Favourite SST Release of... 1986

i was also a smiths fan, so i was good to go.

the beginning of the end might have been when you found yourself buying caterwaul or gut bank or eleventh dream day or sister double happiness tapes hoping they would give you the brain rush of yore. wasn't gonna happen. and then you are like oh my god what have i done with my life i own more than one fetchin bones album.

and then your best friend says hey wanna go see voice of the beehive and that petrol emotion at the club and then the 80's were over and they didn't end well.

Sister Double Happiness, ew

i wz just about to ask about them...Scott Miller reps for Freight Train...

I was wondering about them too, on Rolling Hard Rock last year:

one older guy (more from the '80s or '90s) I'm just now realizing is a pretty soulful, emotive, powerful vocalist is Gary Floyd -- who I guess was in the Dicks and Sister Double Happiness, neither of whom I ever paid much attention to at the time (so: recommendations?), but I've just now been listening to him cover sundry Spirit, Steppenwolf, Leon Russell, Clarence Carter, and Curtis Mayfield classics on this 2003 CD called Mad Dogs & San Franciscans by the weirdo avant/jam/fusion/whatever band Mushroom (who I often like otherwise too btw), and he belts great. So now I wonder whether he was ever anywhere near that good with original songs.

― xhuxk, Friday, 20 November 2009 16:28 (4 months ago)

Wondering what came out on Homestead in '86...

Wait is that the dude who the Buttholes song was named after?

also LOLOLOLOL Fetchin' Bones

'88 was when it was all over for me. scratch acid & big black broken up, swans, sonic youth, live skull, die kreuzen, butthole surfers with their best behind them. daydream nation was like a final nail in the coffin.

I paid good money for some of this wank hippy bullshit!

OK, not all of the list amounts to that BUT
even the Bad Brains had got tired by then.

Slovenly though. I had totally forgotten about Slovenly. "Riposte" was their pinnacle, the opener "The Way Untruths Are" is bliss.But, i'm guessing that could be an '87 or'88 er?

That Lovedolls comp is OK too. Nip Drivers, Flag, Red Cross.

But I'm gonna Vote Minutemen to give them their dues from past failed support.

Sonic Youth. I just don't know. I own about two thirds of their catalogue but for some reason I just cannot bring myself to vote for them in any poll whatsoever

xpost yeah, it was a couple of long years before the world was made fresh for me by finding late Talk Talk, early Boredoms, Sun City Girls, etc.

in '88 I graduated from high school, so for years I thought it was just some phase of life shit, like the music scene hadn't really changed. but no, it had.

xpost: My entire participation in hardcore followed 1982, so it wasn't a dead issue for me, but then I'm sure you're definition is narrower than mine even where our tastes don't diverge: It was basically the American all-ages punk movement to me and everyone in my age bracket/region. Zen Arcade was bedrock hardcore to me along with MDC and Die Kreuzen or whatever. ("Flipper" and their shark icon were a prominent piece of graffiti then, but I didn't hear them until many years later.) So you'd go see the Crucifucks at the tiny community center one year and then Sonic Youth at the same spot the next, or DOA, Naked Raygun, and the Replacements at the same gymnasium. It was all punk rock, but punk rock began reaching for something else with Dinosaur, the Buttholes, Soul Asylum, our own Killdozer et al, and the punk bands signing to majors. It was a label shift but also a club one and audience one and musical one. I know I'm not the only one who felt like something was lost. At least for a couple years there.

When I saw Sonic Youth in '87 it was at a club rather than an all-ages hall, and while it was cool, that was just the point: It was cool, not angry, outraged, outrageous, cathartic.

That said, I'm open to rediscovering 1986: Get me a hot-tub time machine.

86 was still awesome tho. The iron was still v hot.

agree with all of that, though I will say that the buttholes club gigs from '88 to '90 were the best shows I've ever been to

xp

xp Yeah, Die Kruezen's first album mwas definitely hardcore. And those other bands started out hardcore at least. (Never liked Millions Of Dumb Complaints, but then I never honestly gave them much of a chance.) By hardcore being dead, I meant the purist stuff (mostly) where the songs and the hair was still really short. (Also, I don't get how '86/'87 stuff is worse than Fugazi. But then, I never get what was supposed to be so great about Fugazi in the first place.)

is that the dude who the Buttholes song was named after?

yep

Wondering what came out on Homestead in '86...

78. sorry - the way it is

(And maybe some other albums on my '86 list, but I googled that one yesterday because I had no idea what the hell it was anymore. Apparently they were from Boston.)

