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II GARY ALEXANDER
i LEAD AND GRUNT GUITAR. KOTO.
I
new issue late 1998. post-meltzer analysis
of non-articulated matters regarding rock
music in its modern-totality-perspective.
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 - s

The 7" single, or if you will, the 45, is notable for a remarkable history of
introducing mankind to. many of the more life-affirming musical acts of all
time. The 45's immediacy cannot be argued, nor can its instant ability to
immortalize or repel. Only in the punk and/or indie world is the 45rpm single
still accorded the level ofrespect it deserves, and even that is dying by degrees
as mediocre upon mediocre release pours forth. When the form was at its most
relevant, however, the 45 cut to the chase in a mere 1.5-3 minutes, and it let
you know in no uncertain terms whether an artist was worth following to the
ends of time or if they were to be mocked with extreme prejudice. There's no
turning back on a 7" single - its brevity necessitates that it either stands
proudly or it doesn't. With that in mind, I surveyed the following forty-jive 7"
wonders of the world to reco~d for history, by painstakingly rigid criteria, MY
FAVORITES.
Now I know as well as you do that there are singles that have shaken the
corridors of musical history much more strongly than the Solger 7" has. There
are dozens of brilliant records made in other musical genres thal are not
included here. Any attempt at an intense overview of music history is way
beyond my knowledge, experience and interest. Unfortunately, I don't know B-
sides of most great, say, R&B records, nor is it easy to hunt down a single
factoid about many of the artists. Often R&B, early rock and blues records
were released as a ((teaser" for an upcoming full-length release, and thus are
disqualified from our survey.
Ah yes, the ground rules. There is a two-part anal retentive recipe for
inclusion: A.) Both sides have to rule. It isn 't good enough to have a monster
A-side and filler B-side or vice-versa. Otherwise great singles missed the cut
on that count alone. B.) They had to be released AS SINGLES -- not as a
preview of LP tracks to come, but as a unique, stand-alone document. We can
allow a couple of posthumous releases on the list as long as it suits our
purposes. You ~an J·umble the order, quibble with a few of the choices, plead
for your heroes' inclusion, or express pure and utter outrage at _my narrow-
minded (punk uber alles" tabulation. But do give these smoldering slices of
hot wax your undivided attention while listening. There 's some great shit in
here.
Well, enough ofmy yakking. On with it, shall we?
 photo: John Hume .

1. PERE UBU "30 Seconds Over Tokyo I Heart Of Darkness"

The handful of underground freaks who were habitually rolling the dice with weird-
looking records in 1975 must've thought they'd been handed the keys to the kingdom
when they stumbled upon this one. To listen to the first Pere Ubu record and realize that
it was made over 22 years ago is to stand amazed at its complete inventiveness & left-
field creativity. Like great artists in every conceptual rnedium, Pere Ubu opened up new
doors that others had never considered pushing. Krautrock had certainly unlocked some
portals in the preceding years; naturally the Velvets and Stooges had opened many
more. Yet Ubu uniquely began their career in a mediwn that will forever bookmark
their place in rock history: the 7" single. Without an opportunity to foist what little filler
they had upon an Wlcaring world, Ubu cobbled together their own small record label,
chose their four best nwnbers, and Wlleashed two of the greatest singles the world will
ever know (more on the 2nd single later).
"Heart Of Darkness" is a quietly intense, masterful song. It has the single greatest
bassline I can actually pick out of a record -- a gently disturbing, rolling groove that is
the rock for Peter Laughner & Tom Hettnan's guitar electro-static bursts David
Thomas, perhaps realizing from his days of shouting as "Crocus Behemot11"' in Rocket
From The Tombs that he was not blessed with a particularly charismatic set of pipes,
brings his vocals down to a breathy whisper-speak that heightens the building tension of
the song. I don't believe any band save the Velvet Undergroillld had created as
brilliantly sinister a rock n' roll nwnber up to the point of this record's release.
"30 Seconds Over Tokyo"s subject matter is self-evident Wltil one remembers that we
dropped bombs on two other Japanese cities, not this one. The song menacingly
attempts -- some would say chillingly succeeds -- to re-create the do-or-die nature of a
pilot assigned to unleash death from above. It features jarring:- fried analog synthesizer
that compliments another intense, brooding backdrop of guitar, bass & drums. The song

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sputters and coughs in a hailstottn of synth noise and Thomas's repeated muttering of
the song's title to bring this masterpiece to an abrupt, crashing end. As cliche as it
sounds, I am still spooked by the ending of this one in a way that few songs have ever
moved me. That original Pere Ubu Wlit -- Thomas, Laughner, Hettnan, Krauss, Wright
& Ravenstine -- were among rock's most cohesive and forward-looking. Once they'd
staked their place in 7" history, they unfortunately were never again documented in this
configuration (Laughner ended up bringing his tragedy-defined life full circle by
O.D.ing). Their self-referential tettn "avant-garage" couldn't have been more
appropriate, as no other band in '75 could legitimately claim to have pushed the
boundaries of emerging rock and roll fottn as wonderfJlly as Pere Ubu did.

2. ELECTRIC EEI.~S "Cyclotron I Agitated"

There used to be a fantastic radio show during the mid-80's in Santa Barbara called
'Strictly Disco" which was hosted by a guy who o\VIled just about every amazing 45 to
ever hit the presses. One night he had none other than Henry Rollins on his show to
shoot the shit and spin some favorites. That's where I first heard "Agitated" blowing out
my speakers, and it was one of those "Holy Christ, what IS that?!!" moments. (Precisely
what I immediately called the show to inquire). Turns out Hank had brought it do\VIl to
the studio himself, and had long been enamored of the Eels and the raw po\\'er of this
landmark 45. Who'd have thought? The Electric Eels were a quartet of socially
alienated nihilists from Cleveland in the mid-70's. Their inability to neither win friends
nor influence people gave vent to a twisted, confrontational take on ''art" that had more
in common with guerrilla theater and urban•
psychodrama than with 70's punlc The fact
that it was occurring in a cultural near-vacuum adds exponentially to their lore.
Make no mistake, however, these songs are as primitive and high decibel as anything
ever released. Obviously semi-live recordings, "Cyclotron" and "Agitated" have been
mixed past the point of bleeding and are still a couple levels in volume above any other
record of mine. Electric Eels gigs often ended in violence, sometimes with imposing
guitarist John Morton having beat up an audience (or band) member. The Eels' vocalist
was a developmentally delayed young man named Dave E., an idiot-savant with a
genius sense of the absurd who put it to wise use in his lyrics ("Sometimes I think I'd
be better off dead I Just like my cousin Fred"). Later he purported to start a record label
called "Christmas Pets". It's also worth mentioning that the drummer on these
recordings is Nick Knox, who would soon keep the steady, primitive beat for The
Cramps. The world's indifference to such brilliance initially kept these songs from the
public, until Rough Trade released them in 1978 under the moniker "Die Electric Eels"
& with all credits in Gettnan (?). A minor bone of contention I have with the
outstanding posthumous Eels collections Having A Philosophical Investigation With
The Electric Eels and God Says Fuck You is that both say they include the 45 version of
"Agitated", while neither actually does. This record will forever live in infamy as an
out-of-time, mindset-destroying masterpiece.

3. CRIME "Frustration I Murder By Guitar"

San Francisco's Crime have finally received their due in the midst of the recent great
punk excavation. Sporting as boss a look as any band before or since, Crime took '

marching orders from no one and proudly blazed a new path for loose, riotous, distinctly
American rock-n-roll. Their 2nd single has two of the all-time early punk classics.
"Frustration" auspiciously begins with an obnoxious broken turntable sound,
presumably placed there to con radio listeners into thinking the stoned deejay miscued
the record. With toeholds in 50's rock & roll and a couple decades ofR&B, Crime made
songs like this sound as if a grand & glorious lineage had fmally reached its eve of

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destruction. ''All you hippies can fade away" -- amen to that! "Murder By Guitar" has as
its base an arduous, building riff, giving way to a breakout in the middle that highlights
the totally uncommercial, uncouth, and unhinged guitars of Jolumy Strike & Frankie
Fix. These guys were philosophers of the "one take and we're out" school of recording;
consequently these records have a primitive innocence that might not have shone
through a host of takes & overdubs. They called themselves a ROCK band and they
loathed being called punks, just happening to be in the right place at the right time.

4. BAGS "Survive I Babylonian Gorgon"

Meanwhile, Los Angeles was in the midst of a watershed musical uprising that was
outshining its counterparts on both coasts. L.A., which paradoxically boasted the most
inventive oasis of D.I. Y. late 70's youth culture in a land of staitnaking tinsel and trash,
had a run of roughly a half-dozen years in which an entire metropolis was fattened on
the punk, art, noise and raw pop of the city's spoiled and spiteful youth. Of the
nwnerous heroes of this era, the criminally underrecorded Bags and this single remain
my absolute favorites. Alice Armendariz was an amazon of stature, presence and voice -
- she tottered on spiked heels to scream out the primal, unifying urges that led directly
to the creation of SoCal backlash groups like "Parents Of Punkers". I mean, what
uptight Canoga Park parent wouldn't gasp at the sight of the lipsticked & wild-eyed
Alice flailing on stage in "The Decline Of Western Civilization", with the sound of
twenty years of pent-up hostility roaring behind her? "Survive'' captures this grand
drama exceptionally well -- it builds around a 007-ish spy music intra before turning
into a full-throttle wall of soWld, with AnnendarizJBag tossing off the type of manifesto
("We don't need the English!", "We will bury you!", et al) that turned many a thrill-
seeking Hollywood
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urchin into a true believer. It also features a blazing guitar solo that
had the effect of anointing Craig Lee (R.I.P.) into the Jimmy Page of his scene. Both
sides were recorded with multitracked diligence and care, and therefore soWld and play
like the timeless classics they are.

5. THE CRAMPS "Human Fly I Domino"

The Cramps were the kind of band that were easy to latch onto in high school or even
earlier, if you were clued in enough, and were a band that most people would never feel
ashamed to have worshipped at such a yoWlg age. For many, "Hwnan Fly" in particular
was a bolt from the blue, with its reverb-soaked opening crawl and a fuzz so thick you
couldn't scrape it off the speakers. The Cramps were able to boil together a disparate
batch of depraved influences -- TV, 60's garage punk, comic books, jungle movies,
deep-ghetto R&B, and shock-value theatrics -- into a distinct stew that has remained
their own. They were self-admitted rip-off artists, and yet turned so many people back
onto their unique frame of reference that they in tum created a market for their
influences! (Songs We Taught The Cramps, the Born Bad series). "Human Fly" was one
of their rare originals, and "Domino" a cover of 50's weirdo Ro) Orbison. Every so
often I go through a "Cramps phase" that necessitates the repeated play of Gravest liits
(which contains this single), Songs The Lord Taught Us, and All Tore Up (the greatest
bootleg of all time). I would suggest asking your nearest 15-year old malcontent if you
need assistance in begiiJlling a phase of your own.

