Boston Hardcore

As I was talking about straight-edge the other week I thought I’d post a couple of classic examples of the more uncompromising groups that came out of that scene.

SS Decontrol and DYS were part of the ‘Boston Crew’ who epitomised some of the more intolerant and aggressive attitudes that came to define straight-edge.

These releases are from the early 80s – both groups becoming more rock/metal influenced in later periods. They are the first two SS Decontrol releases before they abbreviated their name to SSD, while the DYS album is a 1989 re-release including the Brotherhood 12″, the Wolfpack track plus three – what I presume to be – studio out-takes.

When I was getting into this music it was Slapshot who personified the whole Boston straight-edge hardcore thing and who at times included members from both SSD and DYS and were fronted by Choke, who had previously sang for the other main Boston straight-edge group – Negative FX.

 

SS Decontrol

01.Boiling Point 02.Fight Them 03.Do You Even Care 04.Not Normal 05.Wasted Youth 06.Jock Itch 07.Fun To You 08.V.A. 09.How Much Art 10.The Kids Will Have Their Say 11.Headed Straight 12.War Threat 13.Teach Me Violence 14.Screw 15.Who’s To Judge 16.Police Beat 17.United 18.The End 19.Glue 20.Forced Down Your Throat 21.Get It Away 22.Under The Influence 23.Nothing Done 24.Xclaim 25.No Reply

DYS

01.Wolfpack 02.Open Up 03.More Than Fashion 04.Circle Storm 05.City To City 06.The Girl’s Got Limits 07.Brotherhood 08.Yellow 09.Stand Proud 10.Insurance Risk 11.Escape 12.Iron Man 13.Dirty Dog 14.Rub A Dub

Unity – Blood Days

When I first started getting into American punk one of the things I always found sort of strange (as a Brit) was the whole straight-edge thing. I thought no smoking, drinking or drugs kind of took the edge off being a punk.

I could see how with some of the early groups it was really just saying you don’t have to follow the crowd and do anything you don’t want too but of course by the late-80s it seemed to have got twisted into a strict set of rules.

At that time one of the happening scenes seemed to be based around straight-edge groups such as Youth Of Today and Gorilla Biscuits, many of which came from the New York area but not all.

Unity were a Californian straight-edge group that featured Pat Dubar and Pat Longrie who were also in Uniform Choice.

In fact the Unity releases appeared either side of the two Uniform Choice albums. The first release in 1985 was the You Are One EP, while the second release in 1989 (which I’m putting up here) was the Blood Days LP which had re-recorded versions of tracks from the EP.

I always felt that Unity didn’t sound like a lot of the other straight-edge bands around at this time and seemed to have a wider appeal than many of their more earnest contemporaries.

Unity

01.Sound And Sight 02.Straight On View 03.Roses For You 04.Blood Days 05.Love 06.You Are One 07.When I Fall 08.Breaking Through 09.P.M.A. 10.Sea Of Emptiness 11.E For A 12.The Game 13.Fade Away

Hong Kong hardcore

Staying with the Chinese theme from last week.

I picked up this compilation CD when I was in Hong Kong a couple of years ago – it’s a general mix of alternative/underground/independent music but does include punk and hardcore groups.

Talking to the guys in the record shop where I bought it, they recommended – if I remember correctly – the groups King Ly Chee and Sheperds The Weak (not on this comp) as the main hardcore groups in Hong Kong at that time.

For Change, People And Our City

01. Milkshake 7
02. Kick Ball Car
03. King Ly Chee
04. Clear
05. Papa Jack
06. Spermatic Chord
07. J Minor
08. Flames
09. Attention To Piss
10. Krozza Nova
11. Luke Chow
12. Hard Pack
13. Five Disciplines
14. Sonsetfree

Download

Happy Chinese New Year

As it was Chinese New Year last week and the celebrations are continuing until next week, I thought I’d put up some Chinese punk.

These groups are actually all from the earlier part of the decade, when I spent some time in China, and I don’t really know what their current status is – active, inactive, gone emo – or what the most contemporary groups in China might be right now. But here’s a sample anyway.

Hang on the Box

01.No Sexy 02.Kill Your Belly 03.Bitch 04.OOOO 05.I Am Mine

Reflector

01.No2 New Song 02.Korean Sissy 03.Lighthouse Brigade 04.Wuliao Contingent 05.Time On My Hands

Brain Failure

01.Coming Down To Beijing 02.KTV 03.Living In The City 04.Second Hand Pogo 05.Summer Afternoon 06.8899