Onkyo Equipment Is Good (or The FSS Save Japan)
When I was growing up in the 80′s I discussed stereo with my Dad and I learned from him a couple things:
1. Any good song sounds 10 times better after 5 beers.
2. Japanese stereo equipment sucks.
Yah, I’m sorry if that sounds bad, but there it is. So for Christmas one year I asked for a tape deck and I received a huge Onkyo TA-2000. “ What the fuck is this Jap nonsense?” I asked. Not out loud though, cuz I wasn’t stupid. But, as I hooked it up and popped in, I don’t remember, maybe whatever the current Ratt album was at the time, it quickly became obvious that Onkyo stuff most definitely did not suck, even in an era when the market was flooded with gaudy, amp overestimating, pieces of shit from both sides of the Pacific. Onkyo made good, affordable stereo then and they still do. Hit them up. Also, give money. Japans a fuckin’ mess. – P-

Thin Lizzy – Every Damn Thing They’ve Done
So last month Gary Moore went to his untimely and ugly, ugly grave. And it was just Saint Paddy’s. So here’s a word or two about Thin Lizzy. They were simply the very best of a very bad genre. They made Kiss look like a Black Metal Menudo. Which, now that I think about it, they might actually have been. They made dueling lead guitars almost okay. Almost. They wrote songs about drinking and fighting and being back in town and jail breakin’ and kickin’ dames. And I’m not a fan of misogyny. It just makes for good Rock and Roll. So hopefully you enjoyed the day and put some Thin Lizzy on the jukebox. Nobody saw that coming, you fucking obvious bastard. -P-

The Hookers – s/t EP
A little while back. I wrote about this band from Kentucky called Hookers. Just Hookers They were a retarded, retarded band. I liked them a lot. But I’m not talkin bout them right now. The Hookers , emphasis on the THE, were basically Murder City Devils minus a couple people. They put out one album a little back on Cold Crush Records. Sounds like it was recorded in a bathroom. It rocks so bad it should be in detention. -P-

Lee Scratch Perry – Every Damn Crazy Thing He Done Did
Wanna hear a story? So Chris Blackwell, the founder of Island Records, he invites Lee Perry over to his palatial Jamaican estate to talk about buying the rights to Scratch’s discography. So Blackwell leaves Scratch alone in the living room for a minute, comes back to see little smiling Lee Perry sitting on the leather couch and a steaming, smiling pile of Lee Perry shit in Blackwell’s cut-crystal bowl on the coffee table. Lee Perry once wrote a letter to the government to get Paul McCartney loose of a drug beef. Lee Perry shacked up with a Swedish royal for a period of time. Lee Perry invented Hip Hop in one afternoon on a Wednesday. Lee Perry is like 5 foot nothing, very trim and yet weighs 6,00 pounds. Lee Perry is not sure what year he was born in, but he was present at your conception. Lee Perry invited Andrew W.K. to co-produce his album. Lee Perry lives in Switzerland and freaks all the Swiss out. Lee Perry built a studio with his own hands. Then he burnt it the fuck down. Cuz Fuck You, that’s why. -P-

Yo La Tengo – Prisoners of Love
I went to a Mexican restaurant a few years back and they were playing Yo La Tengo on their PA. Either the name confused ‘em or Mexicans are big indie rock fans. If like me yer also a confused Mexican, Yo La Tengo are a 3 piece Jewish rock band from Hoboken NJ. Despite their eternal hipster cred they’re easily the best thing about Hoboken next to Maxwells and a certain Op Ivy song. If yer not sure, start with the 2 disc “Prisoners of Love” (some versions even come with a third disc called “A Smattering of Outtakes and Rareities”), but I garuntee you’ll end up buying ‘em all soon there after. -T-

X-ray Spex – Germfree Adolescents
I read recently that Poly Styrene has cancer. A bummer I know. I listened to this the other day in the car and it only made me bummed me out more. Everyone knows or should know punk staple Oh Bondage, Up Yours (shit the afore mentioned Yo La Tengo even covered it) but this album is chock full of hits from Identity to The Day The World Turned Day-Glo to I Live Off You. Get better soon Poly. -T-

Tomahawk – s/t
With members of Faith No More, Helmet and Jesus Lizard innit this can’t not be good. When you listen to as much music as I do it’s hard to say this person is my favorite guitarist (cough J Mascis) or that person is my favorite bassist (cough Mike Watt) or so forth but I can say with great certainty that Mike cough Patton is my favorite singer. Not all his side projects are winners but when they’re good they’re unbelievable. Check this one or the followup “Mit Gas”. You should probably avoid their American Indian inspired album “Anonymous” like a smallpox covered blanket tho. What? Too soon? -T-

