Greatest Metal According to Gowi/LedZep/Repo/Rocky and I!

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[Repo]

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Girlschool is a compound word/band name

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THE NEXT SET OF PUNK AND/OR METAL RELEASES THAT HELPED SET THE GROUNDWORK FOR THRASH METAL (these are almost entirely PUNK and Hardcore releases with one major exception…)

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All My Friends Are Dead by The Consumers
All My Friends Are Dead by The Consumers/recorded in 1977, released much later

There isn’t much that I find as fascinating as a music fan than the forgotten classic. Or the lost gem never-before released and nearly never uncovered. The mystique around such albums usually overshadows the music. The releases of this type that really hit tend to hit even harder because of the lore and story back of them. A cool example of this is Master’s Unreleased 1985 album that sounds so damn heavy and perhaps the first Death Metal album but not released until much later. Or the full Basement tapes by Bob Dylan and the Band which were straight up HOLY GRAIL material until released a decade or so ago, and they lived up to the reputation I would say as a Dylan fanatic. How about the previously gushed about early works of Bad Brains and Misfits, stunningly great music not widely known or heard before the mid 90s. Then there are albums like this one of Death’s “For The Whole World To See” where you are hearing the lone work of this artist or band finally years and decades after the band itself was in the grave.

Until last week or so I was not aware of this Arizona band that was formed in about 1977. I saw them described as Punk Rock and I heard them described as almost HARDCORE punk by comparison to the punk of the time. The fact that this 11 track, 19 minute beast of an album was only released over a decade after it was recorded made me all the more excited to listen.

After listening, it’s really good. There is a fun cultural tendency in American music to take the music the British or, more broadly, the Europeans, make and just amp it up and make it more extreme and intense and in-your-face. I think of US Black Metal and how it took the stuff coming out of Norway and turning it up in intensity. Or, of course, Hardcore Punk – Black Flag and The Germs were taking the sound of BRITISH punk (not so much the NY sound) and blowing it up and making it much more heavy and nihilistic and vicious and more extreme. Hell, Thrash bands took NWOBHM and made it more gnarly and much more aggressive (before the Germans very very quickly came and attempted and possibly succeeded in stealing the Extremity and Heaviness Heavy Weight Title Belt). Etc etc etc.

This album does what the Germs did but 18-24 months earlier. The sound is very, very reminiscent of The Damned especially on their classic debut album Damned Damned Damned, as well as some Sex Pistols and early Clash sounds, and simply takes it to a harsher and faster places. There are also some wacky, somewhat experimental, noisy explosions here in small doses (for example on the track “Consumers”). The way the bass and drums are mixed/recorded makes them sound very punchy and up front. The songwriting is cool and the riffs are garage-y, simple, and just right for a very early punk rock LP. There is a song that has a riff that directly rips off “Blitzkrieg Bop” – the offending (still excellent) track is the closer “Punk Church”. And their a general pissed off at everything in the world attitude on display for this album that kinda kicks ass.

Is this really Hardcore? Well, if you are thinking you’ll hear Minor Threat levels of heavy and fast boundary-pushing on this lost 1977 album, you will be disappointed. This does have a more unrelenting, undiluted and violent sound than most punk of 1976-1978, however. So, if that is what you’re expecting I think you WON’T be disappointed. This album is a gem for punk fans. It’s not a TOTAL LOST CLASSIC, like some lost document that bridges the gap between British punk and Black Flag. It’s a good addition to someone’s punk catalog. Also, for the purposes of this project, this probably shouldn’t be on here as it really didn’t have an influence on the development of Thrash – of course not, like 10 people had heard it before 1995!

Still, if you like punk rock and wanna hear a damn fine album from 1977 with a cool cover and name and sound and some kick ass simple riffs and lots of attitude and anger, check this out!


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It's Alive by Ramones
It’s Alive by Ramones/Recorded Live December 31st, 1977

This was a genuinely uplifting revisit. This is another album that maybe shouldn’t be featured here, but after hearing that live Motorhead album and hearing how damn kickass and badass and intense Motorhead were live, I started remembering other Live LPs of that era. This came to mind and I remembered that when I was just getting into the Ramones in about 2003 or 2004 this live album struck me at the time as being possibly the best Ramones LP. Then I went away from it for a long time. Before yesterday I don’t think I had listened to It’s Alive for 15+ years! Not sure why. Hell, I have not been listening to nearly enough Ramones in the last long period. It was almost like I had decided and filed away the decision that, yes, the Ramones are great possibly the greatest of all time, now let’s discover some other stuff. And I did indeed go off and listen to and fall in love with a lot of other Punk and related music. Over time the music of the Ramones became an almost distant memory.

