various artists - Jon Savage's 50 Pre-Punk Missing Links

I'm writing this blog about 35 minutes before it's scheduled to post. It's less than an hour to Labor Day, so I don't feel particularly obliged to do much more than post something up.

One of the homies over at Twilight Zone originally posted this up last year. Apparently, very early on in Mojo's history, Jon Savage made a list of 50 songs predating punk that led to its explosion. It's a list that runs from 1969 (Gong) to 1977 (Richard Hell & Devo). And it is an incredible playlist. For every "T.V. Eye" or "Final Solution", there are songs like Lucifer's "Fuck You" or George Brigman's "Jungle Rot"; total outsider rock that never made it to the cut-out bin.

My contribution was properly dating each song, attaching the original release it appears on, and adding a genre. Put this on today and tell the boss you ain't coming in.

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various artists - I Hear Ya! Fall 1995: The Caroline Distribution CD Sampler #11

Caroline and ADA were the two "cool" distributors we could buy from when I worked that Borders-esque book & music store in suburban Baltimore. ADA had Sub Pop and Matador, and were always good for a big stack of promos every month. Caroline, home to their eponymous label, Astralwerks, Revelation, and Dischord, were less generous with promos, but did a nice sampler series called "I Hear Ya!", which we played over the PA during closing while we cleaned up. In retrospect, it seems weird that I never held onto those, considering there's a really good mix of stuff from the mid-90s.

The big release around this time was the Misfits' box set; I assume that's why Jerry Only and Doyle are the cover boys here, and why "Teenagers From Mars" headlines this sampler. This was also my first experience hearing the Brian Jonestown Massacre, who blew my 17-year-old mind the first couple times I encountered them. Doc Hopper, Shift, 88 Fingers Louie, and State Of The Nation were all bands we could see playing VFWs and basements; we had no clue that Hole was covering the Velvets, or who Mick Farren was...only that they sounded cool as hell. Sounds like those coming from Crash Worship and Controlled Bleeding were exotic, even if they didn't lead to my buying either record.

This one popped up in a dollar bin on the central California coast last winter. As fall...uh, falls, I thought it was an apt spin.

Discogs

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Operation Ivy - Unreleased Energy

Operation Ivy was a legendary band by the time I first encountered them, even though they'd only been split up for a few years when I heard them for the first time. Here were these Berkeley (NOT San Francisco) kids who'd pitched in on building their own spaces to play. They, like the Specials and the Offs before them, melded contemporary punk with ska to create something new and unheard. OpIV packed their gear into sedans and toured the US at a time when Hüsker Dü, Bad Religion, and Fugazi were the only punk bands that could successfully conduct a national tour. And they all did it when they were snot nosed teenagers, the same age I was then.

I picked up a tape of the discography before I moved to Baltimore, which would have been 1993, and snagged a copy of the "Hectic" EP for $3 the week before I left Roanoke in 1994. I found this copy of "Unreleased Energy" in the small "Punk" section of the Sound Garden in Fells Point. I remember thinking, "Whew; $15 is a lot for a CD." But it was, ostensibly, three sets of demos cut by Operation Ivy in 1987 & 1988. So I picked it up. I swear I copped it in 1995, but Discogs sources it to 1996, and I'll own my cruddy memory.

This sounds like shit, which definitely makes sense considering how many generations in these source recordings must have been before being committed to CD. But it also suits things, because it captures teenagers making a racket at their least polished. And it's summer music, which is why I've been blaring it from car stereos and back porches for 30 years. It's a great spin for a weekend, or for sharing with your pre-teen niece.

Discogs

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various artists - Let Them Eat Jellybeans!

This is the rare instance on this blog where what I'm sharing isn't a first generation copy from my personal archive. In this case, this is a rip of the CD-R that came complimentary with a copy of the 1981 Italian cassette I bought five years ago. A good dude, that anonymous punk who sold me one of the finest punk/HC comps of all time.