6. MC5 "Borderline I Looking At You"

Viva the MC5. Never thought of as a "singles band", they nonetheless released this
monster in 1968 that to my ears remains their definitive revolutionary statement. The
revolution was not brewing in their standard-Issue SDS/Weathettnen-copy politics
(which they made look really cool the same way a ·'Patty Hearst!Tanya" poster still
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THE CRAMPS photo: James Sliman

looks really cool, but had. a tenuous relationship with at best) but in their music. The
Detroit sound was originally lorded over by the MC5, and the pre-LP Stooges were
supposedly considered their "little bro!}1er band" for a time (! ). The combination of
Wayne Kramer and Fred "Sonic" Smith's guitars (and Rob Tyner's white man afro) was
enough to send thousands of impressionable teens into a frothtng fuck-the-man frenzy.
On the 7" version of "Looking At You", the squall of brother Wayne and brother Fred
approaches the rapturous in a manner that the subsequent LP version couldn't even
touch. Far too dangerous for Elektra, I'm imagining, who had them tone the noise down
considerably on Back In The USA. "Borderline" is pure thunder -- it shows the MC5 at
their energized, ramalama best, leading rock and roll (then still a young and relatively
limitless fottn) into a new embrace with amplification that nobody, not Blue Cheer, The
Who, nor Cream could match. One thing you can certainly feel in listening to this and
the first MC5 album -- they totally meant it with every ounce of their beings. Like the
best R&B showmen of the time, the MC5 were pure entertainers from the word "go"
and I can't imagine them having ever expended any less than llOo/o for the kids. A
generation has tried in vain to recreate this kind of full-impact sonic freakout -- most
simply look silly in the face of the 5.

7. MEAT PUPPETS "In A Car"+ 4

Many fans who looked to skirt the boundaries of rote hardcore aggression during the
early 80's fell in love hard with two genius bands: Flipper and The Meat Puppets. The
latter were the wacked-out anti-hardcore band that lived to tottnent the legions of
wasted kids that showed up to see Black Flag or whomever & instead found themselves
taunted by 2 longhairs and a regular guy screamzng their way through country standards
like "Tumblin' Tumbleweeds". Only the creator knows where these Arizona boys got
their singular vision from -- a vision that has them rumored to have once perfottr1ed
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"The Decline Of Western Civilization" soundtrack, talking and all, live at just such a
concert -- probably from a big bag of pot?
The1r first single is a monument to creatively destroying the punk rock idiom by
\\·orking from within . " In A Car" and ''Dolphin Field" bum by at 1:20 and 1:06
respectively, and contain the crazed Curt Kirkwood vocals that he later ditched in favor
of a laid-back twang (of course the band did a countnfied 180-degree turnabout a year
or so later on Meat Puppets II). "Out In The Gardener" is a confusingly loping 60-
second instrumental, and the closing "Foreign La\VIls" contains what might be the single
greatest final second of a song ever: duh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-nuh-
CLANG. Clang!?? It's as if they hopped off of the fuzz pedal just one second too soon
(the Meat Puppets are also responsible for ,perhaps the greatest opening second of a
song as well-- the drumstick/cowbell intro to "Teenager(s)"). SST has re-released this
beauty several times-- it's pure American brilliance that belongs on every hearth.

8. X "Adult Books I We're Desperate"

When X hit the Los Angeles punk scene in the late 70's, they had the kind of visceral
impact that immediately distinguished them from their variously talented brethren. Here ·
was a band that combined punk aggression with a velvet hammer of literary complexity,
a "smart" band that somehow connected with edge-seeking Venice Beach poets and
bored Orange County jocks in equal measure. I always found it sad that X had to build
their sizable audience by playing Disneyland "grad nights" and KROQ new wave dance
parties, given their unique combination of intelligence, nonconfortnity and musical
breadth.
"Adult Books", their debut 45 in 1978, may be the single best song they wrote. It is a
"slower" song with an almost waltz-like feel. The lyrics touch upon Jacqueline Susann's
once-shocking novel "Valley Of The Dolls", and have some of the most wonderful,
albeit off-synch, hattnonizing of any day and age. X express a sense of astonishment and
regret at the tawdry perversities of their friends and their city, which was a central
theme in their early material subtitled: "Hollywood -- Paradise Lost". "We're
Desperate" is conversely a fast rave-up with traded vocals, and it benefits from a very
loose and shambling feel that was lost when both songs were re-recorded for their 2nd
LP, Wild Gift.
Vocalist Exene's voice and personality at this time misleadingly suggested a slightly
flipped woman who nonetheless could write and perfottn circles arowtd her
contemporaries. John Doe, who to this day still appears to be the nicest guy in rock, was
the anchor and chief articulator of his locale's frustrations and hopes. A terrific voice,
too. I would like to break bread with him one day. What ever happened to guitarist Billy
Zoom? Zoom was a stoic, silent Bo Diddley-insprired player who put a lot of the
reckless oomph into this band's attack. If I'm not mistaken, drummer D.J./Don
Bonebrake is now playing with Exene in her new punk band "Awttie Christ". X may
have hit it relatively bigger commercially than many of the other rock-n-roll heroes on
this list, but let us not begrudge them their sheer brilliance at their creation.

9. PAGANS "What's This Shit Called Love I Street Where Nobody Lives"
Continuing with this list's Cleveland fixation, we come to the godlike power of The
Pagans! All one needs to know is that this is some of the most savage and crazed punk
rock ever created. The Pagans took the 1-2-3-4 premise established by the Ramones and
brought it full throttle. Their vocalist, Mike Hudson, had one of the all-time great
throats: a violent throat, a raspy throat -- a throat that gave distinct voice to every
pissed-off sentiment lurking in the wounded hearts of young adults in 1978. "What's
This Shit Called Love" belongs on its own shelf at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame,
perhaps playing as an endless 3 minute-loop right next to the Flower Power exhibit. As
often happened, the Pagans were never able to generate much of a "fan base" during
their heyday, but my, how people have come arowtd. Both of these classics have been
reissued in nwnerous packages, most recently on the Crypt CD Everybody Hates You.
10. 'fHE FALL "It's The New Thing I Various Times"
There are Fall singles -many, in fact -- and then there are FAJ,L singles. The band
had a string of tremendous 45's in the late 70's and early 80's, most notably the "Lie
Dream Of A Casino Soul", "Look, Know'' and "Kicker Conspiracy" discs. I'll go with
this early one, however, thanks to the bleak and unrelenting b-side "Various Times".
While "It's The New Thing" is an uptempo junkyard bounce complete with a fabulously
tinny organ that I'll bet they mostly used to piss people off, "Various Times'' is as bereft
of hope as anything that's been waxed. hnagine Manchester at the height of British
Wlemployment --the air is filthy, the sky has been overcast for six months, the miners'
union is chanting in the streets, the loo is stopped up, and all you can afford to eat is a
soggy, greasy kidney pie. Now what subjects would you write about? The Fall chose to
try & explore the psyche of a confused, frightened Gettnan at the dawn· of Nazism. The
tension and bile in this song is just tmbelievable, and it is certainly among the band's
most moving paeans to the darker half of humanity. The Fall of those years were an
inventive and mysterious collective who spurned the punks and the poseurs, and who in
an odd way were paying a great, class-conscious tribute to the commoner (partially
manifested in those crooked-teeth Polaroids of themselves that were clwnsily pasted up
on their LP sleeves) while also playing the untouchably haughty, sneering artist. One
doesn't see that sort of well-crafted ironic detachment any longer, ooless it's been
blatantly copped from The Fall. The strong, as they say, must always lead the meek.

11. MISFITS "Bullet I Attitude I We Are 138 I Hollywood Babylon"

Here was a true blue singles band. The ¥isfits didn't even have a proper LP out until
well after they'd hit their stride, and by that time there was already a nationwide "fiend
club" rabidly buying their Plan 9 45s -- singles that would later be leveraged for real
estate and small islands. After a great start with the weirdly pulsating "Cough Cool"
single- driven by synthesizer, keyboards and comparatively restrained vocals- came a
few lineup changes and then this monster. "Bullet" crashes in with that jagged, dense
guitar sound which I understand was nothing more than fast downstrokes and no
upstrokes. Hey, how come we didn"t think of that? Whatever, it sowtds fantastic and
was recorded in a manner that pushed everything front and center. So long to the
keyboards -- this record was as hell-bent and aggressive as anything the Misfits ever
did. I also like that the "spooky" aspects of the band had yet to completely take over -
these songs were about JFK: s assassination (I think.... ), Maril}11 Monroe, and that old
standby, kicking ass. "Singer/songwriter" Glenn Danzig couldn't write his way out of a
wet paper sack, and I'm afraid you'll fmd some of his more laughable sonnets on this
single. However, he kne\\' how to craft a damn fine punk rock song and this one's
among the best of the all-time best.
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12. GERMS "Lexicon Devil/ Circle One"

One of the unsung success stories of early punk rock is the maturation of the Gertns, a
group whose early shows were dismissed by many comers as pure hate crimes against
music. I, however, love the retarded "Forrning" 45; their first, and arguably L.A's frrst
punk record as well. "Forming" still sounds remote and utterly lost in time, belonging to
an artless void that dragged D.I.Y. to its most rudimentary depths. Perhaps its repetition
and lazy, droning plodding served as an immediate catalyst for dozens of "If they can do
it, so can we!" late-night jam sessions. If that's how it worked, then history thanks
them. So who would've thought that in a mere year The Gettns would uncork this
cranked-up screamer?
"Lexicon Devil" was almost as basic in fottn as its predecessor, but has a sharp,
squealing bite that doesn't unclench. Pat Smear's guitar is staccato and wired -- in fact
the whole band plays with a newfound energy and sense of purpose that developed in a
much shorter time period than one might have thought possible in the blur of the
'77/'78 Los Angeles scene. (Their subsequent LP GI \Vas an even greater leap, at least
in tertns of chops and production). The sped-up flip, "Circle One", served as a clarion
call for the transfottnation of Bobby Pyn into his new alter-ego, Darby Crash. It has a
destructive guitar "solo" by Smear that sounds completely unplanned and therefore
fucked enough to leave in.
It seems that many of the singles that have the most visceral impact in 1998 are the
ones that were pushing the boundaries of overn1odulated, hot, loud sound in the late
70 ' s -- this, the Bags' single, The Misfits, Dils, et al. The Gern1s have in 20 years
morphed into almost mythical punk cartoon characters by virtue of Crash's death,
Smear' s stint \vith Nirvana and Don Bolles' ubiquity. On this record-- now available to
all on a CD with just about their complete works -- you will hear a band taking their
first quantum steps toward that legendary status.