So, when I pushed play on this beast of a live document yesterday and proceeded to be blown away by all 28 (!!!) tracks over 53 minutes, it felt like a revelation! I had honestly forgotten or taken for granted their excellence. Ramones were on another level. Johnny was the quintessential punk guitarist with the most badass and lovable tone and riff style. Joey was a quirky, talented, tuneful and brilliant vocalist, Dee Dee was a rock solid and essential member of the band in creating this perfect sound with his active and simple and sturdy bass work, and of course on the drums Tommy was also such a primal and perfect match for the band. They all come together to make an absurd amount of classic pop-perfected pieces of transcendent brilliance between 1976 and 1979.

Yesterday after hearing this absolutely perfect and essential Live document of the kings of punk, I relistened to Road To Ruin. For the longest time I thought that LP was substantially less incredible than their first 3. But NOW I think it stands up there amongst their holy trinity of albums and make it’s a HOLY QUARTET. I am not sure what I was thinking dissing that classic for so long (maybe it was simply the decidedly less cool album art and the more chiseled and produced sound compared to Ramones debut, Leave Home, and Rocket To Russia…). I then listened to Rocket To Russia (perfect) and then this live album again.

As a live album, this captures the energy and power of the songs brilliantly as well as showcases how stacked their track list is. 28 tracks and every single one is a banger from one of their first 3 albums (I think they are all from those LPs, can’t recall if there are exceptions…). The group is unrelenting, pausing every few songs for 1-3 seconds of banal chatter saying the name of the song and then BOOM, right into the next batch of pop punk adrenalized sensory overload awesomeness. It’s a treasure, this album. Highly recommended. Hell, I am thinking 14-year-old me wasn’t totally off base thinking this may be their best album. It certainly slots in beautifully with the first 4 studio albums. It doesn’t get much more impressive than that run of 5 releases in the decade of the 70ps by this band. Haven’t heard End of The Century or their 1980s or 1990s albums in forever, so I am keen to revisit them and find out if they kept this run of brilliance going.

As for why I am including it on the ranking below, well the guitar tone and the energy of this album and band clearly influenced punk and metal bands for decades to come. And if The Misfits are included under consideration for influences on Thrash or in Thrash’s DNA, surely the band that most obviously and directly influenced The Misfits should also crash the party.

And I will end up ranking this highly. I usually don’t do that with Live albums, as I said with No Sleep Til Hammersmith. I do tend to value studio LPs much more except in rare circumstances. This album is one of those rare circumstances. It’s a very personally loved and nostalgic album along with being, by any Ramones fan’s opinion, an essential and classic showcase of perhaps the single greatest punk band of all time at their absolute peak blowing the minds of some English blokes. It doesn’t get much cooler than that.

I will end up ranking this in my top tier because it belongs there, but just know that its somewhat a stand in for all the first 4 LPs as well. As it is, this being a live and extra fast and intense album makes it make a little more sense as an “essential” listen tracing the eventual extreme metal of the 80s and onwards… it’s a stretch, but Ramones to Misfits to Metallica makes sense to me if I squint.

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Unleashed In The East by Judas Priest
Unleashed In The East by Judas Priest/Recorded Live 10-15 February 1979

This will be the last release where I go back chronologically. The last of this post at least. This will also be the last of the Live albums.

This is incredible. Every time I hear prime Judas Priest I find myself re-deciding they were the kings of Heavy Metal. This album is them at their peak much like It’s Alive was Ramones at theirs and No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith was Motorhead at theirs. Judas Priest were coming off their 4th straight GREAT album (sorry, Repo, as of now I don’t count Rocka Rolla as a GREAT one, just very good) and they were just about to switch their sound a bit to a more popular and catchier and anthemic style. This trend actually started just a few months before this concert when they released Hell Bent For Leather. They had their classic line up here of Halford (the coolest metal vocalist that ever there was), Tipton and Downing on guitar, Les Binks on Drums (possibly their never drummer was more to your taste, but idk the drums solos and fills here completely captivate and the beats just kick ass), and of course the lone unchanging member through their whole career, Mr. Ian Hill on da bass. The band sounds sharp and amped for this big Japan show. And with the help of some later studio edits of only Halford’s vocals on a few performances, this Live album sounds just as good as any studio album they released up to that point.