Born Against – The Rebel Sound of Shit And Failure
I know P covered this one before but I had it on my phones the other day and felt compelled to echo the sentiment that this may be the best hardcore album ever made. Just brutal shit that will make you lose yours. Also one of the best album names of all time.  Also one of the best album intros of all time (Hello, shit? We’re Born Against so suck my fuckin lizard.”).This band got a bad rap for awhile cause they were funded by the buttload of money one of Sam McPheeters’ relatives left him after kicking off. I gotta say tho that there wouldn’t have been a more righteous way to blow the money. Few other bands charge me up like this one.  Few other bands hate as much shit as I do.  Face the flag son. -T-

Afghan Whigs – Gentlemen
Since 1993 this has been and will always be my favorite album of all time. I’m still figuring out how to tattoo the lyrics of My Curse somewhere on my body. The fine folks at High Speed Soul just reissued it on 180 gram vinyl. A product of the 90s I like to think this one stands the test of time. If you disagree I don’t know that we can get down.  If you’re not sure buy the vinyl now and see what I’m talkin’ bout.  -T-

Inspector 7 – Live at Court Tavern, Hub City, 2/19/11
My lovely wife found out about this show the day of. We’re about 20 minutes from New Brunswick so it was an easy decision to go. Plus Inspector 7 only plays a show once every 5 years or so these days. There was a time tho when you could have seen them weekly round these here parts. They teased a new album in the works this last time. Kids are shaving their heads in anticipation already. -T-

D.I. – Richard Hung Himself (song)
I don’t own anything by this band but I always dug the song Richard Hung Himself and the bands performance of it in the movie “Suburbia”. My friend pointed out to me the other day that the singer was just arrested for doing drugs in front of his kid… cue the  I LEARNED IT FROM WATCHING YOU DAD!!!!!! psa. -T-

Punk Rock Item Of The Week That Isn’t Necessarily Punk Rock – Back To School
Yeah I know this movie has more to do with 80s New Wave than Punk… Yeah I know Oingo Boingo is not punk… yeah I know going to College or owning your own Tall and Fat Stores isn’t really punk either… but Rodney Dangerfield is a punk and I’ll go to the mat on that one. He dedicates buildings to himself, calls President Truman a pussy, makes really large meatball sammiches, and tells Kurt Vonnegut to fuck himself. I watch this one every time its on. -T-

Husked Du / Green Day – Record Store Day 2011 Split 7″ (FSS exclusive advance review)
Yeah I’m not fucking buying this. How’s that for your exclusive advance review? Fuck you Billie Joe. There’s a reason your initials are b.j., and I wont let you and your shitty band ruin Husker Du for me. Not now. Not ever. So let’s recap… fuck you again Green Day, enjoy your shitty Mellissa Etherage Broadway bullshit and Pepsi sponsored arena tours. I’ll be just fine sitting here now listening to “Candy Apple Grey” and “New Day Rising” back to back. -T-

Jawbreaker – Dear You
I just re-bought this on double 12″ vinyl. It’s really hard to say which Jawbreaker LP is my favorite. If you put a gun to my head though I might argue for this one. It’s a little more polished than the others, but lyrically there’s tracks on here that slay me. The 12″ reissue comes with a bunch of bonus tracks they did with J Robbins. A must own. Oh yeah did I mention Christopher Walken is on this one? He is so fuck you. -T-

Faith No More – The Real Thing
“Angel Dust” is their best album. It’s in my top ten at least. So why am I talkin bout this one instead? Cause I listened to it over the weekend and jammed the shit out to it. Billy Gould’s bass sounds so fucking killer on all these tracks. And if I didn’t already mention it (I did) Patton can sing like no other. Yeah Epic may have been an overplayed hit and yeah some of the other tracks surely sound like a product of the time but Surprise! You’re Dead makes me flip hard. Ah-hahahahahahaha IT NEVER ENDS!!!! -T-

The World Inferno Friendship Society – The Anarchy and The Ecstasy
I dig this one. The song Sick of People Being Sick of My Shit speaks to my soul. Look this one isn’t as dense as their last heavy concept work about Fritz Lang or whatever the fuck it was about but sometimes I don’t want to think too hard when listening to music I just wanna enjoy it. And I really enjoy this one. Catchy as fuck. Chunksaah mail-order wax is gorgeous and yes on the download code. -T-