13. NEON BOYS I RICHARD HELL "That's All I Know (Right Now)"+ 3
I ' ll make an allowance for this posthwnous release on our list, as it contains one of
the all-time great "1-o-v-e" songs, "That's All I Know (Right Now)" and should very
well have been a single in its O\VIl right. The Neon Boys were a precursor to the mighty
Television, and recorded three known songs way back in 1973. The line-up was three-
quarters cf the original Television as well: Richard Hell, Tom Verlaine and Billy Ficca.
The se:;sion was remixed and put out around 1980, a time when a market for
independently-released 7" singles had fully developed and could now support what I'll
bet \Vas a frothing demand for these tapes.
The songs are as close to near-perfect as any NYC proto-punks ever came, full of
vigorous hooks and clanging guitar interplay. Hell and Verlaine, both gifted with
incredibly distinctive and malleable voices, hannonize (in a manner of speaking)
together on an early version of "Love Comes In Spurts", and then hit the upper registers
of chord-dom as the verse/chorus/verse structure splits wide apart. The song bears
virtually zero resemblance to the song that kicked off the first Richard Hell & The
Voidoids LP four years later. It seems that Richard Hell blessed both his non-Voidoids
bands with their best material -- an argument could certainly be made for Hell-era
Television and Hell-era Heartbreakers hi(ting their peak with him playing in each band.
Ironic indeed that the Voidoids, good as they were, never seemed to come anywhere
close to the frre of the aforementioned, and this record's b-sides of ''Don't Die" and
"Time" (recorded in '79 -or '80 as Richard Hell and the Voidoids) are poignant and nice
but not outstanding. The real treasure here is the Neon Boys, who we can only hope
have a box of tapes stashed somewhere awaiting a nice fat cash-in!

14. MUDHONEY "Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More I Touch Me I'm
Sick"
The break-up of Green River in '88 heralded the return of Mark and Steve to PUNK
ROCK, or so the Sub Pop press release, at the start of the label's ludicrous/hilarious
'"world domination" campaign, had it on the eve of this record's release. I ordered in
advance and came home to fmd it in the mailbox -- tore it open, plopped it down & was
blo\VIl away. Mudhoney were one of the most aurally and visually exciting bands of
'88/'89, and I followed their California shows like a lapdog, 3-4 at a time (even tattooed
a Big Muff on my butt!). The sound was rooted in the Stoogoid swamp ofFWlhouse but
carried the weight of the previous 13 years' worth of punk, and so it sprang forth as a
great fi1zzed "tidal wave of noise", as Motorbooty had put it. The story goes that the
members of Cat Butt, an exceptionally popular Seattle band of the day, were listening to
this 7" with a friend of mine when it frrst came out. When "Touch Me I'm Sick" ended,
the band members sat around in stunned silence for several moments Wltil someone
spoke up: "I guess this means Mudhoney aren't gonna be opening for us anymore".
Amen.

15.~- WEIRDOS "We_Got The Neutron Bomb I Solitary Confinement"

The Weirdos were the darlings of the L.A. punk crowd during their late heyday, and
really earned it with two jaw-dropping 45s that even made their stage theatrics look
tan1e. This one just cooks- full volwne and roar, yet another amazing single from the
 -

Dangerhouse stable. The great punk lyric topics of the day were serial killers, sex,
drinking, TV and of course THE BOMB: "Gonna drop it all over the place I You're
gonna get it on your face". How can you not love that line, hunh? The song stotnls on
with megaton force, and if you close your eyes you can see the guitarist doing
windmills, singer John Denny falling down in his fake straightjacket, and 300 L.A.
misfit children going bonkers. "Solitary Confinement" is even better! This was The
Weirdos' 2nd 45, released on Dangerhouse to regional acclaim in 1978.
,"'
16. CRIME "Hot Wire My Heart I Baby Your So Repulsive"
In 1976 Crime were gods in their hometown and nobodies everywhere else. The West
Coast was not then considered fertile ground for fresh musical meat -- to be honest, it
didn't deserve to be. (San Francisco was the worst-- then best known for The Tubes
and a small handful of"funny" rock bands). Consequently the earliest California "punk"
singles-- this, the Gettns' "Forming"-- were local faves, created for and appreciated by
local audiences. It wasn't until 10 years later, when Sonic Youth ripped through a great
cover of "Hot Wire My Heart" on their Sister LP that Crime began to be widely noted.
Why was this record so special? Like their 2nd 45, "Hot Wire" is an out-of-control, fully
aggressive 3-chord mess. An omnipresent sneer should be envisioned on the pasty faces
of all four members while you listen. Too rooted in delinquent rock-n-roll to be
considered experi~ental, Crime nonetheless come off as a proto-punk band looking to
find true freedom through expression. Drummer Ricky Tractor, a tragic figure notorious
for excessive drug intake, apparently missed his cue to start the drums at this song's
commencement and ends up innocuously rolling them in anyway. The B-side,
misspelling and all, is pure bark and bite, and was the fastest song Crime played. As
long as lists are tabulated on rock genius -- some people just need that sort of thing, you
know? -- Crime will have earned their rank in the highest nwnbers.

17. PERE UBU "Final Solution I Cloud 149"

The avant-garage exper1mentors wrote an honest-to-god teenage frustration song for
their second 45, and again came up with an absolute classic. "Final Solution" does have
Dave 'T'aylor's analog synth warble underpinning its density, as well as Peter
Laught1er's edgy, static-electric guitar, but it is much qu1cker to the pilllch than the
tracks on the first single and brings a more anthemic feel. Fist-pwnping ROCK for
bespeckled record geeks? Sure. "Cloud 149" soWlds like the jwnping-off point for the
swirling, spooky vibe Pere Ubu mined to such great effect on the subsequent LP The
Modern Dance. There is a childlike, meny-go-roWld feel to the song that is
confotmdingly pleasurable. Lucky for us, you can find both tracks most easily on the
Tettninal Tower compilation LP of about a dozen years ago, as well as in a somewhat
recent reissued boxed set of Pere Ubu' s Hearthan singles.

18. BLACK FLAG "Six Pack I I've Heard It Before I American Waste" \

It isn't so much "Six Pack" that puts this high on the list as it is the smoking B-sides
-- Dez Cadena was far and away my favorite of Black Flag's four vocalists, and his
violent croak kicks these songs right into the punk rock history book. "Six Pack" is a bit
of a novelty, but a roaring one at that. The song builds on a simple, menacing bassline
and ultimately a scream of feedback from Greg Ginn's guitar before exploding into that
awesome wall of hardcore thud that made Black Flag such a force in the early 80's.
Ginn apparently still practices his craft the way an investment banker practices his --
that is, all the fucking time. Listen and bum as the Flag destroy on the uber-wail of
''I've Heard It Before" (with the tag line, '~.Authority! Bullshit! Authority! Bullshit~")
and the amazing "American Waste". I also want to note that Black Flag followed this
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novelty-song-b/w-2-great-destroyers approach with their terrific follow-up 45, "TV

Party''. Where is Dez Cadena now? We need you!

19. MINOR THREAT 1st single

I can't listen to this amazing 45 without picturing 400 bald D.C. kids with X's on
their hands jamming around a big circle as the Threat screams, "Whaaaat happened to
yooooooooo!!". Hailing from the Nation's capital, Minor Threat stood out in a sea of
clones as the most righteous, angry and wild American hardcore band of their time,
Black Flag notwithstanding ("hardcore" being defined a little differently on the West
Coast). They were fast, tight and exceptionally loud, with a great drill-sergeant vocalist
(Ian MacKaye) and a tremendous guitarist (Lyle Preslar) who knew how to bring forth
buzzsaw power in a way that few of his contemporaries ever mastered. Even the
recording engineer contributed in a big way -- the sound is full and hot, and even with
•
eight songs spread over 7 inches, the record still sounds totally menacing and proud. It's
easy to overlook this record's obsessive alcoholic prohibitionism when the fury flows
forth like so much cheap rotgut. MacKaye enabled thousands of American punks to lead
alcohol-free, "straight and alert" lives until high school graduation, keeping the rest of
us free from bottled punk rock violence!

20. VERTIGO "Two Lives I Front End Loader I Phil lOS"

Here's one.I'm young enough to remember -- the 1988 debut 7" from this Minneapolis
trio came out in a tiny pressing on a tiny label called Skidmark. Once the mystery of this
darkly jarring set of songs spread across the phone lines and printing presses of the US,
Forced Exposure magazine pressed up their own big batch and sang its praises six ways
to Sunday. Vertigo were, for about a month, the basement geniuses on every clued-in
loser's lips. Little wonder, because the beauty and power of these 3 nwnbers will stand
up in any age, whether the record was a simple accident of history or not. Vertigo's
debut remains the absolute pinnacle of what the indies were offering in the late 80's, a
time when labels like Amphetamine Reptile and even Sub Pop were exciting and
forward-looking. Except this was a case of the fann team upsetting the big leaguers,
because Vertigo came from absolutely nowhere and once called to the majors, just
couldn't come through in the clutch (cc: their AmRep material).
The toyed-with stills from some ancient monster movie on the record's sleeve hinted
at what was inside. "Two Lives" is foreboding and weird throughout its 3+ minutes,
with carefully-harnessed feedback providing the bedrock for a simple, haunting guitar
squall . The singer -- when there are vocals at all -- sounds distant and a little bit
annoyed, liJce he's down a long hallway and providing somewhat disinterested
commentary. "Front End Loader" is a crazed instrwnental with a hall-of-fame riff-- it
makes sense that these guys covered Crime's "Murder By Guitar", 'cause I'm telling
you, they are easily in the same league. Finally, "Phil 105" might be the best of them
all, \Vith thinly-disguised melodies that are a diamond in a rough frenzy of heavy guitar
 ,I

feedback. If this one passed you .by 10 years ago, do yourself a big favor and track it
do'Wll, because Wltil someone cobbles together a Killed By Death for the late 80's, this
gem will remain sadly elusive.