The solos and the interplay between the greatest dual guitar team ever here is mind blowing and fierce and melodic and inventive and some of the best work I ever have heard them play. Halford is a star through and through and kills. The track list is nearly perfect (the original release was perfect I’d say with zero less than classic songs and versions thereof, but the later reissue included 4 more songs and 17 more minutes and outside of the later-added “Starbreaker”, these songs just aren’t as awe-inspiring.)

But, really, I have to reiterate this band and these songs are awe-inspiring. Truly. These guys were the definition of rock gods. They don’t even seem to be fallible human beings. “Exciter” here is incredible, as is “Sinner” (which becomes a truly exploratory epic jam and is better than the studio version), also undeniably great is this snappy version of “The Ripper”, “The Green Manalishi” is such a banger, and the ballad “Diamonds and Rust” as played here sounds truly sad and moving. Speaking of Sad and Moving and also maybe a top 50 song all time for me before hearing this version, “Victim of Changes” somehow manages to feel more epic and perfect here! How is that possible? And as mentioned earlier “Starbreaker”, the new way they close this album on the reissue, is right up there with every other standout and has one of the most badass and legitimately musically inspired drum solos I’ve heard on a metal album in a long while.

In short, despite my earlier ideas that Live albums should be a little bit “penalized” on my rankings, I think this is borderline top tier – all-time great and essential - as well, just like The Ramones live album. Borderline. I don’t know what is happening to me… I swear before hearing and loving these 2 or 3 live albums the last few days, I generally never really went super gaga for live albums, not even great and classic live albums by some of my favorite artists and bands. These 2 live classics, in particular, are really hitting hard.

Okay, that’s all about this beast. Let’s get back on CHRONOLOGICAL TRACK by skipping forward 2 years after this to mid 1981. Let’s listen to some hardcore punk releases of note in 1981.


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Why by Discharge

Why EP by Discharge /May 1981

This EP continues the ascension od Discharge. They essentially had their sound and fundamental elements in their first EP. They then muscled up for their excellent second EP. And they muscle up slightly more here and add a couple wrinkles musically and release this classic 3rd EP. It is a sound, a din, a brutal outburst of such strength that it can’t be ignored. This 14 minute EP is like proto-Napalm Death-levels of intense. The noisy, feedback outburst that starts this EP and the anguished and noisy outburst that ends it gives this project an interesting, somewhat cyclic form or structure. The drumming work here is its usual incredible punishing self. The guitars are inhumanly loud and intense. This band was the most disgusting and the most on the cutting edge in 1981. I don’t think any metal or punk band was more anti-commercial and brutal at this time. (if you think I am wrong, let me know.)

When talking about or thinking about this band and this EP I tend not to have any clear highlight or song of note to highlight. This sounds like a big giant slab of intensity and that is it. The individual songs and moments don’t stick out – and indeed the songwriting here is redundant and even across the board. The entire onslaught of WHY sounds like a chaotic scene of war and slaughter. This aesthetic and style proved very influential of course to extreme metal and punk offshoots for decades to come. That said I don’t personally love this like I do some of its slightly less brutal but much more song-focused contemporaries. I mostly love the sound here, the attitude, the message, the iconic album art, the unrelenting and nonconforming purity of it, the guitar tones, the rumbling bass, the classic d beat attack, and the fact that Discharge is perhaps the most influential band in 1981 to some of my favorite genres and bands to come later. BUT… I don’t love the songs and I don’t find this be a masterpiece on par with other hardcore punk of its era.

Okay, and with that I will stop talking about this Great and momentous EP and move on to another couple of Great and momentous EPs that, unlike this one, I personally adore and come back to all the time and consider to be possibly the hardcore pinnacle.

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Minor Threat by Minor Threat
(this is a classic compilation of the first 2 EPs by Minor Threat. I include it here because I will skip ahead a little chronologically and listen to and comment on both of the 2 EPs – Minor Threat EP and In My Eyes EP together as one release.)