Heidecker and Wood – Starting From Nowhere
If you read us often you know were big Tim and Eric fans here at FSS HQ. This album may be the oddest thing Tim Heidecker has ever done and that’s saying a lot. This is straight up crazy. Paired with Davin Wood (the dude responsible for Awesome Shows awesome music) the pair do kind of a Seals & Crofts / Hall & Oates type thing. Cept they go so hard and so straight faced if you didn’t know any better you’d think they were serious. They’re not. If you watch even 5 minutes of Tim and Eric you’ll know they’re obsessed with dads so it’s no surprise there’s a song about dads on here. There’s also songs about desert islands, weddings, and cross country skiing. And thankfully the bonus track Christmas Suite will round out uncle T’s 2011 Xmas mix nicely. -T-

Social Distortion – Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes
Oh Mike Ness. Self professed ex-convict. Friend to tattoos. Phenomenal guitarist. Eye liner err…supporter. Antiquing enthusiast . When will you stop writing such dumb lyrics? The gospel singer backups only make this album worse. Mobsters? The dust bowl? The worst album cover art ever? Christ. Me and P’s brother E spent the greater part of a morning commute together LOLing hard at this one and trying to come up with other clichéd sayings and nursery rhymes to sing to the music. Seriously picture Ness earnestly singing “you step on a crack, you’ll break you’re mothers back” and try not to laugh (not an actual lyric but might as well have been). And yet still I plan on seeing Social Distortion the next time they come round. I’m such a sucker for nostalgia sometimes. -T-

Reagan Youth – Live and Rare
Reagan Youth are one of my favorite Hardcore bands of all time and also one of my favorite New York bands of all time. You can download this one on the innertubes gratis if you look hard enough (wink). The live version of New Aryans on it is fucking amazing. Versions of USA, Go Nowhere, Reagan Youth, and that song from Airheads are all also amazing… I watched a documentary about Ronnie Reagan on HBO recently that almost painted him in a good light. This band would probably disagree. -T-

It’s an important hardcore album that most fans haven’t had the chance to appreciate simply because it hasn’t been available except via bootleg or import. This year, Bridge 9 reissued the EP in CD, vinyl (red or white 7-inch), and digital formats. This is the first time most HC fans have been able to hear a true release of this seminal album since 1983.

“Thou Shalt Not Kill” is a time capsule of 1983 New York City and other urban, industrial U.S. wastelands. It’s also an All-Star roster of NYHC scenesters. The original lineup consisted of founder Robb Nunzio on guitar, ex-Misfit Arthur (Bliss) Googy on drums and Tommy Victor of Prong on bass. John “Bloodclot” Joseph lent back-up vocals on Real Deal. Other tracks cover a sample of the issues troubling the minds of early ’80s NYC street kids — war (Die at War, Life as One), a xenophobic fear of unemployment (the controversial Foreign Job Lot) and racially harmonious violent revolution(Nazi Youth, Something Must Be Done). It’s more polished than most of the other NYHC EPs, though it’s about as short — clocks in at around 9 minutes.

All in all, any hardcore history buff will get a kick out of the reissue. Check it out. It’s good, it’s important and it’s cheap. The FSS had the chance to talk to Robb Nunzio, Antidote’s founder and guitarist:

1. “Thou Shalt Not Kill” was released in 1983, early in the life of
the New York Hardcore scene. How did Antidote enter the NYHC scene?

Antidote was formed by Robb Nunzio (guitar/songwriter) with help from
Tom Victor (Prong,Danzig) on bass and Arthur (Bliss) Googy (The Misfits)
on drums. We rehearsed at the infamous 171 A studios on Avenue A
on the Lower East Side which was recommended to us by the Bad Brains
who were recording there at the time. We had no name at the time.
I had a friend named Jeff Zane White who I went to school with sing
during that formative era. Tom left to pursue other interests and we
played our first few shows at A7 and the annex 2+2 on the Bowery
without a bass player.

2. The early 80′s hardcore scene was busting with legendary bands.
Can you describe some of the best shows you witnessed or participated
in as a band? Feel free to include some amusing or embarrassing
anecdotes.

I attended and participated in many of the early NY Hardcore scene’s
most legendary and notorious shows. I saw the Misfits come out of coffins
at Irving Plaza, a near riot between fans of the Misfits and the Undead at
the old Ritz. Vinnie Stigma bust his head open on the CBGB PA system
slam dancing at Flipper I think it was. Saw M.D.C plug their amps into a
streetlight and perform right on Avenue C one summer. The Dead
Kennedys destroy the Beacon Theatre…Opened for the Bad Brains on
the last night of their legendary 1982 Christmas shows at CBGB’s…etc.

3. How did the early NYHC scene compare to the NYHC scene of today?

I dont think you can compare now and then. Back in those days it was
something completely new and was considered crazy and dangerous by so-
called “normal” people.

