SST Hardcore





Angst "Lite Life"
Black Flag "Damaged"
Meat Puppets

I changed the oddstuff reviews to SST Hardcore for some weird reason. SST is a indie label in Southern California owned by Greg Guin that produces crappy hardcore and other indie bands I like.



Angst Lite Life 1985


Best Song: Jus to Please you, Never Going to Apologize
Worst Song: Lite Life
Grade A-

Angst is three whiny guys from San Fran heavily influenced by Bob Dylan and the Smiths. The AMG is a bunch of idiots calling this Heavy Metal. This is Jangle Pop, and damn good Jangle Pop too! Angst is a lot more abrasive than REM thus they have never been popular and are basically unknown except for a small cult of fans. Joseph Pope and Jon E. Risk write kinda sophisticated mellow songs. Risk's guitar playing is in the Peter Buck/Johnny Marr jangly tone. A few of these songs are Janglecore, some are Dylanesque folk-rock, and most angst-ridden mope rock(hence the name). Angst is a good rock band that never got any notice.

Black Flag Damaged 1981


Best: TV Party, Damaged(I and II)
Worst: No More
Grade: A+

One of the best Rock albums of the 80's. No melodies, no harmonies(except for the end of "TV Party", if that counts), sloppy jazz influenced guitar playing, and Henry Rollins vocal range is below 1 octave, but I wouldn't want to hear Art Garfunkel singing this shit. This is raw, agressive, dissolutioned punk rock. And the template for most generic Hardcore Bands of the 80's. This album makes the Sex Pistols sound like a boy band with the all the intensity of this band.
Black Flag had a couple of singers before Henry Rollins. But Rollins really make the songs his own with his hoarse screaming. "Depression" sounds like ol' Henry really is depressed even though Greg Guin(the guitarist for you newbies.) wrote this song, and most of the album. Two songs written by bassit Chuck D(not the rapper) "What I see" and "No More" are bass heavy. "TV Party" is pretty funny with the band shouting out the popular TV shows of the day(Dallas, Jeffersons, MASH come to mind). But there's nothing funny about Damaged I and II, Henry Rollins is croaking his voice box out, and its the only song Rollins wrote on this album. Before buying Green Day or Blink 182, get Damaged first for a true taste of punk.


Meat Puppets 1982
Best: Walking Boss, Tumblin' Tumbleweed
Worst: Half of the songs
Grade: C
The Meat Puppets are two brothers named Chris and Curt Kirkwood and another guy that plays drums from Arizona who change more styles than David Bowie! They made an EP before which I will review later. Most of II is hardcore with twangy country bends with Chris sounding like a stoner with basically inane lyrics. My favorites are the abrasive country songs "Walking Boss" which sounds like Hank Williams on a acid trip. Grateful Dead influenced "Tumblin' Tumbleweed". The rest of II is a bunch of generic monocromic hardcore nonsense. II is so amateuristic compared to thier later efforts.

Reader Comments

ayozegg@yahoo.es> Ayoze Garcia
Hello there. Just wanted to tell you that quite possibly your new review is about "Meat Puppets", the band's 1982 debut that came after the EP "In A Car", and it's the one with the songs you mentioned. Meat Puppets II is from 1983.

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