Everything about this has a timeless quality. The Fallout Productions cover. The Ed Colver photography. The fold-out poster. The roster of first wave North American punk, hardcore, and outsider music. More so than "Flex Your Head" or "Chunks" or "Charred Remains" or "Meathouse", this is representative of the true width of the scene in 1981. It served as a calling card for the bands contained within as they had reached a point to escape the New World and bring American sounds to Europe and beyond.

This record is 45 years old. It's been out of print nearly 40 years. And yet it's a still a pretty incredible listen, whether you're blasting Flipper, the Subhumans, Half Japanese, or the Offs. The variety present along with the artwork make it a stone cold classic.

Discogs

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various artists - Swami Sound System Vol. 1: 2003 Sales Conference

There are certain labels that I can always count on to deliver the goods. Dischord, 625 Thrashcore, 12XU; if their logo is on the record, it's probably going to be a good one. Swami also makes that list for me. This 2003 sampler isn't a sampler so much as a gathering of unreleased (at that time) tracks from a range of the San Diego label's groups. You get three servings of John Reis, with songs from RFTC, Hot Snakes, and the Sultans. Dan Sartain, who I've written about before here, makes his Swami debut. The Loincloth track is a big ol' ball-swingin' metal instrumental that'll scare your mama. And Sonny Vincent, whether with Testors or by himself, was a revelation in 2003, and a must-listen in 2026. Discogs sez there's a vinyl version of this, but I don't recall ever seeing it stocked. I've been tooling around with the windows down, blasting this one, and even the kids with the wrapped Geo Metros agree; this is a good'un.

Discogs

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various artists - Reptilian Records Sonic Assault

It was approximately 25 years ago that I started working at Reptilian Records. I'd been visiting the store for several years by that point, steadily expanding my taste in music. I'm sure I've gone on ad nauseum about the things I heard for the first time within those four deteriorating walls. Even if it'd only been the Stooges and Unsane, it would be a huge influence in my life. But I discovered the Slits, Spazz, Cop Shoot Cop, American Nightmare, Pleasure Forever, the fuckin' White Stripes via hearing them at and buying them from Reptilian. It was terra firma, my home away from home, and by 2001, it was my paying gig.

This label sampler got a ton of play in the store. Everything appearing here had come out over the past 24 months. I ended up packing a fair amount of these for mail order and walking them the six blocks or so to the Fells Point post office. What a lineup: Pageninetynine's "Document #5", the Pig Destroyer 7" picture disc, "The Fuses Are Lies", the Cutthroats 9's "Anger Management" 10", Easy Action's self-titled LP, and Midiron Blast Shaft's "Starts Fires In Your Pants" all spring from the head of punk rock while presenting wildly different interpretations. It's loud as fuk, blasting alongside fellow travelers Man's Ruin, Amphetamine Reptile, Touch & Go, and Relapse. It was a golden age, if you ask me.

Discogs

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various artists - Radio Clash

I'm having a hard time mentally with it all right now, so I won't go on much about this, except to say that Mick Jones and Paul Simonson can program a mix for me any time they like. Special attention shall be paid to Janie Jones (she of the eponymous song) backed by The Clash on a Strummer-penned song, as well as Lee Hazlewood's "Run Boy Run". Not a bad cut in the lot, if you ask me.

Discogs

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various artists - Made In Britain: Mojo Presents The Sound Of A New England 1977-1983

"I don't want to change the world/I'm not looking for a new England/I'm just looking for another girl." What a perfect chorus. What a great song.

And this freebie, tacked onto the cover of September 2005's cover of Mojo Magazine, is chock full of songs like the Billy Bragg classic quoted above. Some, like "Too Much Pressure" or "The Modern World", are ones I've known by heart since long before this comp landed in my hands. Then there's deeper cuts, like the cuts from the Ruts and Soft Cell compiled here, that I came to when I finally landed myself copies of the full-lengths they originally appeared on. Then there's music from Alien Sex Fiend and the Meteors, who I'd never in a million years buy a record by. Yet, here, I found it all pretty compelling, which, knock ME over with a feather. Also, there's a Pop Rivets cut present. I probably should be a bigger Billy Childish fan.