4. How has Antidote grown as a band since the release of “Thou Shalt Not Kill?”

Since the original early line up of Antidote disbanded back in 1984, the line up of
myself, Drew Stone and Bass player Neal Zum has been working together now
for about 5 years on and off. This has been Antidote’s best and most consistent
lineup, not counting the in between years when we performed as a 5 piece “Hard Rock”
act during the late 80′s and early 90′s.

5. What are some of your favorite venues/clubs to play, both past and present?

My favorite place to play would have to be the late CBGB’s, RIP. No club I’ve ever
played in before or since could match its sound and intensity for Hardcore shows.

6. What are some of your favorite places to see a show?

No favorites.

7. You guys have been playing a good amount of live shows lately. Can we expect alot more?

Antidote is always ready to bust it anywhere at anytime.

8. Bridge 9 is re-releasing “Thou Shalt Not Kill.” What led to that? Why now and what took so long?

Unfortunately, there were a lot of people with thick heads involved in the early
NY Hardcore scene. That’s why it took so long. A renewed interest in the band
and its music, with the help of the internet, and the strength of our live act
is what led to the re-release of Thou Shalt Not Kill.

9. The original “Thou Shalt Not Kill” 7-inch is one of the rarest and
most sought-after pieces of hardcore history. Vinyl nerds, hardcore
fanatics, and other assorted collectors would kill for a copy. What
is it about “Thou Shalt Not Kill” that made it such a legendary
7-inch?

What makes TSNK so great is the raw power, honesty and ferocious anger
that comes across on the record. The hostile sarcastic tone seems to strike a nerve with
a large number of youth from today as well as the kids who were around when
it was first released 27 years ago. Those emotional elements coupled with a
sonic sound quality not heard on many early hardcore records are what has made
TSNKill the legendary record that it has become.

10. Are there any like-minded vinyl-crazed collectors in Antidote? If so, what are some of your most prized pieces in your record collections?

I am currently enjoying re-discovering all of the 45′s and albums I used to have
in my collection on CDs now. Some of the harder ones to find like the old British
imports I used to love I’m still looking for. It’s a fun challenge tryna get em again!
Sadly, most of my vinyl shit is long gone.

11. What are some of your favorite places to go record shopping?

I still love to stop in at the great shop Bleecker Bob’s when in NYCity. I find
stuff at FYE sometimes and found a great hardcore shop called Shore Things in
Ocean City on the Jersey shore. They’ve got an incredible selection of new and used
hardcore. Lest we forget Newbury Comics in Boston. I love that friggin place.

T’s Take:

The cardboard sleeve on my copy is coming apart at the seams and there’s more than a couple few cracks and hisses to be found when spinning the record but it’s something I still make it a point to do a couple times each year. Like yesterday for example. I threw it on over my morning cup of Joe and texted Brother P after flipping over to the B Side. We both readily agreed that we should review it for our “classics” section. It’s kinda odd that a “classic” can be born out of 1994 but sometimes I think we forget how old we really are here at The FSS.

Based on the title I’m guessing that The Archers knew they were about to fuk some shit up with this release. “Vs The Greatest of All Time” is 17 minutes of feedback, noise, odd sounds, amazing guitar work, screaming, and some really beautifully poppy indie rawk. They knew exactly when to lose control and exactly when to slow things down. And I don’t mean that in the way bands like The Pixies or later screamo acts formulaically jumped from loud to quiet. The Archers instead went on instinct and created something impervious to bullshit detectors. Sixteen years later and I’m still blown away.

P’s Take: I like to start off my reviews with folksy anecdotes that, at first glance, seem wholly unrelated to the subject of my article, but then link them both together in a completely awkward and insubstantial manner. It’s how I roll. And Ima do it again. Riiiiiighhht, now.

So one day, back back in the day, I am at home watching t.v. with my brother when I decide for whatever reason to lob a thing of Elmer’s Glue at the set. I had decided I wanted to turn it down. So the glue arcs up, comes down and hits the television at just the right angle and speed. Turned the volume right the fuck off. My brother, like 6 or 7 at the time jumped with happiness at the feat, I took a victory lap. There was not alot of victory kickin round the house at the time. Yas. But that moment was, will always be, perfect. Charming and endearing, yes? But what has this to do with The Archers of Loaf Vs. The Greatest of All Time? Well not much, those fuckers couldn’t pull off that glue turn-down slickness, that move is strictly mine. But they did pull off something perfect.

