515 Crew

This seems to be the year for it, new releases either out or coming out from:

NOFX
Suicidal Tendencies
The Riverdales
Propagandhi
Rancid
Green Day
Meat Puppets
DeVo

Anything else coming out?

What's the name of the ST album? And should we expect anything of it?

Walking Thunder wrote:What's the name of the ST album? And should we expect anything of it?

YEAR OF THE CYCOS - http://www.suicycostreetteam.co.cc/

Really haven't heard enough to decide but I had heard at one point that Louichi Mayorga was back in the band and writing songs from this album. Which could cause it to lean more toward join the army.

As someone that has felt taken by this band more than a few times, I'm not paying for it.

Do you not like Join the Army? It's not a bad album, but it's not better than the self-titled. I suppose you hate How Will I Laugh Tomorrow. . . When I Can't Even Smile Today? Probably too metal for you.

Walking Thunder wrote:Do you not like Join the Army? It's not a bad album, but it's not better than the self-titled. I suppose you hate How Will I Laugh Tomorrow. . . When I Can't Even Smile Today? Probably too metal for you.

I remember being really excited for the release of Join the Army. It had been 6 years since ST and it was in the middle of the first wave of metal crossover. To say that I was really sick of Hardcore bands putting out metal records it would be an understatement.

So I go to Southridge(cause Music Circuit didn't have it). Went into the Record Shop, Found the only copy they had on tape and put down the $6 or $7 and head out to the car unwrapping it as I walked. I remember they had just done an interview in Flipside or Thrasher and Mike went on and on about how hardcore they were. Touring on $3 a day and how the new record was so true to what they were about and how this was the only true hardcore record to be released in 1987 and on and on.

So I put it in the tape deck and headed toward downtown to meet up with some friends and skate the bank east of the river. I got as far as "You Got, I Want" before ejecting the tape and tossing it out the window of my truck and put another tape in. Yet another metal crossover record.

Years later I gave it a second listen. It isn't as bad as I remembered it but you have to say that they moved far away from their roots. It might have been the huge 6 years between the two records or it might be because the band was started as a party band and it shows more on the first record or maybe the member change but if you listened to ST and then Join the Army, you would think it was two different bands. That may have been why I was so pissed off when I first heard it.

I still don't understand why you don't like crossover or metal.

Walking Thunder wrote:I still don't understand why you don't like crossover or metal.

There is a lot of reason. In a large part at the time metal was enemy. It was one of the main things that I was seeking to escape when I got into punk. Growing up in Pleasant Hill and hanging around the Eastside of Des Moines it was the establishment. Plus let's face it by the 80s the whole thing had gotten rather silly. So as a sub-culture it was of no interest to me.

Musically, I'm not a fan of long guitar solos or the long songs. It just and never really did speak to me. I mean in the 80s metal discovered the power ballad and to a large degree became pop thanks to Van Halen and MTV. I didn't relate to the lyrics or the music. Older bands to a degree but it didn't really pull me in or interest me and those that did were more Rock bands then anything like ACDC but most of it like for example Kiss, seemed more like a cartoon product. Just silly and rather pointless with long guitar solos, boring songs and dumb costumes. We've all seen "This is Spinal Tap". That's was metal in the late 70s and well into the 80s. A big fucking joke.

I remember hearing Metallica's Kill them All around 84 or 85 and thinking it was an Iron Maiden rip off. It seemed to me that they were just aping the past and really not adding a thing. To me they had more to do with Richard Wagner then Chuck Berry. Which immediately made them and speed metal uninteresting to me.

Crossover existed in Hardcore Punk from the start to a degree. Bands like Boston's FUs or Battalion of Saints had a crossover sound as early as 81 or 82. The thing was that Hardcore had flirted with metal all along but there was a decidable line in the sand. In most cases the metal record was approached as a joke. For example Meatmen's War of the Superbikers or Circle Jerk's Wonderful. See it was OK to make fun of it but not be a part of it. Part of it was the confrontational side of punk. I mean what would piss a crowd of punks then playing metal.

I always felt the best Crossover album of all times was The Cro-Mag's The Age of Quarrel. It kept the balance well but was without a doubt a hardcore punk record. The records that followed though were more and more metal. As did most of the other crossover band's releases. Most of those bands lost their much smaller punk following and gained larger success with metal crowds. So crossing over came across as selling out. There was a feeling of not so much bands progressing as much as bands hopping on to the latest band wagon. Remember that most of these crossover bands were not the leading edge of the scene to begin with. Most were 3rd or 4th generation bands that formed in established scenes and were really not doing anything new and most were from NYC and SF. Most of these bands were also know more for playing really fast then anything else. For example DRI.

If you really want to look at what was interesting from that period, look at the post Hardcore that came out of DC like Embrace, Government Issue, Dag Nasty, etc.. or Touch and Go bands like Big Black, the Jesus Lizard, Killdozer, etc... and the LA Roots and Cowpunk scene. While the crossover bands were growing their hair out, learning how to do scale guitar solos and signing record contracts, these guys were out there trying to find their own voice, Though I have to say that I'm not a fan of a lot of it but I have more respect for them.

Let's face most of these bands should have changed their names. Cause they really had nothing to do with the band or the scene they started in. Often there was maybe 1 or 2 original members left and it was usually the guy that wanted fame and money and didn't give two shits about anything else.

In closing, metal has progressed. If anything crossover made that happen. It's hard to say if there would have been Speed Metal without hardcore punk. Neo-metal has a lot to thank hardcore and crossover for. Most of what made metal seem dated in 83 was stripped away by the hardcore influence. There was a period in the mid 90s when it was hard to tell the two apart. Metal posturing had left and been replaced with bands that really did give a shit about their fans. for a while the barrier was down. Hell there was even a lot of DIY in the metal scene. I still hate the music though.

You can add Teen Idols to your list. Also, isn't Social D and Bad Religion releasing new albums this year?

think the br got pushed back to 2010. not that their last 2 albums make me all that excited for it

Nick wrote:You can add Teen Idols to your list. Also, isn't Social D and Bad Religion releasing new albums this year?

I thought that Bad Religion was but couldn't find any information. Social D is in fact putting out a new studio record not another live or best of?

speaking of suicidal...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkgMV2GBLKY

DaVo wrote:This seems to be the year for it, new releases either out or coming out from:

NOFX
Suicidal Tendencies
The Riverdales
Propagandhi
Rancid
Green Day
Meat Puppets
DeVo

Anything else coming out?

read that as DaVo at first. its funny because theyre both old.

kylervk wrote:

DaVo wrote:This seems to be the year for it, new releases either out or coming out from:

NOFX
Suicidal Tendencies
The Riverdales
Propagandhi
Rancid
Green Day
Meat Puppets
DeVo

Anything else coming out?

read that as DaVo at first. its funny because theyre both old.

Yeah and at least DeVo is still rocking. Me on the other hand it's questionable.

somehow its no fun when you respond with things like that. youre supposed to get med, or turn it into an argument... but maybe i was being a bully, and i can only get gratification if i harm someone emotionally?

i should really reevaluate my approach to posting.

kylervk wrote:somehow its no fun when you respond with things like that. youre supposed to get med, or turn it into an argument... but maybe i was being a bully, and i can only get gratification if i harm someone emotionally?

i should really reevaluate my approach to posting.

No I think the age and old man references don't bother me cause I realized recently that I'm going to be 40, still live most of my life on my own terms and still more pure to my passions then people half my age. With each passing day I see more and more my age as a badge of honor.

Plus DeVo is always good company to keep though they all have about 15 years on me.

I guess there is a new New York Dolls album coming out too.