The point? Ah, yes, the point. The point is that this 21-year-old is jam packed with pretty amazing 40+ year old songs, all of which where created by people who were in their early 20s, and probably just wanted to get laid and make music (not necessarily in that order). And that's pretty awesome for this old man. Just keep writing, keep chopping...you'll get there soon enough.

Discogs

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various artists - Repo Man (Music From The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Tomorrow is the Iggster's 79th birthday, and to celebrate this audacious occasion a day early, I present the soundtrack to Alex Cox's 1984 classic "Repo Man". Iggy provided the eponymous title track to this soundtrack, which my cursory research tells me came in between the release of "Zombie Birdhouse" and "Blah Blah Blah", the latter of which I bought on cassette sometime in the early 90s because a girl put "Real Wild Child" on a mixtape she gave me. That was my second exposure to Iggy Pop, the first being the 10 minutes of "Repo Man" I watched on HBO when I was 10 or 11 before my mom switched it off "because punk rockers are violent." Well, I showed her; I grew up a punk.

This rip comes from the copy I found a few weeks ago in a nearby thrift store for one American dollar. That's right; I paid less than a quarter of what I would for a gallon of gasoline. Pretty sweet deal. Pretty rad movie. Pretty great soundtrack.

Discogs

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Post #700 - Huggy Bear - Our Troubled Youth

Huggy Bear is the kind of band I wanted to be in. Smart kids, co-ed, queer, as in "weird and outside", willing to go on Top of the Pops to to spit beat poetry over DIY guitars while preaching girl/boy revolution, making this progressive clatter during a time when punk was just breaking for the first time in a decade and a half. Even in middle age, this is still my soundtrack for throwing a snowball at a police car, for marching on the Reflecting Pool, for escorting folks past screaming Catholics outside the clinic.

"Our Troubled Youth" was Huggy Bear's half of their split with Bikini Kill, a co-released 12" between Kill Rock Stars of Olympia and Manchester's Catcall. The last time it was available was in 2008 when KRS reissued it. But there's no streaming, no Bandcamp downloads, no reissues. What we do have is last year's release of "Killed (By Kids" and the recent release of "Basic Strategies For Going Out", a 10" collecting Huggy Bear's two Peel Sessions. So, in celebration of 700 Primitive Offerings posts, here's "Our Troubled Youth". If you want the Bikini Kill side, that's available now via Bikini Kill Records.

Anyway, one of my all-time favorites. Thanks for visiting when you do.

Discogs

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various artists - Bread: The Edible Napkin

Look, there's no way I'll ever look at the late 90s as a golden age to grow up punk. You could grow up poor & ugly, yet still be happy, because the shows were typically going to be $6 ($5 with a canned food donation) and if you didn't live in NYC or California, you had no expectations of being offered the opportunity to sell out. So you just did it with a bunch of like-minded nerds and freaks, raised on Lucio Fulci and "G.I. Joe" and Tetsujin-28 and Fugazi shows. If you were lucky, you'd run into folks like Var, who created No Idea down in Gainesville, and they'd introduce you to a world of new sounds.

It's how bands like Braid and Hot Water Music show up alongside Cavity and the Locust, right next to Skankin' Pickle and Against All Authority on the same bill or, in this case, on the same comp. "Bread: The Edible Napkin" came as a CD or double LP attached to No Idea #12. My copy of the zine was long ago donated to the CCAS zine library, but I've held onto my CD copy for almost 30 years since getting it. It's a great snapshot of the underground from that time, featuring names that continue to tour and play regularly, and those who made only slight inroads outside their home scenes. No Idea was always good about that, drawing the bands together under one banner of punk rock, regardless of what subgenre you could group them in. It became aspirational for me, whether I was making my own zine or booking shows, to pull from disparate tribes and bring them all together.