Also, one of my favorite singles of the year (which I still own, believe it or not):

4. dinosaur - repulsion

And EPs by Uzi, Death Of Samantha, and Phantom Tollbooth I think. (Were Crime and the City Solution on Homestead that year? Squirrel Bait? Not gonna check.)

It's kinda sad to read all of these punk/hardcore/whatever died c. whenever because I wonder what y'all actually listened to post-whenever the punk music died. Which is why I find this post so intriguing:

it was a couple of long years before the world was made fresh for me by finding late Talk Talk, early Boredoms, Sun City Girls, etc.

Did not something like Soul Discharge provide y'all with a punk buzz? What about Pussy Galore (whose best album was released in 1989), Mudhoney, Tad, The Jesus Lizard, Bullet Lavolta, Pixies (prolly too commercial), Ministry (too disco?), er, Nirvana (at least Bleach)? Did new beat or techno or hip-hop provide the buzz in the early 1990s?

these punk/hardcore/whatever died c. whenever stories

When I saw Sonic Youth in '87 it was at a club rather than an all-ages hall, and while it was cool, that was just the point: It was cool, not angry, outraged, outrageous, cathartic.

Maybe because, by '87 (or a few years before), hardcore style "anger" and "outrage" seemed like an incredibly corny thing to aim for, and came off really deluded when people still did it? Or at least that's how it seemed to me at the time. (Which is why even Die Kreuzen were slowing down and exploring different textures by then, and bands like the Necros who'd once invented hardcore were sounding more like Ted Nugent, and why Husker Du etc. had been working beauty into the sound for a couple of years. I don't hear a huge leap between, say, Huskers in '83-'85 and the earliest Dinosaur and Soul Asylum records.)

Also don't get how Buttholes/Scratch Acid/Killdozer etc. weren't more cathartic than, say, MDC by then. But like I said, they got old, too.

Kevin, Soul Discharge totally renewed the early buttholes vibe, yes, by revealing a whole new level to it. Sun City Girls was like this whole byway of the SST boho punk thing which I never knew existed until around 1991. Pixies were exciting, sure. And Thinking Fellers! All the grunge stuff, and I was in Seattle 90 through 96, was just so boring to me, though. It just sounded so immediately stale after what happened in the foregoing decade. Still haven't warmed to any of it except Melvins who I wish I'd heard at the time.

October File is infinitely more interesting to me than the earlier DK stuff.

Did not something like Soul Discharge provide y'all with a punk buzz?

eh, liked hanatarash better

What about Pussy Galore (whose best album was released in 1989)

lol you meant 1987

Mudhoney

well, yeah, everybody started paying attention to seattle around 87-88. mudhoney just seemed OK after some of the crazy shit that happened in the early to mid 80s, and they peaked early and quick. great single, pretty good EP, then... one of the most boring shows I ever attended was laughing hyenas/mudhoney/sonic youth at the ritz in '89 or '90, no kidding.

Tad

I liked tad a bunch but he wasn't really doing anything revolutionary. fun fact: I interviewed him and opening act nirvana in the basement of maxwells in hoboken in 89, I was there, losing my edge, etc.

The Jesus Lizard

never liked these guys, got some kind of mental block, but everybody else seemed to love 'em

Bullet Lavolta

warmed over hard rock

Pixies (prolly too commercial)

I liked "gigantic"! never loved them the way others did on the whole tho.

Ministry (too disco?)

land of rape and honey was one of the few major label albums I dug in 88

er, Nirvana (at least Bleach)?

see bullet lavolta

Did new beat or techno or hip-hop provide the buzz in the early 1990s?

golden age of rap for me was 86 until whenever it was everybody decided they wanted to be a gangster, '89 or '90.

what started hitting for me in 88-90 was the UK psychedelic stuff (spacemen 3, loop, skullflower, mbv), there was some interesting NYC stuff still kicking around (unsane, cop shoot cop) but nothing like the wondrous period of yore

What about Pussy Galore (whose best album was released in 1989), Mudhoney, Tad, The Jesus Lizard, Bullet Lavolta, Pixies (prolly too commercial), Ministry (too disco?), er, Nirvana (at least Bleach)?

Give or take an occasional Pussy Galore EP (which right, might not have actually been their best records), this stuff basically all left me cold. Jesus Lizard were Scratch Acid but less good; Ministry were Big Black but ditto. Seeing Mudhoney live in Ann Arbor and waiting around for the show to end because I felt I'd seen the same show hundreds of times in the past few years was probably the last straw for me. And by the time Bleach came out, I wasn't even paying attention anymore.

