Ten...er, Eleven Punk Albums Every Metalhead Must Own!
Genres are a funny thing. Why just the other day, I flipped on Comedy Central & some guy who looked vaguely like Larry The Cable Guy stood there and said, "Genres! What da hell is this, Russhie?!"
Well ok, no, I don't mean "funny" in that way, I mean funny-strange. Once something is put in a box musically, it's in the box and you'd better damn well not take it out & let anybody with any other box even hear it or it might be some kind of betrayal of a cause or some other such shit. Hell, I've been that way myself.
I remember back in the early '80's. Sure I'd had a mild interest in the rebellious & controversial nature of some of the punk music going on in the mid/late '70's but pretty much stayed loyal to my tried-&-true hard rock. By the time the metal scene exploded with NWOBHM in the early '80's, a lot of it was a distant memory, what with my new found heroes like MAIDEN, TYGERS & LEGEND. In fact, even when metal began to veer ever closer to hardcore with the thrash attacks of young guns METALLICA & SLAYER, it didn't especially dawn on me that we were seeing a huge blurry line & grey area begin to form between...say it with me...genres.
Even moreso, when I heard SLAYER were playing Baltimore in late '84, it actually struck me odd that a so-called hardcore punk band, CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, were opening for them. I looked at their record. It didn't make any sense! They had short hair! They didn't play Flying V's. I didn't even think of playing the record, for God's sake, what was the point? But...you can read in further detail below, but on that fateful night, after being pinned to the wall by these guys I decided the clothes, the hair, the political lyrics...who gave a shit if that was different, the music raged like a big, gigantic metallic hard-on!
The walls came a-tumblin' down for me then and since then, the barriers have been nonexistent. Thing is, though, only about a month ago, I'm at a record convention and I happened to pick up a copy of DISCHARGE's "Why." Holding it aloft like a sacred host, I noticed a kid browsing near me. His hands clutched, not a CLUTCH CD, but several like KREATOR- "Enemy Of God" re-issue, ONSLAUGHT's new crusher "Killing Peace" & SLAYER's "Show No Mercy." I smiled pleasantly and said, "You oughta add this one to that pile dude, it's a ripper." Taking a closer look, he screwed up his face in disgust and sneered..."Ew, shit, that's punk!" I just smiled..."Your point?" In a fit of craziness, I threw down $15 on the counter to pay for the CD and handed it to the kid. On the receipt I wrote my email address & said, "Just give it an listen & let me know what you think." He eyed me as though I was a serial killer but believe it or not, a week later, I did receive an email from him...telling me I'd turned him on to one of his top 10 favorite albums. As you can see below, I understand why. Genres? That's funny shit.
At any rate, here's my take on the best punk albums every metalhead needs to own, and just to go against the grain and be some kind of punk, I decided to list 11 instead of 10.
11. LÄRM - "Straight On View" LP (One Step Ahead, Holland, 1986) - Ok, let's talk speed. Hmm...You've got my mini-van, top speed about 54 mph going downhill fully-loaded with 5 kids. You've got a Corvette Z06, what's that about 207 mph? Then you can go to a Southwest 737. You can feel free to move about the country in that at around 600 mph. Then you've got LÄRM. From the land of wooden shoes, LARM flew in & out of the '80's so fast only a few people probably even noticed the vapor trail. Oh, there were a lot of real speedy bands in the hardcore/metal field, but these guys took the cake, not only in terminal velocity but in actually putting songs that had substance to it. Guitarist Paul (who had previously been in GOLDEN EARRING for a time...really!) didn't so much as polish the strings as hack them with a chainsaw, yet somehow produced discernable riffs. Vocalist Menno outdid any living auctioneer as he barked out quite thoughtful lyrics on things such as Chernobyl (sp? the real-life nuclear meltdown in the former Soviet Union), a positive spin on Dutch politics, etc. Speed kills & it did in 1986, as anyone who thought KREATOR's "Pleasure To Kill" was fast has a lot to learn from this one...bonus points for half of it being live & showing they could actually do it onstage.
10. AMEBIX - "Monolith" LP (FM, England, 1987) - Seething & scathing. No, it's not a new cartoon from the makers of Itchy & Scratchy. It's 2 words that were formulated to describe this final effort from England's AMEBIX. To show you how far things sometimes go with sub-genres, I once saw this record described by a college-type writer as "metallic prog-core crust." Um...ok...here's the thing: You take dog-eared copies of Silberbart - "Four Times Sound Razing" and some of KILLING JOKE's stuff from years later, put on a set of hip-waders & slog into a moor somewhere miles beyond the outer edges of London. As you raise a heavily-tattooed fist to the air, said records begin to play right in their sleeves at top volume and a bevy of dark, jagged shapes appear, writhing & moaning in the sombre gloom. In a guttural voice, the following poetry speaks: "Meatwagon come, borne on the rays of the morning sun." A double-barrelled shot to anybody who ever said hardcore OR metal are the playground of the unintelligent.