Discogs

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various artists - The Big One / City Of L.A. Power

I was pretty annoyed with Discogs recently, and it's all my own fault.

Right before the holidays, I recieved an order on my Discogs account. It was a simple one off; a Tim Hecker CD, sold for $10, plus shipping. And, hand to God, I thought I'd shipped it. But, friends, I did not. And Discogs shut my account down. Which means I could not only sell stuff (not a huge deal), but I couldn't buy anything. Not with all this Christmas lucre in my pockets. But I took my lumps, quickly refunding the customer once I confirmed that their order was, indeed, sitting two states away in my "Out" basket. But it was only last week that Discogs lifted the ban hammer on me.

This is a long way around the block to this two-fer from Flipside Records, the label attached to the esteemed SoCal zine. This was part of my last order on Discogs, a throw-in with a couple of Infinite Zero splurges. There are some big names from early in their careers here, with Green Day and the Offspring headlining with Bad Religion. The beloved Lance Hahn provided songs from both Cringer and Monsula; he was still a bit off from J Church taking off. There's a collaboration between Melvins and Steel Pole Bath Tub, some AmRep representation from Distorted Pony and Helios Creed, and a track from Sandy Duncan's Eye, who I still think is probably the most underrated noise rock band from this era.

"The Big One / City Of L.A. Power" is missing two songs from the latter; the Paper Tulips' and TVTV$'s contributions can only be found on the 1991 single-sided vinyl. Are we missing out on something? Shoot, man, track down a copy and let me know. I just got back on Discogs.

Discogs

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various artists - Dim Mak Records Sampler, "I'm like a stepping razor don't you watch me i'm dangerous

Long before Steve Aoki became a famed cake thrower, but after he booked HC & emo bands to play shows in his dorm room at the Pickle Patch at UCSB, he was a purveyor of some renown for the cutting edge of indie rock. This 23-year-old relic comes from just before he linked up with Bloc Party and helped break them here in the States. So it has sprinklings of fun stuff from Pretty Girls Make Graves, Panthers, the Gossip, Die Monitr Bats, and the Von Bondies. I'm partial to the contribution from post-Huggy Bear outfit the Phantom Pregnancies, as well as a live Soledad Brothers cut. It's a fun reminder of the time when the hardcore kids were playing house records alongside riot grrrl, and coke mirrors with the logo of your band were a crucial element of your show merch. 

Discogs

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various artists - Live From The Masque: Wewecancandodowhatwhatwewe Wanna Do

The second of three volumes in the "Live From The Masque" series, this one has F-Word, the Zeros, the Alleycats, and the almighty X. So two Dangerhouse bands, one of whom remains an all-timer, along with the group that gave us El Vez, and an early Posh Boy highlight. L.A. circa 1978 was so fucking cool.

Discogs

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various artists - Tony Hawk's American Wasteland

It feels weird to realize it's been 20 years since I last bought a Tony Hawk video game. But that fact dawned on me as I started writing up this soundtrack, which is the only thing I remember immediately about playing THAW on my 360. The soundtrack was released by Vagrant Records, and contains fourteen bands you'd associate with that era of mainstream punk rock, playing 14 classic punk and hardcore tracks. It's all very America-focused; the players drawn the the U.S., and the Buzzcocks the only band that didn't originate in the U.S.A.

So, is it any good, twenty years on? Well, there's a bunch of SoCal punk/HC represented: Suicidal Tendencies, Descendents, the Adolescents, Fear, T.S.O.L., and Black Flag all have classic songs from their catalogs appear. And the bands performing those tracks sync up pretty well, with Alkaline Trio playing "Wash Away" and Senses Fail playing "Institutionalized". No surprises here...unless you're surprised that everyone acquits themselves pretty well. I mean, didn't Rise Against perform as Black Flag in a movie around this time?

