Tag: punk

281. Wire

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(March 2023) Episode 481 is WIRE. Pink Flag (1977), their minimalist first album, identified them as a punk act, but they were more arthouse than mosh pit. Along with their next two excellent albums, Wire proved quite influential for post-punk and new wave. Except for breaks in the 1980s and 1990s, Wire has had consistent output, constantly self-reinventing among various pop/rock flavors. While admirable, I don’t see myself returning to any of the post-1987 albums, unlike the first three to which I definitely will.

Favourite album: Chairs Missing

Favourite song: Practice Makes Perfect

Favourite later album: Send (2003)

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: the first three albums

473. The Damned

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(February 2023) Episode 473 is THE DAMNED. Known in the punk pantheon for being the first UK punks to issue a record and to tour the United States. Their first album is superlative, drawing relatively more from the garage rock antecedents of punk. Can’t praise it enough. But it goes off the rails quickly: a couple ok post-punk albums and then eight blah rock records – it’s soooo boooring.

Favourite album: Damned Damned Damned

Favourite song: Neat Neat Neat

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: just the excellent first album

465. Agnostic Front

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(January 2023) Episode 465 is AGNOSTIC FRONT.  Coming out of the New York City hardcore scene, they helped pioneer crossover thrash. While I’m not a punk connoisseur, their early punk stuff sounds pretty good to me (their opening EP is 10 songs in 6:22 – classic).  Unlike peer bands that crossed over once from punk to thrash, Agnostic Front went back and forth over the years. In later years Roger Miret’s vocals get annoying.

Favorite album: Victim in Pain

Favorite song: The Eliminator

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: should be in both your punk and thrash playlists

451. The Saints

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(November 2022) Episode 451 is THE SAINTS. What the Sex Pistols were to the UK and the Ramones to the US, the Saints were to Australia. In fact, they beat all the UK punk bands to vinyl.  Their debut album ((I’m) Stranded) absolutely slays, prime punk with propulsive tempo and snarling vocals. But they tempered their sound on the second album with a horn section, and the remainder of their long recording career was variations of pop/rock. They attained legend status in Australia, but only that first disc grabbed me.

Favourite album: (I’m) Stranded

Favourite song: (I’m) Stranded

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: just the first album

442. Suicidal Tendencies

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(October 2022) Episode 442 is SUICIDAL TENDENCIES.  I normally dislike fusion in music, but the punk-thrash crossover of Suicidal Tendencies works for me. And it works very well, combining the technical proficiency of thrash metal and the audience-oriented voice of punk. I favored their first album as iconic, although I generally prefer the later metal sound. Despite, or maybe because of, several lineup changes their sound adapts well through nü and funk metal phases.

Favorite album: Suicidal Tendencies (also check out its semi-remake Still Cyco After All These Years for a more metal treatment)

Favorite song: Disco’s Out, Murder’s In

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: should be in both your punk and thrash playlists

429. Misfits

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(August 2022) Episode 429 is MISFITS.  Misfits are close to what you might have had if the Ramones had staged the Rocky Horror Picture Show at CBGBs, but with a harder edge. There’s some good punk in here, but Danzig is an acquired taste that’s not really mine. They reformed later without him but it lacked the energy and camp.

Favorite album: Walk Among Us

Favorite song: Green Hell

Compared to expectations: ↓

Recommendation: just the first two albums

416. Circle Jerks

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(June 2022) Episode 416 is CIRCLE JERKS, one of the better-known punk bands from the early 80s SoCal scene. The first two recordings are a good blitz of minute-length rages. But I get the sense that a Circle Jerks record is something a prog rock-listening 80s college student might pull out to show he gets punk too, eliciting an eye roll from his roommate who collects Minor Threat and Bad Brains original pressings (this may or not be based on a true story).

Favorite album: Group Sex

Favorite song: 86d (Good as Gone)

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: decent but not prime punk

411. Crass

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(May 2022) Episode 411 is CRASS. An idiosyncratic first-wave UK punk group that was the musical arm of an anarchist art collective.  They deliver their political message with a punch in the face, deliberately avoiding any possibility of popular acceptance. There is also a lot of avant-punk experimentation incorporating collages, poetry, spoken word and free-form noise-making, which may be my favorite part of their sound.

Favourite album: Stations of the Crass

Favourite song: Burying the Hatchet

Compared to expectations: ↑

Recommendation: it is an acquired taste

357. The Slits

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(September 2021) Episode 357 is THE SLITS. Started out as a formative female UK punk band but soon transitioned to a wild-sounding post-punk, new wave sound with a strong dub substrate sung in a Nico* accent.

Favourite album: Cut

Favourite song: Shoplifting

Compared to expectations: same

Recommendation: An acquired taste, but a must-have if you’re into the UK punk/new wave thing.

* They covered “Femme Fatale” in a live recording, with (German-born) Ari Up pronouncing “clown” as “clonn” just as Nico did.

332. Corrosion of Conformity

~ ernopepper ~ 1 Comment

(May 2021) Episode 332 is CORROSION OF CONFORMITY. They started in the 1980s as a kickin’ hardcore puck band with awesome album covers that crossed over into a kickin’ heavy metal band in the 1990s with forgettable album covers, continuing in the 00s and 10s amidst lineup changes with mixed results. 

Favorite album: Eye for An Eye

Favorite song: Positive Outlook

Favorite metal period album: Wiseblood

Favorite metal period song: Bottom Feeder (El Que Come Abajo)

Compared to expectations: same