Minor Threat EP and In My Eyes EP by Minor Threat/June 1981 + August 1981

Okay so this EP and their next EP, In My Eyes along with 2 songs that are added to my compilation – “Stand Up” and the awesome Wire cover “12XU” – have single handedly slowed me down on this project. I have spent the last 4-5 days listening to these 14 tracks and 19 minutes of music over and over, probably 20 times. I am obsessed. It reminded me how absolutely next level Minor Threat were. I have enjoyed many of these recent albums and LPs and some have become new favorites. BUT… these tunes and riffs and melodies and shouted lines and really everything about these 2 EPs and extras are perfect. This was one of those times when I love something so much it calls into question how much I really love the other stuff. It overshadows everything else I’ve been listening to.

The Production is heavier and more impactful than any other punk of this year that I’ve heard. The vocals are more raw and real and powerful than any other vocals I’ve heard. The riffs (and, again, the way they are recorded) are more addictive, empowering and heavy than anything else here. The songs are more iconic and catchy. The bass lines are big muscular and beautiful. The drums are heavy and in your face and godly.

The Minor Threat EP is 10/10, perfect and perhaps the greatest EP I’ve ever heard. The In My Eyes EP is almost as good, maybe a 9.5/10 and you can hear the band exploring some subtly new areas and song structures while retaining the pure passion and impact. The Wire cover is close to my heart because well when I heard it I got interested in who Wire were and thus this incredible cover introduced me to perhaps my favorite punk album ever, Pink Flag by Wire.

I have meant to write something about this a dozen times in the last week, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I was putting to much pressure on myself to try to capture what makes these 19 minutes of music so great and profound and miraculous. So now I am just writing something off the cuff and moving on. There is so much cool stuff to listen to that Minor Threat influenced (or didn’t or were influenced by) yet to come and I really need to get on it.

I will say I was forced to not only put this compilation of their 2 1981 EPs at number 1 on my tiered list, I was forced top create a new higher tier. And that is no small fact considering how indispensable and excellent I feel Dks’ debut is and Stained Class is etc. But I just love Minor Threat on a whole other order of magnitude.

Looking ahead and some of these upcoming few dozen albums and EPs I am slated to listen to are familiar to me and favorites and If I were to guess, perhaps Bad Brains’ debut or Damaged by Black Flag or maybe the Shitlickers EP or Rudimentary Peni’s Farce EP could challenge Minor Threat for the top spot. Or hell, there are a lot I don’t remember or have never heard that I will listen to soon and maybe one of them will hit me like some sort of metal/punk holy grail. BUT If I were to bet, I would bet that nothing surpasses Minor Threat on this pre-thrash listening project in terms of personal adoration and worship. These guys were THAT good and towering. I had almost forgotten how much I adored “Filler”, “Minor Threat”, “Stepping Stone”, “I Don’t Wanna Hear It’, “Seeing Red”, “Guilty of Being White”, “Straight Edge”, “Out Of Step”, “12XU”, “Screaming At A Wall” and every song here really. I had somehow forgotten how exhilarating and life changing this was when I was 14. Part of me thought maybe I would find it had diminishing returns on revisit. Thank the heaven’s and God’s such as Ian McKaye that that is not the case.

They took a break for a year or so after recording these 14 tracks and then returned with a mini-LP called Out of Step as well as a final single with 3 great songs on it most notably the absolutely downright jangly indie rock of “Sometimes Good Guys Don’t Wear White”. Those are really really great records as well. But… it wasn’t the same. They were still some of the best tunes of ’83 and ’84. But they didn’t capture fully the sheer brilliance and untamed anger and power of the debut EP and second EP.

Anyway, I’m rambling and this “review” write up has no fucking logical structure. The point is Minor Threat are the kings of Hardcore. The only band I think that can challenge them on that is Bad Brains… and maybe Black Flag. I will be getting to those legendary albums soon enough.



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T.S.O.L. by T.S.O.L.
T.S.O.L. EP by T.S.O.L./1981

This is a very good Hardcore Punk EP. It’s remarkable how much TSOL’s sound changed in the few months between this EP and their debut album. This is simply 7-8 minutes of raw and angry political LA hardcore. Didn’t blow me away completely with its songs or chops or performances, but all these aspects are above avg and there is a cool breakneck and passionate angry vibe that pulls me in and keeps me interested all 5 tracks.

While I don’t think they should have stayed in this style completely as it was pretty by the books, I do feel like I would have liked their debut LP (more on it in a minute) had it maintained a bit more of the angry and aggressive hardcore style this EP presents. The macabre and absurdly disgusting horror punk and mildly goth rock/ or “deathrock” as I have seen it referred to on their debut album are not present here at all.

