Category: Informed Sources

Philly Hardcore 1981-1986 Part 1

This post was originally on Noise Addiction blog – I have re-posted it (with a few changes) – Check out more Noise Addiction posts at Noise Addiction 2

In the annals of Hardcore Punk history Philadelphia usually gets the short end of the stick but this was my scene and I can tell you it was one of the best in the country at that time. Being located between New York City and Washington DC made it easy for most touring bands to stop there and most of them did. It was a fun and friendly scene. Problem is most of the Philly bands never toured or released anything more than a 7″ though most of them did record an album. All these bands were fun to see live. Autistic Behavior recorded 10 songs in a studio. Six were supposed to be released on an ep, 2 were supposed to be on the never released comp LP being put together by Bad Brains but only two songs ended up being released on the Philly Hardcore comp. Get Off My Back. Crib Death were one of the Philly bands (along with F.O.D.) that opened the legendary Minor Threat show at Buff Hall in Camden NJ. Because there were other bands named Crib Death they changed their name to Blunder Boys – name taken from a Three Stooges film. They split when their singer started a family and their drummer became the bass player for F.O.D. Decontrol started in 1980 but didn’t release their first record until 1985 possibly due to a continuously revolving line up. In those 5 years they developed and created their own style which some liked and others hated. I loves it! Homo Picnic formed out of the ashes of Kremlin Korps and Sudden Impact. In the middle of 1985 their singer left and they kept the line up to a three piece and changed to a more Metal influenced sound. In 1986 they released an LP that had a few songs from the original line up but mostly new songs. Informed Sources were one of the earlier bands that started in 1981. In mid 1982 they changed singers. They recorded some demos with the original singer and a full album with the second singer but only two songs were ever released on the Get Off My Back comp. LP.
info here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia_hardcore
Informed Sources info here: https://www.facebook.com/InformedSources2012/
Autistic Behavior: https://www.facebook.com/AutisticBehavior/?fref=ts
Blunder Boys: https://myspace.com/blunderboys
Decontrol: https://www.facebook.com/DecontrolUSA/?fref=ts
Homo Picnic: https://www.facebook.com/Homo-Picnic-190149284363440/?fref=ts

Autistic Behavior – unreleased album – has been released by SRA Records – Get it here

Blunder Boys – Demo (1983) [from cassette tape]
01. African Apocalypse
02. Philly Scene
03. Paradise Lost
04. Duel
05. Better Luck Next Time
06. I Hate Girls
07. In The End You’ll Burn
08. I’m Afraid Of The Night
09. Middle Class Morals
10. Crumbled Emotion
11. Fear Of Conspiracy
12. Watch Children Die
13. Body Count
14. Too Much Too Fast
15. Vote
16. Our Future Is Set
17. Broken Homes
18. Redneck Song
MediaFire Zip of all files

Crib Death – We Just Wanna Spoil Your Party demo (1982) [from cassette tape]
01. Middle Class Morals
02. I’m Afraid Of The Night
03. Duel
04. Watch Children Die
05. In The End You’ll Burn
06. African Apocalypse
07. Philly Scene
08. I Hate Girls
09. Outro
MediaFire Zip of all files

Decontrol – WXPN, Philadelphia 5-16-85 [from cassette tape]
01. Dead Life
02. What’cha Gonna Do
03. Holiday In New Jersey
04. Depraved Condition
05. Fascists
06. Doomsday
07. Born To Be Wild
08. Prostitute
09. Joe Blow
10. Drunk Again
11. Philly Cops
12. Suburban War
13. Young & Tired
14. Death Wish
15. 1992
16. Rip Rip Rip
MediaFire Zip of all files

Homo Picnic – WXPN, Philadelphia 11-84 [from cassette tape]
01. Prelude
02. Blood On The Walls
03. Part Of The Race
04. How Many Lives
05. Blind
06. War Stories
07. No Control
08. We Need More
09. Slave To Your Grave
10. Trouble In Paradise
11. Life’s Too Long
12. Battered Dreams
13. I Win
MediaFire Zip of all files

Homo Picnic – Demo 1-85 [from cassette tape]
01. We Need More
02. The Book
03. Part Of The Race
04. Two Eyes
MediaFire Zip of all files

Informed Sources CD available here

Informed Sources – City Gardens, Trenton NJ 3-82 [from cassette tape]
01. In God We Trust

