse label. The Bastards sound is typical of the genre - thick guitars, evil sounding bass and growling vocals. Guitarist/vocalist Joachim Breuer would continue to mine this territory, going on to front Janitor Joe and later Gnomes of Zurich. German label Glitterhouse would compile the singles (minus one track - “Neighbors”) as You Didn’t Give A Damn About the Exploding Man Because You Killed Him EP. Some tunes:
From Exploding Man (1988)
Bastards - Shit For Brains.mp3
Bastards - Frank.mp3
From 1989’s Monticello LP
Bastards - Razor.mp3
Bastards - Monticello.mp3
Husker Du Rarities
The wife and I received our “deluxe” box set of Bob Mould’s Body of Song this weekend. I won’t go into a detailed review but suffice it to that both discs have been on “repeat” ever since. As most everyone is saying, this album is a nice return to form. I would file it somewhere between Last Dog & Pony Show and Copper Blue in the post Husker Mould discography, take that for what it’s worth. I won’t be posting tracks from the new LP (given this debate) but I thougth this would be a grand opportunity to post some old Husker Du rarities. The tracks below were gleaned from the Savage Young Du and Up in the Air boots, in addition to live tapes. Enjoy!
from their first demo tape (1979)
Husker Du - Sore Eyes.mp3
An outtake from the 1980 Statues sessions
Husker Du - Writer’s Cramp.mp3
Live July, 1981 as part of the Children’s Crusade tour
Husker Du - Private Hell.mp3
Husker Du - Call on Me.mp3
Outtake from 1983’s Metal Circus 12″
Husker Du - You Think I’m Scared.mp3
Husker Du - Today’s The Day.mp3
FYI… I’ve gone back and reactivated a couple of other tracks in my post from October 2004
Also, pics and info from the exhaustive Husker Du Database
Technorati tags:punk mp3 15 comments
V/A New York Thrash
20 something years later the title “New York Thrash” conjures up quite a different picture than it did in the early ’80’s. Nowadays when I hear the term “thrash” I think long hair, speed metal, and solos. By comparison the usage on ROIR’s 1982 tape compilation is almost quaint. Released at the time that the original punk sound was morphing into the faster, nastier sounds of the hardcore movement, New York Thrash does a solid job of capturing a scene undergoing metamorphis. Most of the tracks were taken from existing releases by the bands, but some were exclusive to the compilation (Adrenalin OD, Fiends, Even Worse, I think). All told, a great sample of the NYC scene as it existed between the end of the classic ‘77 era and the advent of the aggresive hardcore period. A couple of tracks:
Adrenalin OD - New Year’s Eve.mp3
False Prophets - Scorched Earth.mp3
Even Worse - Emptying The Madhouse.mp3
Undead - Social Reason.mp3
The Mad - I Hate Music.mp3
Heart Attack - God Is Dead.mp3
Bad Brains - Big Takeover.mp3
Notes:
track listing and liner notes from ROIR site
the AOD tracks are exclusive and predate their Let’s Barbeque 7″.
the Bad Brains tracks were from their self-titled 1982 tape on ROIR
The False Prophets tracks would appear later on their debut LP
The Heart Attack songs are from their 1981 7″
The Mad tracks are from their two singles, Fried Egg and Eyeball
The Even Worse and Undead tracks were exclusive
Buy:
The tape is long gone, but this seems to be widely available on CD. buy New York Thrash
Technorati tags:punk mp3 4 comments
Candy Snatchers
“Bleeding punk”,”The most dangerous band in the world” and “Drunken, depraved, and fucked up punk rock” are just a couple of the phrases I’ve come across describing the inimitable Candy Snatchers. Based around the core of vocalist Larry May and guitarist Matthew Odietus, the Candy Snatchers have been on a wild drunken bender for the past 13 years or so. In that time they’ve managed to release a ton of singles, splits, and full length albums, including their latest singles comp Ugly On The Outside. The Candy Snatchers wear their influences on their sleeves, covering the likes of The Saints, Ramones, Kids, Stooges, and the Rubber City Rebels. Their sound is a mash of the best elements of the aforementioned bands along with a healthy dose of sleaze, a couple pints of blood, and some low grade trucker’s crank. And booze, lots of booze. The secret ingredient is the raucous voice of May, which shifts from “croon” to “scream” on a dime. I had a hard time whittling down the list, but here are some of my favorites:
from 1996’s self-titled LP
Candy Snatchers - Haunted Road.mp3
Candy Snatchers - Motion.mp3
from 1998’s Human Zoo! LP
Candy Snatchers - 30 Grams To Life.mp3
Candy Snatchers - Such a Fool.mp3
from 1997’s Pissed Off, Ripped Off, Screwed LP
Candy Snatchers - Fuck My Family.mp3
Stuff:
AK-47
Here’s some more quality Texas punk for you to kick off a new week. AK-47 were a 5 piece from Houston that released one 1980 single featuring the incendiary anti-cop rant “The Badge Means You Suck”. A listen to this track and Really Red’s “Teaching You The Fear”* helps to paint quite an ugly picture of Houston cops. In fact, this single caused such a ruckus that the Houston PD actually sought to sue the band. According to the guitarist:
Within a week of the single’s release, the Houston Police Officer’s Association filed a one-million-dollar lawsuit. Jim, Tim, and Sleepy quit the band the next day. Because we had all used pseudonyms on the record jacket, the H.P.D. claimed to be unable to serve the papers. Nothing ever came of the lawsuit, but we got some free publicity and sold out our first pressing (500 copies). We did a second pressing, and it eventually sold out as well.
“The Badge Means You Suck” has been included on Bloodstains Across Texas. Additionally the full single (b-side “Kiss My Machine”) has been included on the Deep in the Throat of Texas compilation and the Outlaws in My Eye - Texas CD. Track them down if you can. Enjoy both tracks:
AK-47 - The Badge Means You Suck.mp3
AK-47 - Kiss My Machine.mp3
* I’ve always interpreted “Teaching You The Fear” as an anti-cop song, though I’ve heard others counter that it’s about KKK type terror. Anyone know definitively?
6 commentsV/A - Are We Too Late For The Trend?
Are We Too Late for The Trend? stands as one of the great early US punk documents. Released on the Electric Slum Recordings in 1979, Are We Too Late… featured 13 bands from the Dallas/Fort Worth area of Texas and holds up well over 25 years later. Flex describes fairly accurately:
Punk rock all over, no new wave bore at all. What’s missing are the real smash hits, obviously the bands kept their best material for their 7″s. Still this is a good sampler.
While it’s true that there really aren’t any “smash hits”, there are plenty of cool, worthwhile tracks. I mean, compared to so many early comps that were all over the place musically this comp is pretty solid, especially for focusing on one relatively small geographic area.
Vomit Pigs - My Face Is On Your Lunchbox.mp3
Infants - Giant Girl In the 5th Grade.mp3
Blindate - We’re Not Here.mp3
E=MC2 - Rocket Rocket.mp3
Skuds - Dead Dogs.mp3
Nervebreakers - I Love Your Neurosis.mp3
Plastic Idols - Siamese Love.mp3
Notes:
>> In the late 90’s the best tracks (Infants, Skuds, Nervebreakers, Blindate) were booted as Are We Too Late For The Money?. Around the same time a couple of outtakes from the original sessions were released on Existential Vacuum as Unquestionably Late For The Trend
>> The Nervebreakers site has some mp3s and tons of historical info
>> Photo courtesy of Break My Face, which has info on many of these bands
>> Check out the Texas Punk discography for additional release info for the above bands. 10 comments