9. THE OFFENDERS - "Endless Struggle" LP (Rabid Cat, US, 1985) - THE OFFENDERS were from Texas and while they never got as huge as the state, they sure made themselves stand out with this, their 2nd full length LP. A lot of bands who either got swept into (or who decided to try & take advantage of) the flourishing metal/punk crossover of the mid '80's got equally unimaginative with the fast-slow, thrash-mosh trade-offs, THE OFFENDERS broke free of that mold. Fueled by the propane-tanker rhythm of Mikey Donaldson (bass) & Pat Doyle (drums), Anthony Johnson & JJ (axe & vox respectively) make an art form of rawness coupled with musicality here. Check out the explosion of opener "Face Down In The Dirt" or the moody 5 1/2 minute title track to see how this foursome melded in-your-face with a serious command of their instruments. Need more convincing? The final 1-2 punch of "When Push Comes To Shove" & a pain-wracked cover of the ancient classic "You Keep Me Hangin' On" should do the trick.
8. S.O.D. (STORMTROOPERS OF DEATH) - "Speak English Or Die" LP (Megaforce, US, 1985) - Seems more than once I've mentioned this title to people over the years & gotten a look of scorn & a reaction that it's a kinda throwaway or hokey release. Sorry, I don't buy it. Sure, it was a band that included a couple members of ANTHRAX, sure it got a pretty big promo push on it's release & sure the lyrics were not anything you could take seriously. But, but, BUT! First off, I remember back in the day, actually a couple years before this S.O.D. album, ANTHRAX pulled through town & played a small club here. The afternoon before they played, I had the opportunity to sit down & talk music with Scott Ian for an hour or so. What I found was that even at that time, he was an absolute fountain of knowledge about not only the New York hardcore scene but of hardcore in general & his know-how was rivaled only by his enthusiasm. Secondly, the album absolutely crushes. The production is nasty, raw & crunchy & the lyrics, while not exactly those of a Rhodes Scholar are still hilarious & scathing satire. Listen to a song like "Pussywhipped" & tell me you aren't thrashing around the room singing along. Finally, I defy anybody to show me a record that brought more metallers in contact with the hardcore scene than this one did. Period.
7. ENGLISH DOGS - "Where Legend Began" LP (Combatcore, England, 1986) - When you go back over the ENGLISH DOGS' history, they did some pretty good stuff. "Invasion Of The Porky Men" was very cool but for it's style, I think it was outdone by THE OFFENDERS. "Forward Into Battle" & "Metalmorphosis" ripped damn hard & yet I think they were topped by D.R.I. Still, "Where Legend Began" is where everything came together for the Doggies & hence a big inclusion on this very list. In fact, this may be the best record discussed for the diehard metaller who's still a bit leary of the "hardcore" end of things to enter into the fray. First of all, take a look at the cover artwork on this baby. Looks like something you might see on the bookshelf at Barnes & Noble next to stuff by Robert E. Howard, Stephen Donaldson or Frank Herbert. The songs titles also reflect on things like "Middle Earth" & "Tomb Of Traveler's Past." Listening to the album, I'm for all the world reminded of what it would have been like if METALLICA had read "Dune," been a little more pissed off than when they recorded "Master Of Puppets." Then, maybe Lars, in a fit of therapy, might have slit James throat before he did the vocals & perhaps somebody told Kirk he was a lousy lead guitarist. That's the kind of anger, playing (axe man Gizz is a riff monster here) & songcraft involved here & if there's ever been an album to show just how metallic hardcore can be and somehow retain it's bare-knuckles charm, this is the one.
6. CLOWN ALLEY - "Circus Of Chaos" LP (Alchemy, US, 1986) - Suppose I were to tell ya the story of a band from San Francisco. They were called CLOWN ALLEY & were a four piece with a female bass player & they put out a head-turning little platter called "Circus Of Chaos" back in '86. They took influences as wide-reaching as Chet Atkins, AC/DC, C.O.C., KILLING JOKE, VERDI, METALLICA & Scottish music and they made a delicious racket that involved intelligent-yet-non-preachy lyrics that were an observation on life in general. This is an album that I very rarely hear anybody talk about, and by Jove, I never even heard anyone talk about it back in 1986 when I was singing it's praises then. For that reason, I implore anyone who likes metal, thrash, punk or any kind of funky junk to search the vast and spacious reaches of the internet or even some cheesy record convention and buy this album at all costs. Recently reissued by Southern Lord, so no excuses y'all.
5. D.R.I. (DIRTY ROTTEN IMBECILES) - "Dealing With It" LP (Death/Metal Blade, US, 1985) - A lot of my memories of favorite records from the past also come linked indelibly with mental snapshots from a particular live performance. Such is the case with this masterpiece of thrashing mayhem yielded by left coast madmen D.R.I. I can picture, like it was yesterday, Spike Cassidy standing on the rickety stage of the old "Loft" on Eutaw Street in Baltimore, black Les Paul smudged with sweat as he carved out the threatening opening chords of SLAYER's "Black Magic" with vocalist Kurt Brecht screaming into the mic, "You gonna rage or fucking what!?" Hands of both those with long hair, short hair, no hair, mohawks, whatever raised in unison as the band then proceeded to rip through that well-chosen cover, merging effortlessly with their own caustic plunderers like "Nursing Home Blues" & "Snap!" Never have I seen a crowd of different folks more united and the whole thing can be wrapped up in microcosm by listening to this massive release, easily their best. If any record D.R.I. recorded should have been called "Crossover," it was this one.