Informed Sources – WXPN, Philadelphia 12-83 [from cassette tape]
01. Final War
02. title unknown
03. Situation Tragedy
04. Going Out
05. In God We Trust
06. Why Should I
07. This Was The 1980s
08. title unknown
09. I’ve Lost Control
10. In The Mind Of Phyllis Schlafly
11. title unknown
12. Stuck In My Hole
13. Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner
14. Forever Never Came
15. Nothing But Lies
16. Dense Pack
MediaFire Zip of all files

 

Philly Comps – Get Off My Back LP

Get Off My Back is a record that I always thought about buying when I was at Record Exchange or Third Street. But I always found something new to buy instead, until one day it wasn’t around anymore. Luckly it was up on the Last Days of Man on Earth blog (Tons of good stuff check it out) so I finally at least could download the songs. So here is the post from that blog.

Get Off My Back – Philly Hardcore Comp (82)

So last Saturday they had their “Legends of Hardcore” show in Philly and it looked like a blast. The lineup was pretty killer and included a couple of my favorite old school Philly HC bands; McRad and YDI. If Ruin was on the bill it woulda been perfect.
First thing you’re gonna notice is that YDI played an extra set with special guest vocalist Sab Grey. So yeah…it woulda been an excellent show and I am bummed that Philly was not close enough to drive to (ala Louisville). If I were still living up in Boston…Shit, I woulda been there!

Unlike Boston (or DC or NYC), The Philly scene never got the props it deserved. It had a slew of great bands, a strong scene and was close enough to other big east coast cities to be connected. So why do we not refer to Philly with the same hushed reverence we refer to these other towns?

The answer is maybe that Philly did not have as much of an identifiable sound and look as these other towns. It also had no singular independent label to rally around like a Dischord or a Modern Method. It basically just had a slew of great bands, many of whom were featured on this great 1982 compilation. The quality of the vinyl is a little crackly but hey, whatcanyado? YDIEnemy For Life, I Killed My Family: YDI were a cool band. They definitely had that mean, gnarly East Coast sound. I Killed My Family is a bit silly but Enemy for Life fuckin’ rips. FLAG OF DEMOCRACYMurder Castle, Suburban Cowboy: No doubt the best FOD tunes I have ever heard. These tunes blaze! Murder Castle has got a great breakdown. Way better than the FOD track on the flipside comp thats for sure! BLUNDER BOYSConspiracy, I’m Afraid of the Night, Middle Class Morals: Average at best hardcore with a rather annoying singer. Originally went by the name “Crib Death”. One of the lesser bands on this comp. LITTLE GENTLEMENNo Justice – No Law, No Crime – No Flaw: Another mediocre tune. The Little Gentleman were pretty prolific and went on to release a seven inch and two full length LPs. Another one that doesn’t do that much for me. AUTISTIC BEHAVIORTV Messiah, Power Head: Brilliant manic hardcore with a slight Cali edge to it. Power Head reminds me a bit of a real intense Saccharine Trust track. Good shit! Did these guys ever do anything else? RUINProof, Love Dog: Quality-wise Ruin were head and shoulders above most other bands. I wrote them up earlier so I wont go to into it. These are some of the earliest recorded Ruin tracks and they had yet to develop their fully realized style. Even in their embryonic form, Ruin were a great band though and these two tracks kick off side two with a great jolt of dharma-tinged HC. INFORMED SOURCESRight & Wrong, Dense Pack: OK stuff. Kinda west-coastish. The vocals are a little flat but the playing is very tight. SEEDS OF TERRORBrain Down, Straightedge: When it first kicked in I thought it sounded like The Urinals! Basically, it has the same production value as the first Urinals 7 inch. Quality-wise the tracks are nowhere near the quality of The Urinals. OK stuff….. McRADInflation Dub, Ejected: Super early McRad tracks preceeding the Dominant Force EP. Inflation Dub is a great reggae-tinged hardcore track. Ejected is just a classic old school HC track. McRad is still going strong today! THE HEATHENS Oohleigh at Great Adventure, My Twin From Hell: Amazing shit. Tight as hell spazz-core. Kinda like a trainwreck between Stark Raving Mad and Deep Wound and the Minutemen. Fuck! Who were these guys? All in all, this is a super-tight set of US Hardcore made at the height of the moment in 1982. Quality wise, I think it is as good as the Master Tape, Flex Your Head or This Is Boston Not LA. I wonder why it does not have the same reputation as those comps? Thanks to George for hooking me up with this comp too. I’m hoping that we have some Electric Love Muffin coming soon!

Mediafire Zip

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