It's on the less expected cuts that this becomes more than the sort of thing you'd get as a freebie at Warped Tour or a cheap-o sampler at Hot Topic. My Chemical Romance cover the Misfits' "Astro Zombies", which is very on the nose and yet still pretty great. Ditto to Fall Out Boy playing "Start Today" by Gorilla Biscuits, the only post-1986 song on the comp, and very well suited to a group of hardcore lifers who somehow put out #1 records in the aughts. Thrice squeeze two Minor Threat songs into their single track, the Bled (who I barely remember) play a deep cut Bad Trains track from "I Against I", and Thursday contribute the aforementioned Buzzcocks song, a very energetic "Ever Fallen In Love". My favorite remains Hot Snakes' cover of "Time To Escape", a Government Issue track originally released on "Joy Ride". It feels a bit incongruous for Mssrs. Froberg, Reis, Wood, and Rubalcaba to pop up here, just as it's an equally odd contribution catalog-wise, but, for me, it's a highlight. Not to mention it's the last song released by Hot Snakes for nearly 13 years.

To answer my earlier question: yeah, both in the rearview AND today, this is pretty decent. There are a couple of duds here (which I won't call out by name), but swap out the 2005 covers with the originals and it's not too far off from the mixtapes I skated to in 1993. Which seems to be the point of this soundtrack in the first place...to recall those pre-X Games years where you'd tear ass around town to build half pipes and ramps that might only last for a few days before getting torn down, soundtracked by tunes made by kids just like you. 

Discogs

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various artists - Chairman Of The Board: Interpretations Of Songs Made Famous By Frank Sinatra

Forty-one bands covering forty-one Sinatra standards, released by the short-lived Dutch East India imprint Grass Records in their first year. "Over 2 hours of music!" it proclaims from the cover.

Is this good? Well, even though I've owned this for 20+ years, I can't say that I've listened to more than a handful of tracks (Jawbox, Cherubs, Screeching Weasel, GvsB). So I'll say...maybe? Probably? Shit, man...I don't know YOU.

I did NOT properly tag genres on this before uploading, and I'm not going to do it now. You get to decide if you'd categorize the Toadies as alternative, grunge, or college rock.

I probably should listen to these in full before I go sharing them. So let's dive in together.

Discogs

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various artists - Spin: 100% Original

The words "Ocean Pacific" pops out at me, one of those brands of my youth, up there with Airwalk, Vans, Stüssy, Jncos, Bones Brigade, and Sex Wax as signifiers of teenage fashion of a certain era. Not that I could afford any of the above, nor did I have the cool uncle/aunt/older sibling who'd plunk down money on them so I could feel cool. As a result, I'm not particularly driven towards tracking down any fluorescent shorts or skin-tight monochromatic tees from early adolescence. Thank g_d for Mom & Dad's cheapness for avoiding that particular nostalgic curse.

This promo, sampling the contemporary Atlantic Records roster of 1999, is the sort of thing I would have tossed immediately back then, but happily share with you today. Just do yourself a favor; avoid track 4. Nothing good comes of listening to Bob Ritchie nowadays.

On the other hand: Fountains of Wayne, Fat Joe, Bad Religion, and Latin Playboys all provide no worse than decent cuts from their then-current records. There's a Collective Soul track, a sampling from the swing revival, and a few others that I cannot be arsed to revisit. Also sponsored by Spin Magazine, although I couldn't say if this was a giveaway with Spin, an OP purchase, or a mailaway. I'd think this was attached to a Spin subscription; otherwise, how would I have ended up with a copy?

