Something‘s Gotta Give

Agnostic Front is one of the first hardcore bands I discovered when I stumbled into hardcore. It was not one of their classic records from the 80s, but a song from their 1998 record Something‘s Gotta Give, which was the current record back then.

I was exposed to a lot of hardcore at a club which had alternative music nights every second Friday. Most of my friends wanted to go there because the drinks were cheap and since I didn‘t drink (yes, even before I stumbled across hardcore or knew about straight edge, I didn‘t drink), they always had a driver and I got to enjoy the music playing there. Gotta Go by AF was a staple at the club and as a matter of fact, I loved the song so much back then that I chose the beginning of the song to be played when I was walking to the stage to get the German equivalent of a high school diploma / A levels. It was between this song and Refused‘s New Noise. But since a friend of mine had used that song the year prior, this was a no-go... It‘s so funny to think back on the things that mattered to you when you are 18/19. 

Anyway, I had a little bit of an AF renaissance these last couple of weeks. I read Vinnie Stimga‘s book recently and listened to a bunch of podcasts with him, which made me want to listen to AF again. Both, United Blood and Victim In Pain have stood the test of time, but to be honest, that‘s the extend of my AF collection. They lost me with their follow up records in the 80s. I know that this is sacrilege for many people, but I‘ll never understand why hardcore bands gave to go crossover or even metal. 

Gotta Go alone made me want to finally get a copy of Something‘s Gotta Give. Turns out, this isn‘t as easy as I thought it‘d be, despite the fact that there was a repress just a couple of years ago. But even those go for a pretty penny. Eventually, I managed to find a fairly priced OG copy from a European seller, so I snagged it. 

It’s hard to fathom this is almost a 30 year old record, but then again, it‘s hard to fathom for me that I am as old as I am. I hadn‘t listened to the full album in I don‘t know how many years, but I actually like it. Besides Gotta Go, you get another AF classic, Crucified, but the rest of the record is also quite good. I‘m not sure if I need to check out the rest of their discography, but I certainly can enjoy this record. 

1st Press on Black on Epitaph /???