21. NEGATIVE APPROACH 1st single

This 1982 Detroit crew helped define hardcore-USA as a bra'Wlly, aggressive
counterpoint to the increasingly stale English mohawk-core bands that every part-time
suburban punk celebrated with patches on his newly minted leathers. Along with Minor
Threat, Gang Green and Die Kruezen, these muscleheads were the creme-de-la-creme of
the era's full-bore, D.I.Y., faster-than-thou contingent. Negative Approach were
certainly influenced by the angriest of their UK cowtterparts -- Discharge, Blitz, etc. --
yet this single stands head and shoulders higher, due to a buzzsaw guitar sound that's as
subtle as a kick in the ribs and that squalls and feeds back as appropriate. The lyrics are
laughably dumb, but jeez, 18 years old and everything. Head yeller John Brannon later
served as head screamer in the once-magnificent Laughing Hyenas.

22. USERS "Sick Of You I I'm In Love With Today"

In the late 70's there was a fantastic UK record h.thel called RAW that somehow
managed to create a distinct, high energy punk rock vibe that no other English label
could match. While the Raw Records bands didn't ape the Stooges & MC5 per se, they
brought Detroit multi-decibel power into their 3-chord thrashings in a manner that was
instantly memorable, with the Users' first single betng its prime exponent. "Sick Of
You" wore its hate on its sleeve and featured the kind of white-hot guitar leads that
were a big no-no for many of the day's purists. The flip is even better, an anthem for a
self-proclaimed "no future" generation if there ever was one. Raw, like Dangerhouse,
spared no relative expense in the recording process, so their records came out kicking
and biting-- loud, amped and aggressive. The Users, their leather jackets and their long
hair respectively disappeared within a couple of years, and the band are n<'\V all
Laborite officials in the House Of Commons.
...
23. IGGY & THE STOOGES "I Got A Right I Gimme Some Skin"
What's interesting to note about this single's inclusion on this list is that it completely
pales propped next to Iggy's LP work with the Stooges, yet it still remains a vitally
choice 45 that many rightly consider a punk rock high-water mark. lggy is a strutting,
foul-mouthed badass on these 2 screamers, both cut with junkie guitarist James
Williamson as demos to follow up the disappointing (to them!) Raw Power LP. ''I Got A
Right" was the fastest song he'd ever done, and it is wrrelentingly raw, lewd and a total
anthem for the self-proclaimed blank generation. This could be said to be Iggy's nihilist
update on good-time, let-your-freak-flag-fly hippie hedonism, filtered through an
crudely anarchic, drugged world view that nearly brought this most hyper and energetic
 of men to the brink of a pathetic death. The flip is another Wlpolished gem, with lggy
yelping and whooping like a streetwise soul brother # 1 through it all. No doubting it --
Williamson was a fantastic guitarist, and these guys created something pretty timeless
that day in 1973. The songs were put together as a 7" four years later and it has been
reissued in numerous fortnats since then.

24. MIDDLE CLASS "Out Of Vogue" +3

Arguably the unrecognized " father of hardcore", the first Middle Class 45 from 1978
is " a blur of honesty served up at one hillldred miles per hour", as stated in the liner
I notes for the collection A Blueprint For Joy on which this (finally!) appears. This single
, stands out from n1any Southern California masterpieces by virtue of its wunitigated
adrenaline and berserk auctioneer' s-call vocals. The core of the band was the three Atta
brothers of Santa Ana -- Jeff, Mike & Bruce -- along with bassist Mike Patton. The
energy level on their first single is almost impossible to keep up with, as is its speed. A
famous Orange County punk rocker once told me that all the local punk bands of the
day, his included, were trying to play as fast and furious as Middle Class, and were
having next-to-no success doing so. "Out Of Vogue". "You Belong" and "Insurgence"
were the fuel for the suburban speed punk inferno to come, while the more moody
"Situations" laid the groundwork for a tension-filled, distinctly Angelino sound later
fleshed out by Saccharine Trust and Middle Class themselves on subsequent releases.

25. DILS "Class War I Mr. Big"

Red flag-flying Communists in an era of generational apathy, the Dils stirred the pot
like few others. This 45 was actually called "198 Seconds Of The Dils", and the band
ensured that each and every one counted. The core of the group was the lanky Kinman
brothers~ they split their career as the Dils between L.A. and San Francisco before
lllldergoing an early 80's mellowing into the "cowpunk" Rank And File. They
apparently shot through their "angriest" phase early, as subsequent live LPs
demonstrate a more melodic, less strident tone than their frrst 2 singles. And strident
they are on this masterpiece: the Kirunan brother With the gravely voice spits up pure
bile and worldwide worker revolution on "Class War", a blazing testimonial to inspire
the armchair socialist to take up arms. (Even the lyrics-- which we're allowed to make
fun of now -- are cool: "I want a war I between the rich and the poor I I want to fight I
And know what I'm fighting for"). "Mr. Big" also stotnts out of the gate with a full,
packed guitar wallop and keeps it going for, oh, about 100 seconds. The Kirunan with
the nicer voice sings this one, but don't be fooled-- he \Vants to kill :rvffiA's.

26. RED TRANSISTOR "Not Bite I We're Not Crazy"

This single seems to have done wonders for both Von Lmo and Rudolph Grey' s
stature in the 90's -- since its release in 1990, both men have received a heap of
deserved press that they were never granted when Red Transistor were out & about in
. ..... .. ___ .,..._._.._
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Teenage Head
 1977, and have had their musical careers jump-started accordingly. I fmd that most "no
wave'' of the late 70's hovered between mildly interesting (Mars, DNA) and shockingly
dull -- this record, on the other hand, explodes off the stylus ·with lost-in-space
keyboards, packed-to-the-gills guitar tension, and totally batty vocals by Grey on the A-
side. He screams, whoops and hiccups and makes it all sound creepy and great. So much
of that short-lived era of NYC rock-n-roll hinted at a creatively bleak antithesis to the
other great scene taking shape around the Ramones, Patti Smith Group, Television, etc.,
but it seemed to really only manifest itself during its 2nd wave with Sonic Youth,
Swans, et al. Red Transistor were just so far ahead of that game it's amazing. The
sleeve features a drawing of an angry, crazed robot and fits the mind-boggling
pyrotechnics of this posthumous release perfectly.
.•

27. FLIPPER "Love Canal/ Ha Ha Ha"

Flipper stood for several things at once: militant alcoholism, audience confrontation,
and the genius to recognize the raw beauty of in-your-face redundancy. They played at a
crawl when their hecklers implored them to play fast; they ended shows when they
couldn ~t stand up any longer~ and they wrote some absolutely damaged classics like
"Sex Bomb", "Ever" and "Earthwotrn" that are, if not inspirational, still a hoot to listen
to. Flipper was the snotty 1Oth grader already heavily into glue and pills and other
merrymaking-- you know he's a waste and that his bell has already tolled, but he has a
sarcastic, jesterish sense of buffoonery that still slays everyone around him, and is
intelligent way beyond his years. You want to be around a person like that. Their first
single took on the then-topical Niagara Falls toxics controversy -- Flipper wasn't the
type to provide straight commentary on such horrors, they preferred to rub your nose in
it. It has a sloooooow, confusing bassline that could belong only to them, but it actually
rocks in a way that that was less accessible in later material. "Ha Ha Ha" is a bit more
maddening and is even better~ the cheap sarcasm is backlit by a screech of guitar and
hissing amps, and ends in an repetitive echo of the song's title. All the snotty lOth
graders I grew up with hated Flipper, despite the fact that the band seemed to hustle
their way onto every hardcore bill in San Francisco - true gluttons for punishment. I'm
sure they wouldn't have had it any other way.

28. WEIRDOS "Destroy All Music I Why Do You Exist? I Life Of Crime"
My first-ever exposure to punk rock was via a Time magazine article on a perplexing
new sens~tion that "started in England'' and was now "showing up in the U.S. as welln.
In college I checked into the microfiche room to glimpse it again and there, in the pages
of America's best-selling newsmagazine, were The Weirdos in all their soiled glory,
decked out in Raggedy Ann & Andy fashions and grinning like complete goofs. Very
Los Angeles, particularly for the rest of the country. The band never quite sounded as ·
. wacky as they looked -- in fact, their first single ('77) roars almost as hard as the 2nd
but for the tired "rebellion" on the A-side. How about a little more memory lane, hmm?: •

The best reunion show I ever saw was these guys at the notoriously bloody Fender's
Ballroom in Long Beach, CA, early 1986. As about 15 weightlifter-type boW1cers
struggled to keep 500 amped, brawling punks from the stage, the Weirdos taught
everyone a history lesson with a set that for me, redefined ''loud" (at least until I saw
Pussy Galore in LA a couple years later) and "crowd-pleasing" (the skinheads &
lunkheads who came to fight & stomp or whatever were smiling and actually pogoing by
the 3rd or 4th number). If ever a band were made for the "pogo", The Weirdos were it.
A classic 7" that has been reissued several times and may still be trackable through your
local new wave dealer.
 . ..
.·.

C.LA W HAMMER photo: Benny Tween

29. DMZ "First Time Is The Best Time·/ Teenage Head"

DMZ were Boston pledges to the high-flying flag of balls-out rock-n-roll, and on their
first declaration they hit the ~ark but good. Preening on the cover like a point-blank
NY Dolls ripoff (lipstick, eyeshadow and all), the band were more rooted in the "Wyld"
sounds of the Pebbles reissues that caused a minor stir in the mid-70's. Amazingly,
those 60's punk classics were just being widely heard a decade later, and in 1976, DMZ
ran the desperate high school rave-up sound right into the gutter with this release. The
count-off on "First Time" begins, "1, 2, 3, blech" and the band proceeds to burn through
1:36 of mid-tempo snarl. The lyrics, as you might imagine, are a probable first-date plea
for sex, and as such, pull no punches: ''Little girl, you think it's gonna hurt you I Little
girl, you're gonna miss it when it leaves you". The song and its topic proudly stand in a
lineage of many other greats, running from Chuck Berry through the Stones & Stooges
and the aforementioned Dolls. The flip is a solid Flamin, Groovies cover that many
have also subsequently tried and never quite aced like DMZ. They continued to produce
the goods for a few years, culminating with a major-label LP on Sire and the inevitable
flameout & breakup.

30. CLAW HAMMER "Sick Fish Belly Up I Moonlight On Vermont"

Claw Hammer put out some fantastic 45s in the late 80's/early 90's, none better than
their 2nd release on Trigon Records in 1989. Take the yowl of Chris D.'s Flesh Eaters,
the high-energy freakout of the MC5 and the spastic locomotion of Captain Beefheart
and you have an approximation of Claw Hammer on this record. (Of course, the
Beefheart angle is particularly acute on the B-side, a wonderfully updated cover of a
Trout Mask Replica doozy). "Sick Fish Belly Up" is an electrified race straight to the
bottom of the glass, a hard-rocking paean to a hangover that won't let up. Nor does the
song; which captured this band at a time when they could almost do no wrong. I didn't
think pre-Claw Hammer that any L.A. band could upstage and smoke out the Lazy
Co\\,girls, but as the Bush era proceeded, these guys turned tnto the hottest, sweatiest,
hardest-working show in town. Chris Bagarozzi and Jon Wahl were twin guitarists of
different mothers who played off each other like hyper-energized channelers of Wayne
Kramer and Sonic Smith. You just wanted to ~Tap these guys up in a big fat American
flag 'cause they made ya feel so goddarnned alive.

