We’re Still Not In This Alone

Another puzzle piece of what apparently has become my Youth Of Today collection. It’s funny how that happens sometimes. This is the 1997 repress done by Revelation Records. The cover art is not as good as the OG artwork or the We Bite version (still the best!), but it is still MUCH better than the Funhouse version. 

Here Until The End

Recently, I was lucky enough to hang out with two good friends, both of whom live far away from me. As the evening grew older, of course we got to talk about the best releases in 2023 so far. One of my friends brought up Here Until The End by Burning Strong. I was kind of dismissive at this suggestion, but decided to listen to it once I got home. I knew I had the record at home, but hadn’t spun it that often for some reason. So when I was back home, I put the LP on and listened to it. And then again. And then again. And again. It‘s pretty much everything I want from a hardcore record, so why I was dismissive of the record initially I can‘t fathom. The only thing I can still criticise is the vinyl colour. Army green is probably my least favorite color, even behind orange. There are 300 copies on this colorway. I‘d rather have one of the other versions, but with shipping costs out of control, I have to take what I can get these days. 

I've Got That Attitude

Similar to deciding to collect different cover versions of Youth Of Today records I made the same decision for Bad Brains releases. Attitude was released by We Bite Records, so I might also add a dedicated We Bite section to the collection. The songs are the same as on the Roir tape but with different cover art, which I really like. It's kept nice and simple and a live picture of HR is always a good choice in my book. 

Obviously the labels and the the lyric sheet are different too. It's a nice change to get a lyric sheet with a Bad Brains record for once. Most of the Bad Brains records I own, including the recent represses, sadly came without one. I'm also a sucker for those old mailorder lists. They make for such an interesting time capsule. 

Turning Point

I always tell myself that luckily I don‘t play the repress game. However, I use the phrase “I‘m really glad I don‘t play the repress game, but..“ way too often. So maybe I should just accept the fact that I‘m just a sucker for represses like anyone else. 

The Turning Point 7“ is a certifiable classic at this point. Maybe more so for the cover than for the music, which would be an interesting debate. Originally this was released on Hi-Impact Records, but this reissue was done by Revelation Records and they did a really great job. My favourite part is the adaption of the Hi-Impact logo on the back cover, which you can see in the second picture.

Actually it was a post by Marcus over on Endless Quest that made me want to get a copy after all and I‘m glad I did! Though to be honest, I would have preferred a repress on clear green vinyl or even on plain old black, because orange is my least favourite colour, but those were long gone when I finally decided to get a copy. On the bright side, this is probably the closest I‘ll ever get to owning a Turning Point on gold… 

Die Bestie in Menschengestalt

Generally there are two ways people got into hardcore: either through metal or through punk. And if you got into hardcore through punk in Germany in the 80s or in the 90s, like me, chances are pretty high that you listened to  and fell in love with Die Ärzte at one point. Their early records pre-break up were usually pretty silly in hindsight, but after their reunion in the early 90s, they also had more serious songs. Die Bestie in Menschengestalt was released in 1993 and was their first LP after the reunion. One of the reasons why the band decided to get back together again was the political situation in the early 90s after the German reunification, which included a rise in right-wing ideology/neo-nazism and burning homes for refugees and asylum seekers. Those years are affectionately called the “baseball bat years“, so you can imagine what it was like. 30 years gone by and we’re back to that. As a consequence, many songs were a lot more serious and one of their biggest hits until today, Schrei nach Liebe, was also included on this album. It‘s such a major bummer that this album could have been released just this year and many lyrical topics would still be fitting. 

I knew Schrei nach Liebe because it got a lot of airplay on MTV back then, but I didn‘t listen to the full album until much later. My real entry point for the self-proclaimed best band in the world was their next record. 

Anyway, all of their records from the 90s were extremely hard to get for a very long time and if they became available, you had to pay at least an arm and a couple of toes to afford one. So I‘m really glad the band decided to repress that part of their catalogue. 

 

Supernova

Okay, so technically this is a 2022 release. BUT I received my pre-order copy only in January 2023. Plus this record deserves to be talked about more. Spark plays a modern version of youth crew. It‘s basically everything you love about youth crew but with more melodies. Think The First Step meets Mindset. I really dig the simple cover. Sometimes less is more. Also, the vinyl color is absolutely stunning. Such a great shade of blue. 100 copies  came on this color. 