VS GOAT is 5 songs, 5 pretty long songs at that, so for an E.P. it’s pretty lengthy. And The Archers, I like them, but they can go off on uhh…tangents. Start talkin crazy, like your friend who is, uh crazy. Singin songs about faulty toast and some bullshit. But this. This is something else.  Every song on the album is perfect. I mean 100 percent. The recording is low-tech but awesome, it is loud and huge sounding. Each song is talking bout something that you can understand and they don’t sound like they are joking in the fucking slightest .They mean it so much you can’t help but agree. Audiowhore makes you angry at Audiowhores. The Lowest Part Is Free gets you all worked up about scene politics all over again. Freezing Point and Revenge are fucking beautifully written and All Hail The Black Market is fuckin just beautifull. The whole things is gigantic and clanging and it sounds like an abandoned railway station with the wind rushing through it and that’s what I fuckin mean so fuck you. Yas.

So if you accept the idea that an E.P. takes a snapshot of where a band is at the moment, between big projects, this for Archers Of Loaf was their perfect moment. And mine had to do with Elmer’s glue and an old Emerson television. I think we know who wins here, motherfuckers.

Last week I text brother P this message:  “Destroy Oh Boy on the way to work…Hew Yeah” .  To which he texts back:  “D D D D Dragstrip”. And with that we decided to review one of our all time favorite punk rawk albums…  An album we’ve been steady listening too since we were 15 (we’re 32 now).

T’s Take: Remember a few years back when Garage Rock made a slight comeback and “trendsetters” like Spin and Rolling Stone were creaming in their jeans over bands like The Hives? Oh it was all so new and different! Yeah, but it wasn’t. Cause the second I fucking heard The Hives I thought, “jesus these guys are just a fucking New Bomb Turks ripoff”. Don’t get me wrong. There’s some Hives stuff I dig, but dammit if those fucking Swedes should’nt have kicked some royalties back to the Turks. And another thing… I listen to Underground Garage on Sirius all the time and never hear them blast The New Bomb Turks.  What the fuck Little Steven?  What the fucking fuck?  But we’re here now to pay homage to The New Bomb Turks and not bitch at other knuckleheads so let’s get it on.

“Destory-Oh-Boy!” is bar none one of the fastest most ferocious most unrelenting punk albums I’ve heard. Was so in 1993… still is today. And they’re from fucking Columbus Ohio. Brilliant. Might as well be outer space. If you consider yourself a fan of punk music, or garage rock, or even just straight up Little Richard and don’t have this in your collection you might be full of shit. It’s every bit as essential as “Damaged”, or “Double Nickels”, or “Out of Step”, or “Fun House”, or any of those albums that everyone has in their collections. Seriously, if you don’t own this one get it now. Steal it. Download it. Do fucking whatever. It’s that good. If you see it in a bargin bin grab that motherfucker and run don’t walk to the counter to pay for it.  If you don’t own any New Bomb Turks at all, start here for sure, but please, by all means get all of their other 9 albums and 1000 or so 7”s too. Me and Brother P are lucky enough to each have a white label 12” of a set they did for Holland radio (also 1993). If you’re nice enough you can even look at it. I said look. Don’t think about touching that shit.

I don’t even know where to begin in trying to review this album. Really, if you think I’m laying it on thick you obviously haven’t heard this one. I put it on in the car for the past couple mornings and along with my cup of coffee it makes me want to drive my car through buildings. Guitars, drums, bass, vocals, all at breakneck speeds. How Eric Davidson is able to fit so many words into so little seconds is beyond me. They also have great titles like Born Toulouse-Lautrec (about people who consider themselves “artists”), Tattooed Apathetic Boys (a Pretenders reference or a song about the FSS I suppose), Let’s Dress Up the Naked Truth, and I Want My Baby… Dead. They also cover Wire’s Mr. Suit so fucking on point that you’ll forget the original even exists. I read somewhere that the dude from Wire says its the best cover of anything they ever did…sorry Mike Watt.  There are few situations where it’s inappropriate to play this album. Some albums I only throw on in the winter or summer or at night or in the morning or so forth. I don’t care where or when I am I can always listen to “Destory Oh Boy!”. And it always makes me feel the same way. Fucking Awright.  Hew Yeah.

P’s Take: See, sometimes you get cravings for things. Like, sometimes I just really want a Blimpie sandwich. Like a lot. Then I will have to haul my ass off the couch, ask for my wallet back from the wife, get on my rusty bike and pedal downtown and get me a fucking Blimpie sandwich. Cuz that is the only thing that is gonna do it for me right then. With me most often I get cravings for foods, but sometimes for albums too. One of those albums I get fierce joneses for is The New Bomb Turks “Destroy Oh Boy”.

I bought “Destroy” years ago on the strength of the album cover alone, a cartoon dude losing his shit amongst a spiral of beers, junk food and girlie magazines. And a clown for some reason. This cover art spoke to me at that time on a visceral level. I took it home and blasted it and it was the most righteous noise I had heard up until that point, it was exactly what I needed. Cheaply recorded, loud-ass overdriven guitar, two-and-one-quarter-chord wise-ass garage punk. It even sounds like it was recorded in a garage, even though it was recorded at a studio in Brooklyn. Oh yeah, in case you’re asking, fuck Brooklyn. You heard me.

