Livin' In The 80s: 80s Hardcore On Bandcamp

Electric Love Muffin Playdoh Meathook Self released/ released originally on Buy Our Records 1987 Representing the more rocking side pf the Philly punk scene, I was first introduced o them on a mixed tape made for me by a penpal. They were definitely more skilled playing wise than a typical HC band, but still popular with the Philly crowd, which had some pretty unique offerings. (See Ruin, F.O.D, etc) I would say they were more on the college side of things, and on ‘Playdoh’ put together a great set of songs reminding one of mid-period Hüskers/ Replacements, etc. Link: https://electriclovemuffin.bandcamp.com/album/playdoh-meathook

Assault and Battery The Complete Session, May 1981 Alona’s Dream 2021 Unreleased 4 track demo by this early D.C. band, and a crucial piece of hardcore history, this 10 tracker is fast, sloppy and furious, all trademarks of a new and exciting movement exploding out of the burbs in ’81. Band members would later go on to Artificial Piece, Government Issue, Savage Beliefs and Marginal Man.   The disc version comes in an LP style sleeve with a wee liner note. Pretty good stuff if not generic by today’s standards. Link: https://alonasdreamrecords.bandcamp.com/album/the-complete-session-may-1981

The Landlords Hey! It's A Teenage House Party! Fitzgerald's Paris Feel It Records 2016/2018 Feel It Records released these two gems from Virginia’s The Landlords. Quite a lot of different styles pop up on these fantastic releases. If you like your HC punk a little more adventurous, this is for you. I also hear a bit of Big Boys and maybe Rites of Spring in here , and plenty of youthful humor as well. Links:   https://thelandlords.bandcamp.com/album/fitzgeralds-paris https://thelandlords.bandcamp.com/album/hey-its-a-teenage-house-party

Generics Cost Cutter Feel It Records 1983 originally Reissue of an obscure 7” from this KBD type punk band. Not really hardcore, but it has that underground garage charm that makes it worth a listen. Includes two additional tracks not on the original. Link: https://generics.bandcamp.com/album/cost-cutter The label, Feel It Records also has a pretty large stable of offerings, mostly in the modern retro vein, but they do have plenty of obscure vintage gems as well. (See my upcoming The Landlords post) Link: https://feelitrecords.bandcamp.com/

Mad At The World Records NYC Not sure about this label, as they seem to have lost their website. They were doing some vinyl reissues of older NYHC, but seem to have folded up shop. They do still have some classics available on digital though, including: Major Conflict - Sounds Like 1983: Ripping nYHC from 1983 Nihilistics - S/T: Brutal first album from the kings of negativity Urban Waste - Police Brutality - One of the best in early NYHC, reissued here simply as ‘Urban Waste’, the label gave this a 12” release with some great urban style label art. Additionally, they also reissued Token Entry’s crucial debut, and a comp album of tracks by New Jersey’s excellent Sand In The Face, so you maybe can hunt those down on discogs or something. Link: https://madattheworldrecords.bandcamp.com/music

Even Worse We Suck! The Lost 1982 Album Radiation Deluxe/ Originally Grand Theft Audio 2002 Even Worse were an early pre-NYHC band, contemporary with Heart Attack, Kraut, etc. and still carried with them some of the punk snot from the 70s, so more of a bridge style for what NYHC scene was to become stylistically. They were a bit sloppy, with nary a trace of metal, but they had a sense of fun and excitement that carried the early scene as it discovered itself.   This was released originally by Grand Theft Audio as a CD, but gets the Radiation vinyl treatment containing the same tracks, the ‘Lost’ album and a set at Max’s. A pretty decent slice of NY punk history. Link: https://evenworsenyc.bandcamp.com/album/we-suck-the-lost-album-aka-youve-ruined-everything

Verbal Assault Trial,  On/ Exit,  RIX-Core ’84-’86 Atomic Action 2013, 2018, 2021 Verbal Assault was Rhode Island hardcore to be sure. Well liked, well travelled and showing growth with each release, Atomic Action gives us three of their great releases, ‘Trial’ (melodic hardcore pointing towards Dagnasty and emo) and ‘On’ and ‘Exit’ now combined as ‘On/Exit”, a post-hardcore masterpiece that we might unfairly compare to early Dag Nasty or late-period Government Issue as a comparison. They also have a digital only release compilation of three RI bands from the day, which features eight live VA tracks. Not sure if they are taken from demos or another source, but still nice to have. Link: https://atomicactionrecords.bandcamp.com/album/trial

Aftermath Tapes Great little Croatian label featuring obscure vintage releases from some lesser known international acts, and one from the more widely known The Bristles! You get Unnatural Silence from Canada, Ženevski Dekret, ARHIVSKA ZABAVA, Crist, Generali, Quod Massacre and GIUSEPPE CARABINO from Yugoslavia, Jetset from Holland, Final Blast from France, Brutal and Pohjasakka from Finland, Rea Respirator and The Bristles (!) from Sweden, and Rhetoric from the UK.   Great hard to find stuff from the international scene. The label seems to have stalled out on releases, but hopefully they’ll continue in the future. Link: https://aftermathtapes1.bandcamp.com/music

Gay Cowboys in Bondage Owen Marshmallow Strikes Again/ Complete Discography TPOS Original 7” 1984/ Discog 2022 TPOS is a cassette/ CD-r release label that digs up hard to find stuff, and in this case brings together GCIB’s discography, including their only vinyl. They were a fun garage punk/core band from Florida somewhere. Their’s also a live release on the label. Link: https://gaycowboysinbondage.bandcamp.com/album/complete-silliness