^^^^my experience almost to a tee.

xp In retrospect, though, I'm kind of convinced that Ministry's one interesting record was the one that came out in '86 -- their transition from synth-dweebs album Twitch, which they made with Adrian Sherwood. That's the one I'd actually buy again, if I saw it cheap.

For me, Foetus was tangled into this as well, he went with all the SST and Homestead type shit in my head. Peaked at roughly the same time, too.

What about Pussy Galore (whose best album was released in 1989)

lol you meant 1987

Nope. I meant Dial M for Motherfucker. Even dlp9001 agrees. Right Now! is 2nd best (although I bet you meant Groovy Hate Fuck).

uhhhh embarrassingly i think ive only ever even heard EVOL + "bubblegum" from this list

A tie between I Against I & EVOL for me.
I voted for Bad Brains because they will probably get less votes.

Jesus Lizard were Scratch Acid but less good

Agree with everything else you said, xhuxk, but, um... agree to disagree.

I'm kind of convinced that Ministry's one interesting record was the one that came out in '86 -- their transition from synth-dweebs album Twitch, which they made with Adrian Sherwood.

This nearly makes up for Jesus Lizard/Scratch Acid thing. Refreshingly OTM.

Also have a soft spot for that first "synth-dweeb" Ministry record.

i love twitch! tried to listen to land of rape & honey the other week and couldn't get into it like i did when it came out.

"(Never liked Millions Of Dumb Complaints, but then I never honestly gave them much of a chance.)"

they were great! at least up until millions of dead christians album.

up to and including millions of dead christians album. this blood's for you. the one with the cream cover.

i listened to Mule the other day...that band was FUCKED UP...like some weirdass extra chromosome hillbilly jesus lizard

"It's kinda sad to read all of these punk/hardcore/whatever died c. whenever because I wonder what y'all actually listened to post-whenever the punk music died."

as far as loud noisy stuff goes, for me, i got excited again by death metal and grindcore. and other metal. the 90's was my own personal nadir as far as new stuff goes. i have sold almost every record i ever bought new on vinyl in the 90's. but it did start in the late 80's. i liked the first mudhoney EP but grunge did nothing for me. luckily, there was still lots of great dance music, rap, pop, etc, in the early 90's so i didn't mind the lack of good noisy stuff too much. but, jesus, i actually bought a tortoise album. and a man or astroman album. that's how bad things got.

kjb never got into metal, he likes more refined stuff like daydream nation

69, it's crazy you're from DC and you have never heard I Against I!

I voted Lawndale for the lolz and in protest of all the Husker Du fanaticism.

but, jesus, i actually bought a tortoise album.

Shhh, don't tell Pfork!

plus, a lot of stuff that i really dug in the 90's was kinda 80's holdover stuff anyway. siltbreeze and flying nun stuff reminded me of 80's stuff. or the albums i liked the most in the 90's were made by people i was a fan of in the 80's: talk talk, swans, mekons. the actual 90's stuff - rock stuff - that was actual 90's music made by 90's people that i loved was...hmmm...red house painters, unrest, godflesh, eyehategod. those were probably my favorite 90's bands when all is said and done. first two masters of reality albums. denim. but i followed denim from felt in the 80's. i still listen to that stuff. i still have a lot of CDs from the 90's.

i don't even know who i'm talking to at this point. i'm hungry.

man or astroman slayed live

No takers for the Divine Horsemen then? Middle of the Night was pretty good iirc, haven't heard the other one.

JUST GOT TICKETS FOR MEAT PUPPETS TOMORROW NITE!!!!

Another thread, but good noisy stuff from the 90's includes Dustdevils' Struggling Electric and Band of Susuans' Here Comes Success, both of which have held up a hell of a lot better than most of the crap in this poll (Zoogz aside). This thread is profoundly irritating so far.

Though it has sparked a buried memory of Gone playing a horrible set on U68 long ago. Thought I'd managed to eliminate that one... (I'm like 95% sure it was on U68, but it's been a while.)

xpost irritating how?

I considered the Divine Horsemen, but "Time Stands Still" is the the good one and it was on Enigma in '84.

fun fact - Julie Christensen of Divine Horsemen backup vocals also backed Leonard Cohen on his great late '80s stuff.

Voted Bad Brains because of "Return to Heaven"

I only brought up MDC to say Husker Du were considered hardcore bedrock as late as '84--no judgment of MDC's quality (or cathartic value) one way or the other. But on a totally separate topic, MDC were hot live as late as '88, and "Chicken Squawk" had a huge impact on me.

so pumped for meat puppets tonight :)

They will play everything way too fast and sloppy and you will have lots of fun. Curt will possibly be wearing sweat pants.