At no point does this album slow down. At no point is there a timely topic approached. Sting makes no appearance. Bono does not pop his head in, light candles and fat shortly around. This album is about drag strips, loose women and telling Mr. Suit no. Just no. This album clocks in at under 40 minutes, you get an extra track on the vinyl you don’t get on the CD. This album gives you what you need, when you need primitive rawk. Like a Blimpie sandwich suckas. Get on yo bikes.

So it follows that there should be bands whose main following, their core audience, consist of douchebags, likely because the members of these bands are themselves huge douches. We have named a few here at the FSS already; King Crimson, Phish, Polvo (fuck you, Polvo) etc. None of this should come as a surprise, I’m sure everybody involved with the aforementioned bands realizes their levels of douchebaggery.

There are probably bands who display all or most of the signs of being a douchebag group, intense noodliness, annoyingly pretentious song titles (Court of the Crimson King, your mothers ass.), being way too good at your instruments and so on, without actually falling all the way into douchebag territory. I can actually only think of one group, though I’m pretty sure it was down to one man in the band. I’m talking about The Mothers of Invention and Frank Zappa.

Lemme explain something right off. I am not a Mothers or Zappa expert by a longshot. Growing up I used to throw on “Weasels Ripped My Flesh” to freak out and then crack up my sisters and brother. And 20 years later I haven’t really gotten any further into Zappa’s library. What attracted me first was the cover, the cartoonish takeoff of a razor ad showing a button down 1950’s cat holding an electric weasel tearing into his face. And he’s saying “RZZZ”. The guy, not the weasel. I’m sorry but that is comedy. Now the music. The whole first side I just don’t understand. I’d like to comment, I’m just not qualified. There is some bleatings and goings on, but, really, I can’t make head nor tail of it. Then there is side 2. More craziness that I don’t understand, then comes My Guitar Wants to Kill Your Mama, which broke me up something fierce when I was 9 and still does. Then Oh No, which I don’t know how to feel about. Then the album gets inexplicable again, then kinda pretty , then ends. Yup.

According to Wikipedia, Weasels is the live bookend to “Burnt Weeny Sandwich” and the both of them were comprised of old Mothers of Invention stuff released after they had broken up. Yeah, so that’s some informative shit right there, that makes this article worth it as far as actual, you know facts or whatever. But getting back to my original point about, you know, douchebags and such, is that really The Mothers, and Zappa in particular are the exception that proves the rule. Zappa made music that defied classification and most peoples taste. He experimented with weird time signatures, complicated orchestration and only, ONLY worked with the best musicians he could get. But, he did all this with a fuckin’ grin on. And with cartoon weasels. So suck it, Polvo.

Related Articles: Polvo – In Prism

On the East Coast, particularly in the NY area I think, a lot of Hardcore from different areas of the country was kind of ignored in favor of round the way bands. I remember hearing about Negative Approach and what I heard from them was good, fucking amazing in fact, but I never got around to checking them out for real. My mistake.

I picked up Touch and Go’s reissue of N.A’s “Tied Down” a couple days ago. It was recorded in a period when the band had already started to get a little metallish, like a lot of HC bands did, and I generally don’t like that. But holy shit, this is a good fucking album. That John Brannon was not fucking around. At all. Every song he’s belting it out at you like you just killed his dog. You ever see Dr. Phil? Imagine Dr. Phil minus the southern accent, plus a foul mouth and in the middle of a psychotic breakdown. That’s about right. Negative Approach want you to straighten up and fly right, you been messing up here and there and they are not gonna stand for it any fucking more, ok?

I’m seriously sorry I didn’t get any of Negative Approach’s stuff back in the day. And evidently they are half back together, so maybe I’ll get a chance to see them. That’d be good cuz I’m not handling my life proper at all.

Remember Come on Eileen? That was pretty good, right? And the video with the band all dressed like hobos and that one girl wearing the overalls minus a shirt? That was some catchy, English oddness. But if, like me, you grew up in America you missed the band responsible’s highlight. Dexys Midnight Runners cycled through styles with the regularity of a revolvers chamber, each one worse than the last; from northern soul to celtic soulman music (I didn’t make that up, they did) to some kind of art pop bullshit (that one I coined myself). We missed their highpoint, which was their first joint,” Searching For The Young Soul Rebels”.