31. FLESH EATERS "Disintegration Nation"+ 3

Now the Flesh Eaters just might have to be called my favorite band of this general
era we've been covering thus far. Funny enough, their first single, while a monster,
doesn't hold a candle to their 2"d, 3rd & 4th LPs. The "Disintegration Nation" single
came around in '78 while Chris D. was working at Slash magazine and living the early
LA scene-dream. He picked up a crack band (the whole cast of contemporaries The
l
Flyboys), the first in an ever-revolving door of musicians, and decided to bring his
participation to a new level. The result was this demon howl of static, sharp punk rock
and roll. Chris D., to my ears, had the punk vox that all others- R. Hell, Jolm Brannon,
Chris Bailey - must be measured by. Not that you could understand him. I interviewed
Chris for a radio special I did on the Flesh Eaters some years back, and asked him
(seriously) if he sang "Version Nation" (a different take on the title track that appears
on the Tooth And Nail comp) in Spanish. Obviously thoroughly tickled, Mr. D. simply
said, "no". The single's other three songs -- "Radio Dies Screaming", "Twisted Road"
and "Agony Shorthand" - are all timeless in their jagged, blazing glory. They
incorporate much more than fury and speed; one senses a tinge of rockabilly adulation a
la Billy Zoom and fellow travelers X. And take a look at the new wavers on the inner
sleeve' These Flyboys- Jolm C, Dennis Wand Scott L- looked like the Licorice Pizza
parking lot come to life. Once they flew the coop, Chris began assembling the various
players who would go on to make No Questions Asked m another step toward infamy.

32. VICTIMS "Television Addict I Flipped Out Over You"

Our list's sole Australian representative, which, for whatever reason, doesn't seem
quite right. 1be Saints' first 7" was a gem. Razar, Radio Birdman, Rocks, Leftovers,
Psycho Surgeons-- the lads down under sure knew how to kick it out in the late 70's.
None more so than the Victims of Perth, who shocked the world with an anti-TV rant
disguised as a pro-TV paean, and contained the oft-quoted line, "Just because I watch
Dinah Shore I It doesn't mean I need a facelift!". (I've been chewing on that one for
years). Their brand of punk was snotty and fun, and featured a fast & choppy guitar
sound that burns through the B-side and their subsequent excellent 2nd single, "TV
Freak". You can find this record on the Murder Punk Vol. 1 compilation as well as on a
Victims reissue LP that came out a few years back.

33. HALO OF FLIES "Richie's Dog I How Does It Feel (To Feel)"
Halo of Flies generated major lip-flapping amongst those who collected records in the
mid/late 80 's based upon a complex algorithm which, when simplified and factored out, '
came down to: scarcity divided by musical prowess times critical raves =purchase (if
positive), purchase and hide (if negative). The band came up positive every time.
(Forced Exposure even went so far as to opine that, given the opportunity, they could
definitely find a use for "the entire pressing" of a Halo Of Flies single). This, their
fourth single, was a defining moment in American stun guitar power; the band smokes
through "Richie 's Dog" with a ferocity that was pretty unmatched at the time. Tom
Hazelmyer was that moment's six-string hero du jour, and he brought up the ghosts of
Hendrix and the MCS with every trip to the wah-wah. The b-side was a cover of 60's
English beat-punks The Creation, and it is one of few reinterpretations that stands up to
or even improves the original (see Green River, "Ain't Nothing To Do").
34. MINUTEMEN "Paranoid Time"
The Minutemen were a fantastic singles band in the early part of their career --
"Bean-Spill" and "Joy" could have easily made this list as well. This, their first release
(1980), has 6 songs that defined their herk-jerk, stop-start trio dynamics in record time-
- songs that really did keep to a minute (none over 1:19). The Minutemen are perhaps
the only band I've heard who could convincingly amplify politics through their own
music and even add something to the discourse. The political was quite lucid on this
single, including "Fascist" - apparently one of D. Boon's favorite words. "Joe
McCarthy's Ghost" is an all-time classic, starting with the band "spieling" (also a
favorite word) about whether and/or how to even play the song as it fires up with a
drum & bassline, then moving to the great opening line, "Can you really be sure of the
goddamn time of day I Can you take the dirt from the fist of a foreigner", and exploding
at the end with frenzied shouts of "Joe McCarthy! Joe McCarthy!" over and over for
about 15 seconds. Of course, "Paranoid Chant" was a perfect swnmation of the nuclear,
cold war, "peace through strength" 80's ("Paranoid, stuck on overdrive I Paranoid,
scared shitless"). Boon's sudden & tragic death in ·s6 was the loss of a true champion,
but he left behind perhaps the best rhythm section in the musical underground (Mike
Watt & George Hurley), both of whom continue to make music to this day.

35. SONIC YOUm "Halloween I Flower" 12"

This isn't really cheating, OK? I'm assuming that this two-song 12" was released in
this format simply because it was too righteous to be potentially passed over by those
who ignored vinyl's smaller form. Sonic ~outh were at.their peak in 1986, and between
Evol and Sister came this beast. One of the things that first attracted me to the band was
Kim Gordon's creepy-crawl vocals, and on "Halloween" she's at her most
sensual/frightening. The band carries a slithering, coiled-up tension with them at every
tum, and this song i$ special because when they finally release, it's understated and
scarier than night. Initially I thought the lyrics to "Flower" to be fairly hokey ("Support
the power of women I Use the flower of man I Use the word: FUCK!"), but I have come
to terms with them in light of the amazing overlaying of Thurston, Lee & Kim's guitars
in a way that takes the fury of punk rock music into the next stratum. The band's star
continues to bum bright, particularly live, where they're not at all afraid to pull out
nuggets such as these to get the arena mosh pit hopping.

36. URINALS "I'm A Bug " + 3

The second 7'' from L.A.'s Urinals expanded upon their somewhat bizarre first record
("Surfin' With The Shah") into a new realm of deliberately understated minimalism,
where their form and function were half-practiced, and perhaps half-baked, and yet
remained an unqualified joy to listen to. The Urinals were special in a way that perhaps
only first-album Wire were at the time. Their songs were exceptionally short, sparse and
free of drama. A riff would rhythmically build over the course of a minute with very
little variation and collapse upon itself. Guitar and drums could sound at times as if they
were actually an amped ukulele (the first 45's "Hologram") or a collection of pots and
pans (this record's "Ack Ack Ack"). Their recording technique kept their sound far off
at times, crazed and almost bursting to overmodulation at others. The Urinals, to be
sure, were determined and destined to stay very far underground. 1 wonder if Aquarius
Records in San Francisco rues the day they sold this gem (with the 3rd Urinals single
accidentally tucked inside!) for 75 cents around 1986? (not to me, I might add). It also
might be worth mentioning that all 4 songs were eventually given halfway credible
cover versions -- "I'm A Bug" (Halo Of Flies and Monoshock)~ "Ack Ack Ack''
(Minutemen); "Black Hole" (Leaving Trains) and ''I'm White And Middle Class"
(Helevator).
 ·.·. -BAllBARA MAN.NJN<;

. .·.. ,.,.
t>ON7 lET rr SlUNG Y~ DOWN

37. HALF JAPANESE "Calling All Girls"

Some will tell you that this band's wooly and wild zen mutation is among the greatest
examples of rock and roll in creation. It is said by these wise men that it is a high crime
that Half Japanese have not been duly recognized as masters on a par with the Stooges,
Velvet Underground or even, say, Big Black. Certainly the early works of the band were
not for everybody. "Calling All Girls", a crazed multi-song EP from 1977, must have
cleared a good few of the rooms it was played in, such is hyper-skronking and atonal
crashing so dear to the record's core. But it just sounds fantastic today. The Fair
brothers, Jad and David, were musical iconoclasts who sweetly and almost naively
attacked form and function in a search for the ultimate in low arts. Nothing would be
the same after these men sucked the insides from rock and roll, particularly after the
triple-LP box set that they chose to unleash as their grand statement after a follow-up
45.
It was this single (partially released on said box set and now fully available on its
CD), however, that most succinctly captured their note- and chord-shunning prowess.
"Calling All Girls" is a narnecheck of any 70's mama the brothers felt worthy of
broadcast; "Battle Of The Bands" proceeds similarly with rock acts. The kicker just
might be "School Of Love", which is like a failed love story an 8-year-old might tell
backed with a spazzed-out no wave/free-jazz/heavy meta! hybrid soundtrack. While they
might be easy to laugh with, there was something a lot deeper than tomfoolery going on
here. Half Japanese created painfully joyous music outside of normal time and space
constraints, and I've still yet to hear anyone mention them in comparison with other
groups. If you're mostly aware of them post '83 or so, take a listen to this outstanding
record (or 'l'i Gentlemen I Not Beasts or Loud) and prepare to be amused, bemused and
confused.

38. CRAMPS "Surfin' Bird I The Way I Walk"

The Cramps' first 45 was just about as gonzo as their second, and hoisted them as a
mutant compliment to the Ramones & Dictators' corner of the New York underground.
"Surfm ' Bird" was the band's five-minute mutilation of the Trashmc::n frat fave,
commonly called "the worst song of the 60's" by squares who didn't know any better.
Ivy and Brian Gregory create a dense aural cave for Lux Interior to wail and cry in, and
the Cramps again proudly exhume the corpses of their rock heroes - bones, worms and
all. The treatment given to Jack Scott's "The Way I Walk" is more reverbed, rollicking
and loose.... the rockabilly hustle of the original is slowed down to a leering, sexed-up
and fuzzed-out swagger. They continued this winning streak for quite a few years,
cashed in (relatively speaking) on their own image around '85 or so, and were last
spotted playing as Camel cigarette sponsors at kool niteclubs nationWide.
39. BARBARA MANNING "Don't Let It Bring You Down I Haze Is Free
(Mounting A Broken Ladder)"
Perhaps out of place with most of the angry youth represented on this list, Ms.
Manning nonetheless released in 1990 one of the most beautiful and haunting records I
have ever heard. She is blessed with a voice that can melt gold, a voice so meant for
singing you wonder why she never quite seems to win the audience she richly deserves
& why her bandmates turn over faster than flapjacks. (Rumors have chalked it up to
"difficult artist syndrome"). Anyway, Forced Exposure dared her to cover a Wings (!)
song for this release, and she not only took the bait & rose to the challenge, she brought
in her sister to harmonize with her. From the sounds of this, Tern Manning is every bit
the vocalist her older sibling is, and the two of them overcame the pipes-of-pan sounds
from Terri's recorder (simply put, a horrible instrument) and created a movingly deep
paean to keeping the faith. "Haze Is Free" is a lovely and yet depressing lament that IS
Barbara Manning at her very best - aching and pained words lifted through sparse
instrumentation by the power, clarity and even sweetness of her voice. She has been
performing this song live for years now, and her audience still flicks away their tears at
the end.