Dehumanizers/ P.I.G. Records End Of TIme/ Kill Lou Guzzo P.I.G. Records 1987, 1986 Seattle’s infamous The Dehumanizers gets the digital treatment through P.I.G. records, a label that focuses somewhat on regional acts, some old some new. Their two most known releases are up for offer as well as later releases. They were famous for a getting into a legal tussle with KIRO television over the title track. ‘End of Time’ sees the band getting into concept album territory, melding metal, punk and satire effectively. The label has a couple of releases by State of Confusion, the famous ‘Senseless Death’ comp and a bunch of cool metal comps that captured the 80s metal scene in and around Seattle before grunge took over. An early performance by The Accused is also on offer, as well as some splits with MDC, D.O.A. and others. Link: https://pig-records.bandcamp.com/music

Sudden Impact Freaked Out Supreme Echo 2020 Toronto based hardcore band, this release was a digital remaster of their first demo. Ripping skate punk. They went predictably in a more metal vein on their next release. Link: https://supremeecho.bandcamp.com/album/sudden-impact

Kalashnikov S/T Self released (Originally released 1984) Obscure Danish band who came out with this excellent 7”, the track “Schlüters Kabinet” being featured on the excellent P.E.A.C.E. comp from R Radical Records.  Their other release was the 12” ‘Sub Version’ which unfortunately fell into more of a pop sound.   Link: https://kalashnikov1984.bandcamp.com/album/s-t

No Fraud Self-released Venice Florida band active from 1984 through the 90s and recently reformed for a full length. Pretty decent stuff, they put up everything they’ve done, and it’s priced nice, so support the band. Link: https://nofraud.bandcamp.com/music

Sluggo Cincinnati Ohio’s own Sluggo has offerings at two locations. The band self re-released their Eighty-Four 7” and 4Q-HQ released a 12” that contains the same, plus their first e.p. ‘Contradiction’ The latter is more straightforward in it’s hardcore blaze, occasionally threatening to spin out of control, while the former mixes in some bigger rock guitar definition and chordal growth. Link: https://sluggo.bandcamp.com/album/eighty-four Link: https://4q-hq.bandcamp.com/album/sluggo

Artcore Fanzine Arizona Artcore fanzine is a DIY label running a print mag since 1986. They occasionally release vinyl to go with their issues and have recently digitized their releases, including some from the 80s.   Titles include: Stukas Over Bedrock - Life Like Yogi reissue N.O.T.A. - Moscow (they need to reissue this bands discography!) Toxic Reasons - No Pity (Live and radio sessions from 86) Upright Citizens - Facts and Views Various - The Iron Curtain Curtain Isn’t Soundproof   (contains various 80s tracks from Polish bands) Various - America’s Unknown Comp (features tracks from nine vintage bands) Beef People - Pavlov’s Dog House of Commons - Guilty As Hell Human Therapy - American Dream Pretty good selections at a great price. Link: https://artcorefanzine.bandcamp.com/music

Autistic Cattle Shattered Cattle SRA Records A stylistically varied release that mixes early 80s hardcore, punk, post-punk, etc. These tracks were meant to come out in 1982, but was only recently released. This is a great document of the bands brief tenure, and it would have been interesting to see where they went with future releases. I have the digital, but a CD and vinyl were pressed as well. Another winner from SRA. Link: https://srarecords.bandcamp.com/album/shattered-cattle

Satan’s Cheerleaders Hell Is For Hippies Unsound Music Spastic noisy hardcore form this Long Island group. The CD version of this contains a couple of other demos as well. Unsound Music put out this great two disc set as well as recordings by Insanity Defense (discography and more of a serious sound than SC) (containing members from Satan’s Cheerleaders) and Fatal Vision’s (another local band) demo ‘Zeitgeist’. Link: https://insanitydefense.bandcamp.com/artists

Stalag 13 In Control Self-released Oxnards classic skate band, Stalag 13 recently rereleased this classic melodic skatecore 12” along with some newer material and released it on their own Bandcamp page. Great to see them still at it. Link: https://stalag13.bandcamp.com/album/in-control

Vicious Circle Price of Progress/ Reflections Search For Solutions & More Rhyme With Reason/ Into The Void Power It Up This great Aussie band has their 80’s records up now, from Power It Up, a German label that distributes both old and new punk/hc/grind/etc records. I don’t care for the rerelease cover art, even though it’s based on the original art, but each double vinyl set comes with a 12-page booklet, which is cool. And you get to hear all of their 80s output again, so grab it mate. G’day, or whatever they say down there. The label also has the excellent Perdition discography. You may recognize them as the band that was on the other side of the split album with Vicious Circle on Flipside Records. Punkish Oi! type sound. Also recommended. And you might want to check out ‘Plead Insanity’ by Neuroot, a release from ’87 that sees the band ripping forth in a metal punk style that’s part Discharge, part Neurosis, part crossover, and sounds ahead of it’s time. Link: https://poweritupv...

Radio Raheem Great little reissue label out of Boston and New York. They don’t have all of their releases on Bandcamp, but have quite enough to keep you busy. The majority of acts are from NYC, but they have some L.A. stuff, and of course the obscure Boston band, Vile, and D.C.s weirdos, United Mutations. Check it out: Link: https://radioraheemrecords.bandcamp.com/music Here’s what I have from them: Antidote - Thou Shall Not Kill - great early sounding NYHC. This release adds demo tracks. Kriegkopf - War On Terrorism - Decent NYHC culled from their two demos. The Psychos - One Voice - This one I actually got the vinyl for, found randomly while on vacation in Seattle. Basically their discog, and a nice color booklet. Reign Of Terror - Don’t Blame Me - An oddity from L.A., the band played in a melodic punk metal style. Guess they only recorded three tracks. Vile - Vile Says Fuck Off! - Angry core from Boston, release page has good info Hellbent - 1983-1984 Demos - Fast metal punk merging...