Kevin Rowland, Dexys singer, seems to have been a big-idea type guy. One of these people who decides whatever they do has to have a unifying vision. Like lyrics should match overalls, and your voice should match your body odor. These people tend to be full of shit but for this first album everything seemed to work. “Young Soul Rebels” is 12 songs long of Trotskyite, Irish Repulican undertoned literate jams. Yup. Sounds pretentious as hell, and it is. But they are some serious jams. Dressed all in donkey jackets and watch caps (cuz they were working class, y’all. For the moment.) Dexys managed to take all this art school bullshit and make it rock like a mother fucker.

Like another critic mentioned way back when this came out, this is not soul music. None of it is about fucking, most of it isn’t even about dancing. Mostly it’s about politics and books and general clever pantsness, stuff that Rowland was into at the moment, just before he felt the band should be into dressing like farmers. This album is not soul, not even northern soul, it is some kind communist art project soul. It is pretentious and entirely premeditated. But for all that it’s also fucking brilliant as hell.

A lot has been made of “Metallic KO”. As a live album, it is horrible. Even as a bootleg, which it isn’t really as two of the band members signed off on it, it’s pretty low quality. It documents the disgraceful last performance of a band way past it’s prime. The songs are badly done and feature corny piano prominently and Iggy is spouting so much foul and annoying shit even a listener decades removed from the show kind of wants to deck him. The whole thing just sounds like what it was; a drunken druggy bad time. But people keep buying it and listening to it, me too. Nick Kent from New Music Express called it a “masterpiece” back in they day, and, not that I care what Nick Kent thinks, I guess I know what he means.

“Metallic KO” represents the final ugly downfall of an ugly confrontational band, and in that it is perfect. Every second of that performance of February 1974 is charged with malice. The crowd hates Iggy, Iggy hates the crowd, the band hates Iggy, Iggy hates the band. Iggy loves eggs and ice cubes and baiting the biker gang he has invited to his own show to “do their worst”. And they did. How Punk Rock is that?

And that is really the genius of this recording. It represents the death of one thing which gave birth to something else. The Sixties were dead and buried in a shallow grave and every one was getting the feeling that the world was several shades meaner. The Stooges had been the voice of the ugly crazy fringe when they began, but by the time of their demise their nihilism was catching. You can hear on this record the blueprint of the Punk Rock aesthetic being lain out, line by obscene line. “Metallic KO” went on to find it’s place on a lot of turntables inspiring people to new heights of angry depths. It was the forest fire that cleared the way for new growth.

But I could be wrong I sometimes am. Put it on and see what you make of it.

Lemme explain what I think I mean. The Punk Rawk is a lot of things but what it isn’t (usually) is complicated. When Sham sang If the Kids Are United they meant then they will never be divided. Beat on The Brat is about disciplining your kids with baseball bats and I think we can all get behind that. Pretty much every Black Flag song was about miserable paranoiac desolate existentialist pain with some yeahs thrown in. What I’m getting at is you knew what you were gonna get from these bands and you got what you needed from their songs easy. You got jams to fuck shit up to about shit you could understand. Simple.

“Combat Rock” doesn’t offer that. At least, not just that. Know Your Rights opens the record in an amphetamine rockabilly manner but the mood changes. Car Jamming is some more odd “Sandinista!” type stuff. Should I Stay Or Should I Go and Rock The Casbah are the two feel good radio hits. Red Angel Dragnet is a good photograph of New York in the bad old days. Straight To Hell is haunting and evidently about half-American Vietnamese trying to get into the States after the war ended in ’75. Side B has some weird Clash-funk, a story about Errol Flynn’s kid and Allen Ginsburg being Allen Ginsburg. It don’t make a whole hell of a lot of sense.

But it is beautifully done. And it offers you something new to hear every time you put it on. “Combat Rock” came direct from Strummer’s odd heart and was meant to be puzzled over and listened tight to. And all these years later I still do. “Combat Rock” didn’t immediately give me the 1, 2 fuck you I wanted at 15 but at 31 it still gives me something to think about.

T’s Take: I was four years old when this album came out, and the odd thing is I remember it pretty well. I remember loving the video for Rock the Casbah. I don’t know if it was the fact that there was an armadillo, pac-man noises, a Burger King, or Joe Strummer hilariously ripping a mask off Mick Jones (it’s still funny). It was one of my favorites right next to Who Can It Be Now by Men at Work and Our House by Madness. What can I say I had pretty good taste even back then.

Memories of music videos aside this album, specifically this copy that I’m listening to right now brings up other memories and emotions as well. You see the copy I have to this day is the same one my dad bought back in 1982. If you look close enough on it you can see my little fingerprints on it from back then. I don’t listen to this much anymore. Like when I listen to The Who or Todd Rundgren it makes me think of my dad, who passed away when I was 22. Even taking “Combat Rock” out of the sleeve is something I get uncomfortable doing. I can listen to it on my iPod or on CD, but it’s just something about my vinyl copy and all the memories it entails that makes it difficult for me. It’s just too big.