4. C.O.C. (CORROSION OF CONFORMITY) - "Animosity" LP (Metal Blade, US, 1985) - Again, as with D.R.I.'s "Dealing With It," this volatile album takes me back to a live memory, albeit a little different. Although I was personally into and loved (read more below) a lot of punk from the '70's, I can easily pinpoint my very first encounter with what I would consider the "crossover" phenomenon of the '80's. When it was announced that SLAYER would play the "Loft" in November of '84, it only struck me as an afterthought that "some Southern punk band" called C.O.C. was opening. I was actually standing outside the club when these guys started but, alarmed by the cacophony coming from within, I rushed in and immediately had an entire world opened up in front of me. This shit kicked ass! By the time C.O.C. put out "Animosity," it was another year down the line & they'd been pared to a 3-piece...but what results! Mike Dean's thundering bass & anguished vocals, coupled with the deranged stickwork of Reed Mullin propelled furious statements of deliverance like "Prayer" & "Consumed" and Woody Weatherman's nasty SG dredged up a sludgy, vile hell on the title cut that would also be a harbinger of the killer NOLA path the band would pursue down the line.
3. SAINT VITUS - "Saint Vitus" LP (SST, US, 1984) - Sure, there will be people who will rail at the inclusion of this but, as God is my witness, there was no way I couldn't and yes, it belongs this high on the list. Let there be no misunderstanding: For it's time and perhaps even for now, the debut LP by California's SAINT VITUS is a damn extreme record. So extreme, in fact, that it confused the living shit out of even this gnarled old scribe for quite some time. See, truth be known, even though I'd been into enough SABBATH & TROUBLE to give a molasses maker pause, this thing was just so damn slothlike, raw & dirge-ridden that I initially hated it with a purple passion. It was only a year later, upon witnessing VITUS live in Fort Howard MD that I was smitten. I went back & listened to this sludge-like platter of pure aural lead, especially the two 9-minute monoliths of Side Two ("The Psychopath" & "Burial At Sea") and since then have found this a perpetual inhabitant on my A-list of faves. These guys all looked like Bill Ward in '71, have crosses all over the place, feedback/whammy-drenched leads out the wazoo, with nary a song under 4:46. Yet listen to this sucker & tell me it's not punk as hell. Fits the SST Label like a glove & comfortably rubs shoulders with BLACK FLAG, CRASS, DISCHARGE, etc. And...punks loved 'em...s'all you need to know.
2. DISCHARGE - "Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing" LP (Clay, England, 1982) - Many people have probably heard a similar analogy, but for those who haven't it bears repeating. This album sounds exactly like a huge door to the furnace of hell being blown open. I'll be the first person in the world to give bands like VENOM, MOTÖRHEAD, etc. their due but nothing...repeat...NOTHING that I have ever heard before nor since sounds like the explosion that begins with the opening blast of "Hear Nothing" and doesn't abate until "The End" has singed every hammer, anvil & stirrup in the land. Tony "Bones" Roberts has blazed a long and storied trail as one of the preeminent guitarists in the history of heavy music but the lethal tone he unleashes on cuts like "The Nightmare Continues," "The Final Bloodbath" & "The Possibility Of Life's Destruction" has never been duplicated and probably never will be. Vocalist Cal not so much sings but embodies terror & desperation in a way that will raise the hairs on you arms and then burn them off. Could this possibly be the most intense record of all time, genre notwithstanding? Yes, it could.
1. SEX PISTOLS - "Never Mind The Bollocks Here's The..." LP (WB, England, 1977) - Still the grand-daddy of them all and every time I listen to this album (which is many), I am constantly amazed at it's genius. Yes, THE RAMONES were around & I love the RAMONES but if the RAMONES were hard rock/punk, the PISTOLS were proto-metal-punk at it's genesis. One of the most interesting things about listening to "...Bollocks..." now is thinking about how many snooty types considered this to be pure, untalented noise back in the day. That's especially notable to me when I take in Steve Jones' guitar work on cuts like "Problems," "No Feelings" & "Sub-Mission." Jones was fantastic in the way he balanced being an economic enough player to insure aural destruction and yet, at the same time, imbued his playing with little touches and underpinnings that only come out when heard closely. Those things work so well with Lydon's (Rotten's) vocals and are what cements the melodies that make the aforementioned, plus the more noted songs like "God Save The Queen" such memorable works of art. And, speaking of Johnny's vox, again what a genius performance. Has a man ever sounded so flat-out pissed and simultaneously planted so many hooks in a listener's head in a little over a half hour? Funny thing is, my kids have this PS2 Tony Hawk game that they play all the time and it has a variety of songs on it, mostly metal stuff from the last 5-10 years...except that it also includes THE PISTOLS' "Anarchy In The U.K." The fact that the latter is not only heavier than any of the other stuff but that it also sounds just as contemporary says more than I ever could here. Timeless.
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