Uncle Phil

Phil Collins - No Jacket Required

This is my favourite solo Phil album. All The rad jams are here: Sussudio, One More Night, Don't Lose My Number and Take Me Home. I bet there were at least a couple children conceived while One More Night played in the background, that is one smooth jam. This dude really had no business being a pop star in the 80's: He is four feet tall with a mullet, I mean the dude could have played Bilbo Baggins in LOTR and they wouldn't have needed any CGI, but God damn can he sing. Homeboy also played at both Live Aid concerts, rocking the shit out of Wembley Stadium in England before taking the concorde jet to play JFK Stadium in Philly (where he also drummed for Led Zeppelin). Throw this on the next time you want to get a chick pregnant.

I Guess You Eat A Lot Of Canned Food, Huh Dave....

Huey Lewis And The News - Sports

Huey Lewis And The News - Sports

I have some very fond memories of listening to this album as a child. My dad was seriously all about this cassette and he kept it in his regular rotation in the car stereo for a good ten years after it's release. Even though there are only nine songs on this album four of them charted as singles (Heart Of Rock And Roll, Heart And Soul, If This Is It and I Want A New Drug). This album was huge in 1983/84. Yeah of lot of this album is cheesy, but a lot of it is also fucking rad.

SNFU

SNFU - ...And No One Else Wanted To Play

SNFU - If You Swear, You'll Catch No Fish

SNFU - Better Than A Stick In The Eye

SNFU - The Last Of The Big Time Suspenders

SNFU - Something Green And Leafy This Way Comes

SNFU - The One Voted Most Likely To Succeed

SNFU - Fuck You Up Like A Bad Accident

SNFU - Let's Get It Right The First Time

SNFU - Ping Pong EP

SNFU - In The Meantime And In Between Time

SNFU (Society's No Fucking Use) are not just one of Canada's best punk bands, they are one of the best punk bands of all time. They have done time on BYO Records, Cargo Records, Epitaph Records and currently are releasing shit on their own label (Rake Records). For the bulk of their history the three constants have been lead singer Mr. Chi Pig (A total madman who is a punk rock legend) and the Belke brothers, Marc and Brent, whose guitar work ranks among the best of 1980's and 90's punk rock. All their albums totally slay and you'd be a fool to not grab at least one of these, seriously don't fuck around here (you really can't go wrong with any era of this band, I'm particularly fond of their 90's Epitaph output). Mr. Chi Pig is a total meth head now (a shell of the man he used to be) who is toothless and suffers from schizophrenia. He was homeless for a while, but seems to be doing better now and can still put on one hell of a show.

Blood Bros

Blood Bros - First Blood: Train! Fight! Win!

Blood Bros - Heaven2Hell: Train! Fight! Die?!

The Blood Bros are DJ/Producers Derek Allen (DJA) and Dirty South Joe (DSJ). Under this moniker they have compiled only the most radical and inspirational songs from 1980's action movies (and a couple real choice recent ditties). Here is their write up for first blood:

Put this mix on when you are training on the beach, hitting the bag, chopping wood, running up/down a mountain, or generally doing anything which requires/involves fierce determination and focus to win. BLOOD BROS!

I have never read a more appropriate description in my life. The sequel may even be better than the original (It contains One Track Lover from Garth Marenghi's Dark Place). Seriously this shit has got me all jacked-up. Volume one dropped in September, and the sequel was only just unleashed in January but the Bros are already promising a third edition this year, so keep your fingers crossed for that. Don't sleep on these mixtapes as they will totally own your life, big time.

Dr. Know

Dr. Know - This Island Earth

Dr. Know - Wreckage In Flesh

After having released several albums and EPs on Mystic Records, Dr. Know signed to the Metal Blade subsidiary Death Records in 1986 and released their debut for the label (This Island Earth) later that year. This Island Earth is more hardcore than metal, but by the time the follow-up Wreckage In Flesh was released in 1988 they were a full-on thrash metal band. I love it when punk and hardcore bands go metal. Metal Blade's house engineer/producer Bill Metoyer even did the recording of Wreckage In Flesh. These are by no means classic releases, just rad mid-80's punk/metal albums from one of the best 80's labels, Death/Metal Blade who's roster at the time was un-fuck-withable (Cryptic Slaughter, C.O.C., D.R.I., The Mentors, Ugly Americans and Beyond Possession).

Phantom Tollbooth - Power Toy & Beard Of Lightning

Phantom Tollbooth - Power Toy

Phantom Tollbooth - Beard Of Lightning

Phantom Tollbooth are a New York art-punk band who's members went on to play in Yo La Tengo, King Missile, B.A.L.L. and Bongwater. Gerard Cosloy signed them to Homestead Records in the 80's (Gerard was J. Mascis' college roommate who now runs Matador Records) and in 1988 they released Power Toy their final and best album before breaking up. On Power Toy they sound like an East-coast Minutemen, all jazzy and punky. Beard Of Lightning is the Power Toy album but with Robert Pollard of GBV fame singing his own lyrics. Bob had boasted (while drunk one night) that if he had sung on Power Toy the band would have "ruled the fucking world". The members of Phantom Tollbooth heard this and sent Bob the instrumental tracks to sing over, which he did, and Beard Of Lightning was the result.

Maserati - Pyramid Of The Sun

Maserati - Pyramid Of The Sun

Cinematic and synth-heavy instrumental rock. Pyramid Of The Sun is a melodic, driving and dark masterpiece from one of the best post-rock bands around. Zombi's Steve Moore contributes to two tracks and they both fucking slay. This whole album is dedicated to their drummer Jerry Fuchs who tragically passed away while they were making it. Whenever I listen to this band it is hard to not imagine Kurt Russell running around a scorched NYC looking for the President whose plane has just crashed, but maybe thats just me. The closing track on here, "Bye M'Friend, Goodbye", is one of the bands absolute best. Get into it.