40. GORDONS "Future Shock I Machine Song I Adults And Children"

While this platter of sheetmetal punk is better known as a 12" 45rpm single, it turns
out that it began life as an early 7" on Flying Nun in 1980. That means New Zealand,
folks, and when the cornerstone is lifted in downtown Auckland in 500 years, we can
only hope that someone had the foresight• to toss one of these in there. It might be a
stretch, but in another world this single might have been heralded as a catalyst for the
subsequent 80s heroes such as Big Black or much of the second tide of NYC art/no
wave acts. As it was, practically no one outside of New Zealand really heard the thing
until its re-release, and by that time the band had successfully morphed into the
punishingly repetitiv~ heavyweights Bailter Space.
Unlike that band' s great work or even the Gordons' own two LPs, "Future Shock" is
full of sharp, serrated edges and boasts an intense, terror-packed delivery (both lyrical
and musical). "Get ready for future shock" is the message, and it is hammered home in
a manner that suggests the teutonic precision of Krautrock fueled by the aggression of
punk. The combination can mow a goddamn house down. When the band later slowed
things down in favor of a more moody, controlled approach to spatial dynamics, they
still retained every last decibel of volume. Their live reputation was thus built around
their uncanny ability to boost earplug sales at every drugstore within a I0-mile radius.
This must've really upset the kiwi cart in its time, and it remains just as fierce and
powerful eighteen years hence.

41. DEADBEATS "Kill The Hippies"+ 3

One of the elements of the original 70's punk movement that I still get a nice laugh
out of is their unmitigated loathing for hippies and the high ideals o!' !he 1960's. From
the " he thrashed on my nose and goes ' hippie'" interlude from the live portion of the
Germs' What We Do Is Secret, to the full-on hippie hate presented throughout "The
Decline Of Western Civilization", it appears that the late 70 ' s were not an ideal time to
be standing for peace, love and doses in Southern California. This single presents the
hippie menace as a threat to be contained in a none-too-subtle manner, that the scourge
emanated from San Francisco, and that it was to be immediately terminated with malice
and, if necessary, outright violence.
"Kill The Hippies" is a hyper blast of skronking from start to finish, and contains
lines that \\ill (and must) be quoted as long as there are longhairs in our midst: "Kill
'em 'cause their hair's too long I Kill 'em 'cause their views are wrong I Kill 'em
'cause you don't like what they wear I Kill 'em 'cause their stink fouls up the air". The
guitar solo in the middle is absolutely ludicrous as well --this was a band that stood for
art, assault and humor in equal measure. The Deadbeats had a eye for conceptual
terrorism and would play shows costumed in seaweed, angel wings or chers outfits~
musically, they were a mutated, jazz-based cross between The Bags and Captain
Beetheart's Magic Band. The world misses them, and wonders why none of the 4 tracks
from this single were included on the commercially-available Dangerhouse
compilations.

42. VARIOUS ARTISTS "Process Of Elimination"

One of the earliest Touch & Go releases, this was a righteous companion to the
Northern U.S. hardcore bands then being bragged about by Tesco Vee & others in
Touch & Go magazine. This compilation's standouts are, for me, de(lning moments in a
genre of music that flickered brilliantly for a short year or two but was primarily filled
with redundant teenage farting. The Fix's "No Idols" is sheer burn- they matched the
unrelenting roar of their guitars with a vocalist who growled and shneked in tandem.
Detroit's Negative Approach contributed "Lost Cause", a brutal whirlwind that is
arguably a hall-of-fame half-minute in the trophy case of American hardcore. The
Necros' track isn't particularly representative of how powerful they were at the time
(check their excellent early singles), but they're made up for by blazing testosterone
flare-ups from Violent Apathy and Youth Patrol. Even the goofus comic relief provided
by The Meatmen and McDonald's is welcome here and might yet be worth a guffaw or
two. A great, muscle-flexing period piece.

43. MISSION OF BURMA "Academy Fight Song I Max Ernst,

The .dissonant pop precision of early Mission Of Burma was debuted to the world on
this fantastic 1980 single. It remains a given when posthwnously discussing this band's
body of work that they were "ahead of their time". Why? Mission Of Burma
triumphantly built on the tense angularity of Wire and early Perc Ubu while
incorporating a sometimes loose, often feedback-ridden approach. Their use of noisy
tape loops as a major weapon on the level of guitar, bass and drums was more akin to
P.I.L. than any comparable American act. However, the earliest numbers were simple,
loud pop songs run amok. "Academy Fight Song" bounces and rolls with a great sing-
along chorus, almost childlike in its pure joy. Yet the melodies are undercut by an eerie
keyboard (or loop?) that vaguely hints at menace. "Max Ernst" - a tribute to the
German painter and founder of dada - is a more hard-driving, complex new wave
number, with a chanted chorus of "dada" at the end! Sooooo eighties. Burma took the
naked anything-but-formula exposed here to even loftier heights with the follow-up
Signals. Calls AnJ Marches EP in 1981 and the amazing VS. LP a year later.
44. SOLGER 1st single
Back in an early tssuc of this publication I wrote a fairly juvenile piece about this
impossibly unique record, pretending that it ,,..·as the foundation upon which the entire
Seattle grunge scene was built. What is special about the Solger single still remains
somewhat elusive -- on first listen, it's poorly-recorded, generic hardcore, and its
subject matter (detailed in an enclosed lyric fold-out) is moronic early 80's teenage
nihilism (war, hate, fascist Amerika, etc.). Yet many consider the record to be a true
classic, and I have to say, I love listening to it. Low fidelity often brings out warmth and
an artist's true expression in a way that conventional recording can't - Solger took this
maxim several steps further and buried their mics underneath Puget Sound while
recording, spilled a cas~ of Schmidt on the masters, pasted swabs of cotton to the final
tapes and then pressed up 500 copies. The songs charge forward and then spin out of
r.ontrol in a manner quite foreign to hardcore structure, making this the most "arty"
generic hardcore record of its day, a bit reminiscent of the Meat Puppets single
discussed earlier. Bag Of Hammers, a recent Seattle punk label, pressed up another
batch of these last year, making it once again available to the very brave.

45. ROYAL TRUX "Red Tiger I Law Man"

The art of Royal Trux has given rise to much hyperbole over their many musical
JOUrneys - they have alternately been outcasts, saviors, sell-outs and saints to the same
talking head. Their most lavish praise, however, has been generally accorded to their
work between 1988 and 1992, the bookend recording dates for this mind-bending 45.
The record effectively serves as a marking point between periods, a time when the
delightfully idiosyncratic duo were drifting from the drugged-up baffiement of their
double LP Twin Infinitives into the spaced-out but rock-structured sonic freedom of
their 3rd record. Linear thinking was only now becoming part of Royal Trux's musical
vocabulary, and "Red Tiger", its actual pre-T.I. recording date notwithstanding, is their
unequaled masterpiece.
Comparisons to past psychedelic warlords is futile, because Royal Trux were
decidedly of their own time and place. As one pundit put it, "it is as if they compose
their works in esperanto" Theirs is not a universal language of the world, however;
"Red Tiger" moves to a rhythm that is jagged, semi-improvisational, and yet ultimately
rooted in rock. Its chorus is a distant chant, and its last minute is a slow, heavy-lidded
fade into another world. One expects to flip the disc to find a "Red Tiger Pt. 2",
but .. . .. no. For a band that until this time had eschewed cover songs, Royal Trux's take
on Jefferson Airplane's "Law Man" is wonderfully in character. It fits in snugly with
their sorta hippie-ish, sorta rebellious, we-oughta-be-busted vibe. They chWll through
the tune W1th great dual vocals (Neil Hagerty's voice is the duo's secret weapon) and a
throbbing bass sound - new equipment, new regimen, new attitude! Where they
traveled with that attitude is up for debate, but for a few years there Royal Trux were
quite possibly America's leading lights. Check the new double CD for your own copy of
this amazing 45.

LOOKING FOR:
• THE FALL "Room To Live" and uA Part OfAmerica Therein" LPs
• SCREAMERS double 7" bootleg
• VIA ((Scum Of The Earth" 60s punk comps - Vol 1 and Vol 2

Please let me know if you can procure these at non-collector prices: Jay Hinman/P. 0.
Box 95649/Seattle WA 98145-2649 or e-mail Jltinman@m.sn. com.
 RECORD/CD REVIEWS
BLACKTOP "We Desist!" 2x7"
Swan song for Dlacktop, a relatively smoking R&B/ptmk band who broke up a couple
years ago under a cloud of dissention involving stolen cash and broken dreams. This
double single spreads a cover of 1950s \vild man Bunker Hill's "Hide And Go Seck"
over two SJdcs, and then adds an original and another cover to close the books. L1ke
guitarist/vocalist Mick Collins' nl!w combo, The Out Bombs, Blacktop traded in whme
and feedback filtered through a strutting, rhythmic mojo. Collms and guitarist Darren
Linwood slapped their pedals to the metals whenever feasible and came out smelling
like roses - the kind that arc wilted and gnarled, but still look pretty much OK. The
Bunker Hill sides don't really add much to the ooomph of the hot original, but "Self-
Destruct Sequence" is a great squealer that ktcks up a cloud of dust from the garage
Ooor. Check out the Au-Go-Go release "Up All N1ght" for a true measure of this band at
their mightiest. (In The Red~ 2627 East Strong Place, Anaheim CA 92806)

THE BRIDES "Pushed Around I Get To You" 7"

The best punk rock 45 of the past year belongs to a gang of snot-nosed
whippersnappers from Chicago. I saw The Brides, SOWld-unheard, at the "Rip orr
Rumble" in San Francisco last year, and they blew me and just about everyone else
clean a\vay with a rough, howling and loud set of dead-on Stoogecore. More akin to the
Dwarves before they shot their wad, the Brides are the Dead Boys circa "What Love Is"
maxed out on volume, speed and attitude. One guy - he looked about 17 -- let a
cigarette nonchalantly dangle from his lips while the singer taunted the crowd with
various "Hey, fuck youse", etc., and I swear to Christ it worked. This single is even
more than I'd hoped for- a goddamn freight train of guitars. The vocals are sneered and
spat out with such genuine invective you just gotta believe they mean it - "it" being that
they won't be pushed around, they're MEN, and they're tough as nails. Whatever you
say, junior! Just put out another record soon! (Rip OfT; -581 Maple Ave., San Bruno CA
94066)