Growing up we listened to a lot of music in my house. A lot. Mostly we listened to the radio, 92.3, 102.7, 104.3. Classic Rock (or just plain Rock to them). But my parents did own a small amount of music too for car trips and such. The Beatles, The Who, Rundgren. No matter where we were, or where we were going there was music playing. I’d like to think that I was engaged 100% of the time when listening to music with my parents, but the truth of the matter is that growing up it was mostly just background noise. Since it was always there, I never really noticed it otherwise. When I started getting into music myself my parents were obviously supportive. I remember my dad telling my mom that Guns N Roses were “just hard rock” when she expressed concern that I liked them so much. When I got into the Punk Rock I more or less shunned all of my parents music. It wasn’t anything personal against them, I shunned a lot of things back that that didn’t fall into my idea of Punk. What can I say; I was a dumb stubborn teenager. After my dad passed, I found myself going back to some of the music of my youth. My parents’ music. Even now writing this I get upset. Upset that I’ll never have the chance to enjoy any of it with my dad as a fellow adult. Maybe take in a Who reunion show, put him on to some music I’d think he’d like, or just sit around and talk about why I’m not giving back his copy of “Combat Rock”.

So yeah, putting on this record is complicated. But maybe after writing this all down on the FSS it’ll get easier.

Fear Of The Dead

I have a pretty long commute by most standards, but most of the way is by train so there is very little stress involved. As long as I get my shit on the right train at the right time, I’m good. All that’s really left to do then is get some work done or listen to music and stare out the window. I listen to a lot of music and stare the hell out of the Jersey landscape.

I go through cycles of airplay on my MP3 player. During the winter I was playing a lot of Nick Cave, Bauhaus too. I must not have been feeling well. You can see a kind of a link between Nick and Bauhaus, a penchant for pirate shirts and “the dark-side of humanity”, whatever that means. The music these people make and made can be linked also to a sort of a mood, roughly, maybe. I guess it happens to a lot of people, you get to wanting a certain type of sound, you look to groups that provide it. Lately I have had two bands on constant play during my morning and afternoon trips; The first albums of The Grateful Dead and Fear. And because I refuse to get anything productive done, during my commute or at any other time, I have put some effort into putting together points of commonality between these two entirely dissimilar groups. Wanna hear it? Hear it go:

Fear and The Dead both are products of very California-type subcultures; The Dead coming out of the Haight Ashbury “Acid Rock” enclave and Fear coming out of the So. Cal hardcore scene. Both bands were known for their musicianship in a genre of music that didn’t necessarily require it. In the case of Fear, the fact that they were so proficient was actually held against them. Both Fear and The Dead had amazing rhythm sections; Mickey Hart, The Grateful Dead’s drummer and Fear’s drummer Spit Stix both had been drumming since they were kids and put in time in Drum and Bugle Corps. Both bands had a lot of lineup changes through the years, Lee Ving is the only original member of Fear and The Dead keep on straight dying. That is about all of have for solid, objective and verifiable fact, it’s a lot better than I normally do. Here comes my actual, entirely made-up argument.

Fear and The Grateful Dead sound exactly nothing alike. Not even a little bit. Yeah, there is some blues/country base to a lot of their stuff owing to Lee and Jerry’s backgrounds, but basically they are night and day. Their fans are distinct, their philosophies are way different, and if the surviving members of each band were to meet they’d probably hate each other. But there is one thing that links these bands inextricably, some thing more important than all that nonsense I numbered a paragraph before. What links Fear and The Dead is their sheer American-ness.

Think about it, it would have been impossible to create bands like these anywhere else. Punk Rock and Hippie business got exported worldwide real quick. There were a thousand Jefferson Airplane-like acts after 1969 all over Europe, or so I was told, and now you can find more Lower East Side Crew AF tatts in Bologna,Italy than on the Lower East Side. What can be created can be copied. Usually. What Fear and The Grateful Dead offered was not formulaic even if it came from a formula, and it wasn’t designed to be embraced even though it was. The lyrics of both of these bands are laced with American inside knowledge, stuff about assassinations of our presidents, our luncheon meats, our fascination with schoolgirl uniforms (the Japanese dig them something fierce though too), songs about war and fucking. Fear and The Dead both came up in generations when people thought it was time to eliminate the musical past, both bands ignored the idea, took what they wanted from their blues or folk roots and freaked it the hell out. And they did it with smiles on their faces. Both bands had the uniquely American quality of not giving a shit. So there it is, go dust off their albums and see if I’m wrong. I’ll wait