I also went to the record release show at one of my favourite DIY spots in Germany. The line up was stacked and basically the crème de la crème of German hardcore bands played that bill, plus Chain Reaction from Belgium, who had released a split 7“ with Spark a few years ago. That was such a fantastic evening. I got to hang out with a ton of friends, every band delivered and it was just a great vibe all around. 

Sidenote: As you can see there was a special aftershow guest announced on the flyer. There’s also a hand holding a rose, which was a hint at who was going to perform. There‘s this guy called Edwin Rosen, who is a hardcore kid, but performs music that can be best described as a mix of new wave/post-punk/synthiepop. Not my kind of music, but he’s a nice guy and I respect him doing his own thing. He often reps band merch on stage and even xes up because he‘s straight edge. Now, some of his fan base, probably locals, must have caught wind of him performing at that particular venue that day, because there were a bunch of teenagers who were clearly not hardcore kids accompanied by there parents at the show. They had to see/endure six hardcore bands, which for any outsider must be weird as hell, before Edwin Rosen took the stage at some point after midnight. I admire their dedication and I hope they had a great evening. 

 

There was also a limited sleeve for the record release version of the record, cleverly numbered out of 30. 

M*A*S*H

During the hiatus of my blog I decided to pick up more records that are not hardcore/punk related. I want to broaden my musical horizon and instead of buying the same records over and over again, I want to have a more diverse collection. Having said that, I still have certain collections going, but overall I prioritise diversity over collecting. 

This song right here holds a special in my heart. M*A*S*H is my all-time favourite TV show and has probably shaped my moral views more than any work of art. I have watched the whole series at least a dozen times and it is my number one go-to TV show if I feel down. The TV show originated from a movie, which itself was an adaption of a book written by Richard Hooker. 

To be honest, I‘ve never read the novel and I only watched the movie once, maybe twice, but I love the TV show. The title track, Suicide is Painless, was written for the movie, and an instrumental version of the song was used for the opening and end credits of the TV show. The song itself is quite melancholic, which shouldn‘t come as a surprise considering the title. Director Robert Altmann told the composer that the theme song had to be called Suicide is Painless and asked for the stupidest lyrics imaginable, which is a great task to set for anyone, haha. Robert Altmann tried to write the lyrics himself, but felt he couldn‘t write anything stupid enough. So he gave his 15-year-old son the task and he came up with the lyrics within 5 minutes according to legend. I‘m pretty sure the lyrics wouldn‘t fly nowadays, but to be honest, I don’t think they‘re THAT bad. I definitely have hardcore records with worse lyrics. Another fun fact, Robert Altmann was paid $70,000 for directing the movie, while his son made a million dollars for co-writing the song - at least that‘s what Mr Altmann claimed. Not a bad paycheck for 5 minutes of work. 

TV Party

Black Flag sort of fall into the same category as Dead Kennedys: there are plenty of copies of their records that are readily available and that's exactly why I always postponed getting the records I was still missing. Well, this has been rectified now. This is the last Black Flag 7" I really 'need'. There are so many different versions out there, but I like this cover version the best. Added bonus that the record/label match the cover so well. I'm sure Marcus doesn't approve though. 

Too Drunk To Bleed

Sadly I don't listen to Dead Kennedys as often as I should. But whenever I do, I realize how much I love the band. There's really no other band like them. The other thing I realize when I listen to them is that I still don't have all of their records. Especially my 7" collection is far from complete. It's one of those bands that you could easily fill the gaps by simply going to Discogs and looking for an affordable copy. But because Dead Kennedys records aren't that rare, I tend to postpone buying them because there are usually rare record that suck in my attention. But sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and get the records you really want. I have no idea what the pressing info on either of these two 7"s is to be honest. I'm just glad I finally have copies I can listen to. 

Of the two 7"s I like Too Drunk To Fuck a little better, but you can' really go wrong with early Dead Kennedys. 

XXX

Ok, this is cheating a little, because I got this record about a year ago. However, this is one of my favorite record covers of all time and I really felt like I should blog about this record. Oh yeah, the music on this sampler is also pretty damn good. The 12 panel poster is awesome as well. I mean, what could you not love about this record, right? Samplers in the early 80s were really something else. Too bad they aren't really a thing anymore. 

This is the UK press out of /2000 copies. I wish I had to pay only £3.99 as well... Extra shoutout to Heiner, who was most likely the original owner.