Discogs

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various artists - Faster & Louder (Hardcore Punk, Vol. 2)

I didn't pick this one up for a while after I grabbed Volume 1, and it shows up in how my taste developed. Hüsker Dü was on Volume 1, had a reissue of their early Reflex/New Alliance records on Rhino, and an in-print SST catalog. So I was super into them by the time I copped this in 1995. Likewise with Negative Approach, whose discography on Touch & Go was as big a deal for me as "The First Four Years". I'd been turned onto Fear via a dubbed copy of their infamous 1982 Saturday Night Live appearance. And EVERYONE from D.C. covered "12XU" by Wire, leading to purchases of the first three LPs, helpfully reissued on CD by Restless Retro. 

Zero Boys and Black Market Baby, however, were mostly out of print, with some records available on Germany's Bitzcore, which didn't have great distribution in southwestern Virginia. I wouldn't get into the Germs or X or the Dils until Frontier put out their Dangerhouse surveys. Naked Raygun was relegated to rumors and 3rd generation dubs until the Quarterstick reissues came out in the late 90's. I'm STILL not sure I've ever seen a Strangehold record in the wild.

But that's the cool thing about both volumes of Faster & Louder. The songs have a way of burrowing in, so that when you saw that Posh Boy pressing of "Living In Darkness" or a cassette of "Over The Edge", you knew to snap them up, because you'd heard "Bloodstains" and "Romeo" for the first time on a comp CD. This wasn't what was coming out on Epitaph or Lookout!; this was the first wave, where it all began. And while it felt like a different era back then, it was, like, only 10 years old in a lot of cases. There's truly no way to compare it to anything today. But, shit, man, I'm glad this was there for me.

Discogs

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various artists - Faster & Louder (Hardcore Punk, Vol. 1)

Let's celebrate my recent birthday by stepping away from Mojo Mondays to share a pair of comps that, frankly, I'm kind of shocked I've not written about yet. This was my first exposure to the first wave of American hardcore, entering my tiny collection the same year as "Never Mind The Bollocks..." and "Steady Diet Of Nothing" did. An auspicious trio, all things considered. This is one I immediately taped onto a C-60 and played half to death throughout my teenage years.

You can get nitpicky as fuck about the track selection on Volume 1, but I think it's unimpeachable. The first half are just S-class: you could start your mixtape with any of these first eight tracks, from "Holiday in Cambodia" to "Get It Away", and the recipient would know they were in for a very good time. The second half, in 2025, could feel a bit more thematically disjointed. But Redd Kross were once Red Cross and shared members with Circle Jerks, Negative FX opened Mission of Burma's last show, D.O.A. released "Hardcore '81", and the Stains moved to San Francisco, became M.D.C., and released one of the all-time great international HC comps in 1984's "International P..E.A.C.E. Benefit".

This was a mind-melter at the tender age of 15. While missing a trio of key names of that early scene in Black Flag, Minor Threat, and Misfits, this was a key introduction for me, along with the second volume (also released in 1993). Plus: Gary Panter artwork! It'd be cool as hell for a Real Gone Music to reissue this one on vinyl, especially considering I'd love to frame this cover.

Discogs

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various artists - Chunklet Issue #12: The Money Shot!

I hold Mrs. Mummy responsible for my most recent missed deadline. She was the one who kept my attention focused on laundry and food preparation; she shook her most bodacious ta-tas, flicked her eyelashes, wiggled her bum in a most enticing way. What was I to do? Blogging was farthest from my mind! Who amongst you could be strong under such circumstances?

Today's treat: the giveaway that came with issue #12 of esteemed Athens/Atlanta zine Chunklet, published & compiled by close, personal pal Henry O. Owings. H2O was, in his early days, a proto-shitposter extraordinaire. He gave the likes of yours truly a mentor and role model to emulate; be clever and funny and talk mad shit and support great music and play the occasional round of Whirlyball. Amongst the 22 tracks contained herein are contributions from Arcwelder, Elf Power, Man or Astro-man?, Six Finger Satellite, and Harvey Milk. It's a veritable "who's who" of late 90s indie rock, with nary a superstar to be found.

It's the kind of shit I can still sop up with a biscuit.

Discogs

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