Plan B

Over the summer holidays I got into the rythm of watching 90s skateboard videos and of course that will you lead you to Plan B videos at one point. Before streaming was a thing, skateboard videos could get away with taking the biggest and best songs out there without having to worry about music rights. Some labels, notably Epitaph and Dischord, used skate videos to actively promote their bands and didn’t charge for music rights or only very little if they did. Skateboard videos were such an important source of music for me, be it hardcore, punk, hip hop or whatever. 

After watching some of the classic videos from that time on repeat, I felt the urge to buy some of the music on vinyl. Del Tha Funkeé Homosapien is featured with two songs on Plan B’s legendary video Questionable. For those not into skateboarding, think of Questionable as equivalent to Gorilla Biscuits’ Start Today LP. Sal Barbier skates to Ahonetwo, Ahonetwo and one of Mike Carrol’s songs is Burnt. Buying a record for just one song you know is maybe a little weird, but if you already like two songs, well, that’s a different story. 

Here’s where things get a little tricky. Ahonetwo, Ahonetwo is featured on the debut LP by Del Tha Funkée Homosapien, but Burnt isn’t. Luckily, I found a 12” EP which has both songs on it on the B-Side. One of the big differences between hardcore and hip hop 12”s is that the former like to put on as many different songs as possible, whereas the latter love putting remixes of the same song on them, which makes them not that fun to listen to, at least for someone not use to that. But hey, at least I finally had the songs I really loved on vinyl. 

Well, here’s where it gets tricky again. I bought this record and another one from the same seller on Discogs and received them pretty quickly. And then I must have thrown them out by accident when I threw out the mailer I got them in. I think I took them out of the parcel, checked them quickly because I was in a hurry to get somewhere, put them back in the mailer for some reason and then didn’t check again when I got rid off the mailer. Financially, it wasn’t a huge loss as both record combined didn’t even cost 20€, including shipping, and as you can see I was able to replace the record quickly, but I’m still pretty mad at myself for being such an idiot. 

1st Press on Black on Elektra /???

Way To Go

Of all the colors this record was pressed on, the latest version on baby blue looks the best by far. I really like the white version, but this blue is amazing. If only all the pressings had been chosen as well as this one. 

2nd Press on Baby Blue on Equal Vision /500

Close up, because I‘m a sucker for this kind of marbling. 

Bad Kids

My love for Big Kids has been well documented on here, especially my love for their first LP. I think they were on tour in Europe once, at least that‘s what I gathered from their blog, but unfortunatley I missed them back then. I don‘t know when the band disbandened, but I think they just fizzled out. That’s why the surprise was even bigger, when a few months ago I learned that the guitarist and singer had a new project, which could qualify as the third Big Kids LP. I mean, the name of the LP is very on the nose (if you know) as is the cover art. The band name, however, is pretty weird. But hey, so is Gorilla Biscuits. 

Like I said, the music on Bad Kids leans very heavily into the Big Kids direction. I actually like this one more than the second Big Kids LP. This was a really nice surprise and would have easily made my 2025 list if I had known about it sooner.

1st Press on Bone on Lauren /300

Darryl Against Darryl

Another really cool record I was inspired to buy by Nico. There are some really cool jazzy songs on here, plus two new Interpretation of songs originally released on I Against I. I really like the nods to Bad Brains when it comes to the imagery on the cover and label. This is a really nice listen. 

1st Press on Clear Red on ORG /???

Shopping For A Test

It‘s a very rare occassion for me to add anything to my Good Clean Fun collection because as far as I‘m aware, I‘m only missing misprints and test presses. I‘m not sure what people think about Good Clean Fun in 2026, but those misprints and test presses don‘t show up as much as I‘d like. When a record store in the US put up two promotional copies for the Shopping For A Crew 7“ for sale on Discogs, I had a casual glance and put them in my shopping basket, even though I had no real intentions of buying either one, because I already own a bunch of tests and a promo copy. It was more a ‘just in case‘ scenario. 

But a few weeks ago  I was bored one weekend when I was staying up late and I decided to read the descriptions of those records more in detail because they were priced lightly differently. Usually that has something to do with the condition, but you never know. The seller had written that one of the promotional copies comes without the lyrics written on the inside of the cover. So I went to check out my copy and lo and behold, it did have the lyrics printed on the inside. All of a sudden, there was a new version I‘d had no idea existed and I knew I had to get it. 

Side by side of the two copies. My old copy on the right, the new one on the left. The paper pretty much looks the same in real life. The old promotional copy says /30, but I‘m not sure if that refers only to the version with the printed lyrics or all promotional copies combined. 

Here‘s a fun snapshot of all the tests and promotional copies of this 7“ I‘ve acquired over the years, because why not?

In Reverse

Thanks to fellow record enthusiast and blogger Nico, I learned about the new Drink Deep record. In Reverse is another EP, but this one comes on 12” format. Whereas the demo and the first 7” reminded me heavily of Minor Threat, they departed from that style a little bit with their second 7”. In Reverse reminds me more of Dag Nasty and Revolution Summer and I’m all here for it. Let’s see where the musical journey takes this band. The cover are is simple and has a nice 80s indie touch. I opted for the more common version on purple, because it works better with the cover in my opinion. One of my favorite release this year so far. 

1st Press on Purple on Thirty Something /200

Live At CBGB’s

The last of the 7“s and the last of the records I bought from my friend. I haven‘t bought a Youth Of Today record in some time and I‘m glad I added one I didn‘t own a copy of yet, in fact had never even listened to before. It‘s always fun to dive into new old records. Low budget live recordings of hardcore bands have a very unique charm to them. The quality usually isn’t that good, not necessarily the case here, but they transport the energy of hardcore show pretty well. They also speak to the resourcefulness of hardcore kids at a time when not every recording of a band was widely available and not every show was filmed to be maybe enjoyed after the fact. 

1st Press on Solid Yellow on Reality Records #11/123

Since this is the final post of this little series, here’s a nice group shot. Thanks again to my friend André, who cut me a really good deal on the whole lot. It was a fun time browsing your collection, talking hardcore and life, and just having a great time. 

The Absolute

I’ve been a big fan of Spirit Crusher since I caught them at one of their early shows. The Absolute is one of my top 3 German hardcore records of all time and if I occasionally still stage dive at a hardcore show, it’s either to Bane songs or to one of the songs on this 7”. I’ve had a pre-oder copy and a release show copy of The Absolute since the record came out and I was quite happy with that, but I’d toyed with the idea of actually collecting this 7” for a while. So when I had the chance to add two copies at once, I jumped at it. 

This is the regular version of the first press. It’s listed as ‘red’ on Discogs, but it does look like orange to me.

1st Press on Orange (listes as ‘Red’ on Discogs) on The Essence /???

The other variant comes on a different color and with a stamp showing the logo of the record label, The Essence. I’ve seen the sticker on many different colors, but it’s a nice touch that they color-coordinated this one with the color of the record. 

1st Press on Clear Blue on The Essence w/ Stamped Sleeve /???