CHEATER SLICKS "Skidmarks" CD

Whoa! It must be a healthy sign when a band as desperately needed as the Cheater
Slicks arc allowed an "odds and ends" co1kction. If enough demand has been cultivated
in an 11-year career of low-end crudity to merit this, then I tip my cap to the buying
public. The Cheater Slicks have been one of the 1990's most consistently satisfying
purveyors of panic rock. They've made their mark as a trio, but this collection reveals
that there was an unreleased LP recorded in ' 89 when there were four of them, as \Veil
as the ·quartet represented on the way out-of-print debut LP On Your Knees. The Slicks
been obliquely straddling 60's punk and growling migraine rock a Ia The Cramps or
Scientists in their o\\-n deafening marmer for years. The early stull on here shows them
really getting combat-ready on that first record, \Vith choice sdections from it like
"Chaos" and the punishing ·T ve Been Had". The cuts from the unreleased LP are good,
even if the embarrassing Lux Interior apeing on ·'Please Give Me Something" is more
than even I can stand. The psych ballad "Lost Inside'· is culled from an AMAZING pre-
release version of what become the Don't Like You LP. I swear, that had that record
come out in its original form, rock as we knO\v it would have ended~ (as it was, it is far
and away their best LP, yet muddied up and toyed with unnecessarily). Finally there are
four bonzai live-on-the-radio numbers like the savage "Can It Be" and "Destination
Lonely" that' ll grow· hair on your palms. Let's drink to 11 more years from this vitally
important band~ (Crypt: 1250 Long Beach Ave. #I 0 I, Los Angeles CA 90021)
 .---------·-------------------· ··········· - ·· ···~ ·-· ·· ..·· ... . ... ............................................

MICK COLLINS of the DIRT BOMBS photo: Tana Dubhe

DffiT BOMBS "All Geeked Up" 7" •

Mick Collins of the Gories, Blacktop and a half-dozen other projects roars out of the
blocks w/ his hottest record in years. This blows doors on the Dirt Bombs' very good
debut single with an aggressive nailing of every crazed garage punk move in four brief
songs. You know, 5-7 years ago bands that could hearken back to 60's snottincss yet
keep their sounds chugging into the 90s were all over the map; that pretty much played
itself out and the possibility of finding a gem 45 from today's current crop is slim to
none. That's why this one was such a surprise; Mick was always a total pro at
incorporating a rhythm & blues element to his work and this is no exception. The
opening " Don't Bogue My High" is a fuzzy wallop that gives way to an almost prog art-
punk waiter called "Infrared". The track incorporates ·'guitar synth", which sounds just
as you'd hope it would. Wild. "I'm Saving Myself For Nichellc Nichols" (a pom star?)
is raw Detroit savagery that last about 40 seconds, and the closing ''I' ll Be In Trouble"
sounds like a rewrite of a couple Gorics classics like "Thunderbird ESQ" and
"Telepathic". This band is going to be worth encouraging. (In The Red: 2627 Strong
Place, Anaheim CA 92806)

THE FALL "The Legendary Chaos Tape" CD

Years ago I saw a particular musician's "ten best" list and it included an apparently
conunercially-available tape called Live In London 1980. As if Fal1 material wasn't holy
grail enough! I'm still looking for Room To Live and A Part Of America Therein LPs ,
but "Live In London 1980" - well, we can all have that now. The label was Chaos
I tapes, the show was recorded 8111/80 at Acklam Hall in London, and it is The Fall at
their sneering, rhythmic, repetitive peak. It captures the band at the time of their
Grotesque, Slates and Hex Enduction Hour records, with many favorites of that
watershed era well-represented: "Prole Art 1breat", "Jawbone+ The Air-Rifle", "New
Face In Hell", "Leave The Capital", etc. The Fall were exploring a less jagged, more
expansive terrain during this time, incorporating an ultra-minimalist, almost dance-
friendly edge into their previously harder material. Songs routinely pushed the 7+
minute mark, including this disc's 9:47 "Spectre Versus Rector" (an earlier, then-
shorter track from Dragnet). Mark E. Smith's invectives reach for a dark hole in the
soul, with a very English, take-the-hand-dealt perspective. This lyrical and musical
landscape can be awfully desolate and lonely, yet ultimately totally cathartic and great.
Bravo to the folks who rescued this gem from oblivion. (Feel Good All Over~ P.O. Box
148428, Chicago~ 60614)

KENT III "Peasant Musik" CD

The Kent ill are one of those groups who're mighty nice to have in the backyard.
Their slant on the world is patently absurd and yet joyfully true to life. When they're
truly cooking with gas, they're one hell of a blast to watch play. Their 3rd CD showcases
a fundamentally different band than the quartet who put out the clanging punk 45
Chromies five years ago, yet all it took was the eighty-sixing of their singer to achieve
some economies of scale. As a liberated· trio, the band has slo\vly mutated into a semi-
shambling, off-kilter powerhouse. Musically they continue to successfully stab at
whatever suits their collective fancy, nesting primarily in surf-n-turf garage ("Ointment
Endeavor"), anthemic singalongs ("Well-Dressed Man'") and Devo-style robotic
keyboard punk ("Canadian Fishettnan"). But alack! Do I detect a faint whiff of ska on
"The Searcher"? Probably just some old-style Jamaican skiffle. While our nottnal
editorial stance here at Supcrdope is that \\''C don't much care for lyrics, just pretty
voices, the poets in the Kent ill deserve a Pulitzer for their daring \vordsmithery. No
real danger in a novelty hit, though - these guys arc far more likely to clear a rootn than
chat 111 a frat house. ·rheir vvords give one a lot of gristle to chc\\. on. Next tin1e you find
yourself \vith the urge to see a uniquely great Seattle band \Yhose druffilner can play an
entire set \Vith his 1nouth hanging open, look no further. T'hc Kent III arc \Vorth the
drive. (Supcr-I:lectro~ P.0 . l3ox 20401, Seattle WA 98102)

LAST DAYS OF MAY "Last Davs Of Mav" CD ... el

~fhe long-a\vaited retun1 of Karl Precoda from the \vherc-arc-they-no\v file is a

majestic soundtrack of \Vtde-open instn1mental expnn!',Jc'ITJ Mr. Precoda \Yas the guitarist
on the Inagnificent Drean1 Syndicate LP The Davs C)f_Wn1c_ And Roses \vay back in
1982, as \\ell as the tn1e shining light on the marginal 1\.)lln,,·-up Medicine Sho\v. Last
Days Of May has the sound and feel of a "project=, - a half-meticulous, half-improvised
\\:ander through long voiceless pieces that conjure up deserts, dreams and dope. '[he
disc is the type of background n1usic you might slap on \Vhen you~ re played out on jazz,
but need the tension release that con1es from a nice, long ~oak in rock-based
atmospherics. FlutT up a pillo\\:., brc\v up some of that Slcep~tin1e tea .... ahhl1, no\v
that's nice. If this is that '~post-rock" you kids keep talking about, I ·m in. (No-Fi~ P.O.
Box 251074, Glendale CA 91225-1074)

LOS·HUEVOS "Los Huevos" LP

These Sacrarnento beer hogs are riding the umpteenth \Vavc of hardcore punk bands ·
\vith a far-out distorted attack that aln1ost hits it. I kinda hoped atler seeing them at a
decrepit San Francisco bar this spring that they'd be more like the hopped-up ~ blistering
cretins I \Vitnessed, but though this is le\vd and ra\v in a Fuck-Ups/D\varves/Dr.Kno\v-
like manner, it also suffers from a touch of lo-fi-itis. You need a BIG, FArr sound to pull
their sort of garage-based hardcore off, and these guys don't otter enough variation from
a played-out routine to overcome the live-in-the-studio sound, despite a terrific re-do of
~~Final Solution''. Sure sounded great for a fe,,· minutes liv~.. though.
'- ._ I'n1 afra1d the
young vocalist might benefit from a different set of Punk 101 texts - the lad tcntati vely
put on an affected Neanderthal act (diving into the cro\vd' s knees, knocking pint glasses
from hands, etc.) for \vhat appeared to be his O\\TI an1usemenL pron1pting \\·ell-deserved
... ----~------------------

catcalls that obviously kicked the wind out of his "rock-n-roll bad boyn sails. Maybe
they can crank out a crazed 45 of this stuff, ' cause there's a very hot band lost in the
tule fog somewhere. (Cheap Date; Box 426998, San Francisco CA 94142)

NECESSARY EVILS "Stay Away From Me I You've Got To Lose" 7"

Just when ya think this band has taken out-and-out thuggery to ludicrous levels, they
pununel you with another fantastic release. " Stay Away From Me" has all the subtlety
of a knee to the groin - like a "Bullet"-era Misfits mixed up with the wrong drugs.
They' ve thrown a bass player into the fire this time to add an even thicker rumble to
their subhuman, feedback-snarled croak. The flip is an uncharacteristically straight take
on an Ike Turner raver that doesn't add a whole lot to their rep, but plays pretty well as
a B-side- but it's that A-side that'll keep you coming back for more pain and panic. (In
The Red; 2627 E. Strong Place, Anaheim CA 92806)

JIM O'ROURKE "Bad Timing" CD

From its cover and liner art references to John Fahey's 1973 Reprise album After the
Ball, to what even sounds at moments to be a long lost Fahey albu~ Jim O'Rourke's
Bad Timing was one of 1997's most personal and beautiful albums. What makes this
album so personal is that it is not constrained by mere stylistic appropriation. Instead,
O'Rourke uses Fahey as a starting point. Since the late 1950's, Fahey has created his
own school of guitar playing -- in sound, style and an unflinching artistic stance
(Beefheart's is a another singular style -- an entire school of playing in and of itself).
Suggestive at times of Fahey, Tony Conrad, and according to O'Rourke's notes, film
composer/scorer Jack Nitzsche (also kno\\TI as producer of the C:Tetrns' Cruising sessions

SUPER ELECTRO SOUND RECORDINGS ~. . . . . .

NEW RELEASES OUT APRIL 21

THE KENT 3 ·peasant Musik" LP $8.00 I CD $10.00

MUDHONEY •Night of the Hunted" 7" $3.50
Prices include postage in the U.S.A.