Rich Kids On LSD

RKL - It's A Beautiful Feeling 7"

RKL - Keep Laughing

RKL - The Best Of RKL on Mystic Records

RKL - Rock 'N Roll Nightmare

RKL - Revenge Is A Beautiful Feeling

RKL - Greatest Hits: Double Live In Berlin

RKL - Reactivate

RKL - Riches To Rags

Here is everything I have from one of the greatest punk/metal/hardcore bands of all time. For me and my group of friends in high-school these dudes were the be-all-end-all. Every song is fucking killer. RKL are the best out of all the nardcore bands (even if they were from Santa Barbara). The stuff on Mystic Records suffered from shitty production, but the songs all totally slay so who gives a fuck. The progression in musicianship that these guys made in the two years between the release of Keep Laughing (1985) and Rock 'N Roll Nightmare (1987) is unreal. I mean they were technical as fuck. The Double Live In Berlin album is one of the best punk live albums and it really showcased their skill as a band, plus they played all the old Mystic stuff (which sounded way better than their studio versions). The Revenge Is A Beautiful Feeling album is just a best of released in Germany that contains their Mystic Records recordings (the band was finally able to make some money off those recordings, as their German label actually paid them). Then in 1989 they broke up. A couple years later they resurrected the band without vocalist Jason Sears (drummer Bomber took over vocal duties) and they released Reactivate through Epitaph Records in 1993. It was a total Butt Rock album that really turned fans off (whatever I like it) and was promptly deleted from Epitaph's catalog. During the European tour for Reactivate Bomber quit the band to do drugs and they flew Jason in to finish out the remaining dates. The re-invigorated RKL returned to the United States and recorded their best album, Riches To Rags, which is the perfect hybrid of hardcore and thrash. Members from this band went on to play in Lagwagon, No Use For A Name, The Other, Me First And The Gimme Gimmes and Good Riddance.

Dr. Know

Dr. Know - The Best Of...

Dr. Know is best remembered as the band that child-actor Brandon Cruz (The Courtship Of Eddies Father, the Jello-less Dead Kennedy's reunion) fronted for a minute. The thing about Mystic Records best of's is that they aren't really the best songs, but all the songs the band released while on Mystic. That being said here is everything Dr. Know recorded for Mystic. After their tenure on Mystic Dr. Know went full-on thrash and signed to Metal Blade Records (I can post some of those albums too if anyone is interested). Classic nardcore that is crude, rude, fast and furious.

Ill Repute - What Happened Then

Ill Repute - What Happened Then

This release combines their classic debut 7" (Oxnard Land Of No Toilets) and their first full length (What Happens Next?) onto one disc. Classic west coast hardcore. No other band of the era was more about "Nardcore" than these dudes, their civic pride was unparalleled. Fast and furious hardcore that influenced everyone after them. Ill Repute continued releasing new music well into the new millennium, and while some of their 90's output is pretty rad they will forever be remembered for their 80's heyday. Yet another Nardcore classic released by Mystic Records.

Agression - Don't Be Mistaken

Agression - Don't Be Mistaken

Agression are so punk they don't even give a fuck about correct spelling. These dudes are not only one of the first (and best) skate-punk bands, they are also considered to be the quintessential Nardcore band as well. Don't Be Mistaken was released by BYO Records in 1983 and it is a true punk rock classic. After this they went metal and released a shitty album on Mystic Records, but forget all that because Don't Be Mistaken fucking slays. The song "Intense Energy" is a skate-punk classic. Famed punk rock/skateboarding photographer Glen E. Friedman even took the photo of Arthur Lake on the front cover of this album. If you dig 7 Seconds and JFA then you'll like Agression.

Scared Straight

Scared Straight - Born To Be Wild EP

Scared Straight - You Drink, You Drive, You Die

Scared Straight were a Nardcore band (even though they were actually from Simi Valley) who changed their name to Ten Foot Pole and signed to Epitaph Records in the 90's. Lead singer Scott Radinsky (who also went on to front Pulley) was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in 1986 (right out of high-school) and pitched in the majors for almost 20 years. Both these records were released on Mystic Records, which meant the band never got paid any money for them and they sound pretty shitty. Despite all that Scared Straight were a pretty rad band who thankfully stuck it out and, as Ten Foot Pole, released Rev which is one of the 90's best skate-punk albums. Thrash.

V/A - Nardcore Compilation

V/A - Nardcore Compilation

Oxnard California, the land of no toilets (according to Ill Repute) produced a totally rad style of hardcore dubbed "Nardcore". The scene also birthed one of my favourite punk bands, Rich Kids On LSD (RKL). This comp is jam packed with tasty hardcore nuggets from RKL, Ill Repute, Scared Straight, Stäläg 13, Dr. Know, False Confession and Agression (among others). Yeah this is on Mystic Records so the production leaves a lot to be desired, but who fucking cares when the tunes rage so hard. Mystic Records' owner Doug Moody never paid the bands on his label a cent and is generally regarded as a prick, but the time I prank called him (collect no less) he was nothing but a gentleman. The one thing that unites all these bands is their lightning fast tempos and blistering lead guitar parts, I mean everyone of the bands featured here totally rages. Crank this up and circle pit around the room.

This is the first in a series of posts I'll be making dedicated to "Nardcore" and its related bands. So if you dig this, I'll be keeping the good times rolling.