For a camp ete ca a og sen a stamp to:

SUPER ELECTRO SOUND RECORDINGS
PO BOX 20401 SEATTLE WA 98102

- - - - - - - - - = = =·
 -

and Phil Spector/Neil Young/Rolling Stones/' rim Buckley etc . collahorutor ). l3aJ
·riming is sad, soulful music. While I'm not sure if Nitzsche scored N1colas I<oeg\ "I3ac.l
"fiming'~ (\vhence the title of the album derives )= Nitzsche did score the sounJtrack to
Roeg's .:Perfo1 1nancc'~ \Vhich I figure must tit into O'Rourke's schen1~ of thtngs
someho\\·.
Featuring O'Rourke on solo acoustic guitar \\'ith a "supporting cast" of pedal steel.
french hom, trombone, trumpet, violin, piano (and a droning hurdy gurd: pre-I lapp,·
Davs on Revenant?), Bad "I iming fe~turcs american primitive guitar explorations
coupled with a hypnotic strain of minimalism ~ mixed \\·ith the noted "fi ln1ic" ~lem~nts
(listen to the swirling, chiming "Christmas" music that arrives after son1e exquisite solo
picking on the track ''Bad Timing" or the last 15 seconds on "Happy ·rralls" ). O'Rourke
has spent a considerable amount of time \'v'ith both Conrad and Fahey over the last fe\\.
years and the results are \Vorth checking out. for those of you scared by the sheer
volume of this guy's output, Bad . riming may be your point of entry.
About a year and a half ago, I saw O'Rourke share a double bill \Vith Fahey. ()pening
the sho\v, O'Rourke played a solo acoustic set that sounded a lot like the four tracks
which comprise Bad Timing. Fahey played a set that sounded a lot like the more out
there a minute parts of 1997's Citv of RefuE£ and the O'Rourke produced Womblife
(both more than \veil \Vorth yer \vhile) mixed \Vith a fair share of covers. Both sets
seemed to compliment one another with hardly even a benign kill yr idols vibe. 'I\vas
not a bloodbath, at least not that night on the tour; the music ruminated a little too
philosophically for that anyway. O'Rourke's set \Vas his O\vn very personal take on the
classic Fahey acoustic style. Both "There's Hell in Hello but More in Goodbye,'' and "94
the Long Way," attest to that. Working here in four pieces which intenveave stark
picked and strummed solo acoustic passages variously with country pedal steel, an Ives-
like brass marching band section and static, I can't hesitate in recommending this album
to fans of other fonvard-looking acoustic players such as Alvarius B., Guitar Roberts,
Ice Death-era_Kaiser, Grady Runyan, Eugene Chadbourn~, Damon Huss and of course,
Blind Joe Death himself. (Drag City~ P .O. Box 476867, Chicago II_J 60647) -- J01V
BEllAR

PUSSY GALORE "Live/In The Red" CD

I was fortunate enough to see Pussy Galore the two times they hit the west coast - the
first was their Los Angeles debut in '88, I believe. Absolutely the loudest show of my
life. I spent the better part of the evening at the furthest end of the club, doing an
inebriated dance by myself as the tinnitus-bound masses went berzerk. Pussy Galore's
piledriving three-guitar, metal-on-metal approach was awfully tough to beat around that
time. The second was on what was ultimately their final tour, the trip from which this
excellent document is taken. That was in San Francisco the summer of 1989, and while
the band was touring behind the somewhat mediocre Dial M For Motherfucker, they
were hard as steel. Neil Hagerty was all of a sudden•
upstaging big daddy Jon Spencer,
taking the scum/Stooge/noise guitar further out of a confined but crazed two-minute
space than conventional wisdom dictated.
You can imagine that their last live show, recorded 8/5/89 at CBGB in New York,
would hit about the same intensity, and you'd be about right. This is an all-out war on
the senses, dragged through back-porch blues and stuttered R&B and straight into a
lower east side ditch. ''Pig Sweat", from their great Right Now' LP, is slowed to a crawl
and sounds better than ever, while the lead-off "Nothing Can Bring Me Down" is a
bawdy, clanging scream through an old soul tune. A lot of those 1980s favorites of mine
really haven~t aged particularly well, and there are indeed times when parts of this disc
sound a little outre or even totally goofy -- Spencer's vocal shenanigans in particular .
 More classic bricks fro111••• P A S T I T
The Resineators (11 song CD, $10 ppd)
The backglass-shattering debut from S.F.'s
newest hitmakers, featuring the panic-rock®
scorcher "Max Coin" and controversial ·
Purple Onion expose "Microphones Are
Not Provided". Starring the most dominant
big man in the game today, David Nudelman,
and base-line clank-master, Tone E.B.
,

I'm Not Fascinating: The Movie (VHS, 60 min., $15 ppd) I

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/

The bench-clearing who-cares-who-dunnit thriller

that fictionalized the ICKY BOYFRIENDS out o! ~ --···-
existence. Now available for rent at video stores , /·-':-- -:--
nationwide.
coming soon to the Past It Television Network:_~/:<-<~~,..,..
I CrossHairs hosted by Jonathan "Icky" Swift and Molly Ivins

I
•
Microscenia: The Lost Continent The official Past It guide to the place
you won't want to visit. even though you already live there .

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I PA S T I T 2235 MARKET STREET, S.F., CA 94114 USA
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Yet Pussy Galore will stand at the end of the day as a collective \:vho were able to
shamelessly strip-mine the c~eam of black America's musical genius and wed it to a
godlike wall of noise. If you never felt that assault up close and personal, here's the
proverbial golden opportunity. (In The Red, 2627 E. Strong Place, Anaheim CA 92806)

SUNSHINE SUPER SCUM "Tlvo Reactions" 7"

Japanese bands have spent the past decade processing, ginsu-ing and spitting out
American 60's psychcdelia and '77 punk into their O\VIl unique creations. Sometimes as
delicate and complex as origami (Ghost, Fushitsusha, most l)SF acts), or as brutal as
Bataan (High Rise, Registrators, Teengenerate, the confoundingly diverse noisc/improv
underground), Japan has left but one holy stone unturned until now: Black Flag~
Sunshine Super Scum arc the once-removed epileptic stepchildren of Greg Ginn - their
debut 7' is a full-on, thudding 4-ring circus, \Vith a yipping and shrieking female
backing vocalist and a \\'hooshing guitar sound caked \Vith distortion and mud. Imagine
if early so=s IIalf Japanese \VCfC~ in fact, Japanese, and recruited the My War-era Black
Flag to interpret their vision. You ' ve got to believe that someone' s been dipping into
the fuiUly stuff at the S.S.S. house. Too great. (Siltbreczc~ 727 So. 7th St., Philadelphia
PA 19147)

OTHAR TURNER & THE RISING STAR FIFE AND DRUM BAND "Everybody
Hollerin' Goat" CD
Fife and drum music is probably one of the last pieces of Southern Americana to be
fully explored and/or docun1ented, though the Deep Blues film gave us a brief glimpse
into this back\voods curio. Several Arhoolie compilations from the 1960s also include
tracks of fife & drum sounds, in \\·hich a ··c ane~: -like flute called a fife is blown in
conjunction \\·ith a percussive jamboree of snare and bass drums. Thoughts of the
revolutionary war and the saints marching in come to mind when listening to Turner and
friends meander through these 15 tracks, many of which were recorded on Othar
Turner's fannin Tate County, MS between 199~-1997. I suppose the lure of something,
anything, off of the beaten path is enough for some folks these days, yet I'm afraid these
field recordings soWld about as robust as you'd expect a 90-year old "fife-ist" to sound.
Perhaps the notion that these gentlemen allegedly cook and eat goat at their fife & drum
picnics is a draw as well, but that isn't going to make me listen to a wobbly, half-
improvisedjam session and call it genius. Somehow I get the feeling that there's a much
better representation of this stuff out there somewhere. (Birdman Records; 1409 W.
Magnolia, Burbank CA 91506)

VIA "All Night Soul Stomp!'' CD

Subtitled "Dancefloor Boogaloo Romp", and that right there just about covers it. If
you've ever a hankering for some exemplary, good-time 60's SOUL, this collection of
bold, sweat-soaked monsters might be the thang. Along with that fantastic Candy
Records trilogy (of which Show Me What You Got! is the most recent addition), this
proves there's still some wild shouting left to plunder from three long decades ago.
Covering '64-'69, this CD's got 25 mean cuts. Foremost among them are the deep-
throated King Coleman ("Hang It Up" and "Get On Board"), the instant-dance-inducing
.International Kansas City Playboys ("Quittin' Time', and "Everybody's Goin' Wild")
and the howling band w/ the best name of the bunch, Watson & The Sherlocks ("Funky
Walk"). The collection even revives a bootlegger's trick I thought was long buried:
including a track from a totally unrelated musical genre as a "bo~us", in this case a
vaguely R&B-ish salsa nwnber at the very end. Get on the good foot and give your
booty a present-- you've swear there's a joint in there somewhere. (order from Crypt;
1250 Long Beach Ave. # 101, Los Angeles CA 90021)

X "Beyond And Back- The X Anthology" 2xCD

The folks at Elektra did a surprisingly great job of stitching together the expected
batch of X' s standards with a mixture of unreleased, demo and live material - many
from the olden days of the late 70's. Certainly X went through many evolutions in their
15 or so years, and the package focuses quite well at bridging their early Masque days
with the critical acclaim era that followed. Now, you might've missed their foray into
Mellencamp/Springsteenian pleas for the downtrodden and big arena-style production,
but that's what Disc 2 is for. Even there the misses are few and far between. X were
always pretty forthright in saying "We want a hit", and I'd be hard-pressed to think of
another band that deserved one more (as long as it wasn't "Wild Thing"). In the face of
rare criticism, this band took their lumps straight, and zagged into country, metal and
back to melodic punk, always coming up sounding all right.
Early on X were writing some absolute classic songs, from "White Girl" (included
here) to ''Adult Books" and "Motel Room In My Bed" (also here). The frrst CD in this 1
anthology sticks to the frrst three albums, and includes some speedy, unretouched demos
("Delta 88" and "Heater") that never made it to disc. Some of these capture the band's
plaintive, quasi-literary creativity better th~ the subsequent LP versions, and you may
fmd yourself claiming same for the live material. What s~ds out now as then is the
hannonic chime of John and Exene's vocals, the Chuck Berry-on-overdrive guitar blitz
of Billy Zoom, and a pack of.songs that combined drinking, adultery, dashed dreams
and dramatic, lonely deaths into a paradoxically invigorating joy. Add a terrific batch of
liner notes with testimonials from scene heavies like Chris D., Keith Morris and
PeeWee Hertnan + some excellent photos and you've got one of the better anthologies
of the punk excavation. (Elektra; 345 N. Maple Dr., Beverly Hills CA 90210)