Overall, not mind blowing or great, but a solid and impassioned little EP.

(Edit: coming back to this a week after writing it. I have come to think this is a really really good LA hardcore release. I generally don’t vibe with the early hardcore sound of the LA scene outside of the early Circle Jerks and Black Flag stuff. I fuck with Germs and Adolescents and TSOL and early Social D and so forth, but not to the same degree as the white hot power of either the early 80s UK shit like Discharge and Exploited nor of course do I love it as much as the greats of the DC scene. The LA style is just not quite as punchy and not as stylistically distinct from straight up punk of 1977 and 1978 etc. Idk… maybe my opinion will morph on LA hardcore more broadly. But you should know I certainly have this anti-LA bias.)
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Dance With Me by T.S.O.L.
Dance With Me by T.S.O.L./June 1981

True Sons of Liberty. Was Glad to check them out finally, both their EP and LP debut. I thought this was good. It was solid. Better and more varied songwriting than many of their punk/hardcore contemporaries. They seem like they know how to play their instruments pretty well. The lyrics are equal parts macabre and rebellious. This LP is fine. It’s a B-. I wasn’t blown away and don’t feel much of a pull back to it, however.

Their contemporaries both East and West were doing different things. TSOL had a definite goth rock style, with eerie atmospheres and all that overlaid on top of their hardcore punk riffs and energy. I respect that they distinguished themselves. Is this even remotely a classic of the genre and era on par with Damaged, Fresh Fruit or Bad Brains or Discharge’s debut LP? No. But each of those bands had something truly transcendent. They each had iconic and truly captivating lead singers (outside of Discharge which they made up for this lack by being the most intense and unrelenting and influential). There is no H.R. or Ian McKaye or Henry Rollins here… not even close.

The production also is very dated and lacks much punch.

Overall, like I said when I started, this is fine and maybe someday I will return, and it will click in some way. As it is, it is both not suitable for this project of what music really influenced Thrash nor is it great.

Track standouts: The cult classic track “Code Blue” is a disgusting and mildly amusing and very graphic necrophilia banger and the dance groove and beat and really whole sound of “Funeral March” is truly badass actually. Like if the whole album was as killer as that track, maybe we would have a classic here. Also really like the eerie gothic sound of “Silent Scream”. “Dance With Me” has a cool chugging sound and nice switch up. And “Die For Me” is cool too.

I guess I knew that not all these albums would be mind-blowing. That wouldn’t make sense. Also, it should be noted that this just isn’t quite my style – it’s a little too muted, almost post punky, subdued, not really how I prefer my Hardcore. I prefer it brutal and truly in your face (Minor Threat, Discharge, the Shitlickers) or very, very creative and whiplash-inducing (Bad Brains, Dead Kennedys, Rudimentary Peni). Stuff like this that is not really either of those styles in any way almost always fails to grab me.

(Edit and later note: as I listened a second time this did get a little better to me. Still not a fave but a fine and pretty creative hardcore album for sure).

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PRE-THRASH Tier List/Ranking:

MASTERFUL, PERFECT, ALL TIME GREAT, FIRST BALLOT HALL OF FAME, AMEN:
1. Minor Threat by Minor Threat (compilation of first 2 EPs released June 1984, the EPs released June 1981 and August 1981) – exemplary track, “Minor Threat" and "Steppin' Stone"

NEAR-PERFECT, ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL LISTENING:
2. Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables by Dead Kennedys (September 2nd, 1980) – exemplary track, “Holiday In Cambodia”.
3. Stained Class by Judas Priest (February 10th, 1978) - exemplary track, "Exciter"
4. Static Age by The Misfits (Recorded Jan-Feb, 1978) - exemplary track, "We Are 138"

JUST FUDGIN’ GREAT
5. It’s Alive by Ramones (Recorded December 31st, 1977) – exemplary track, “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker”
6. Unleashed In The East by Judas Priest (Recorded 10-15 February 1979) – exemplary track “Victim of Changes”
7. Lightning To The Nations by Diamond Head (October 3rd, 1980) – exemplary track, “Am I Evil?”
8. Black Dots by Bad Brains (Recorded June 1979) - exemplary track, "Pay To Cum”
9. Killers by Iron Maiden (February 2nd, 1981) – exemplary track “Wrathchild”
10. Strong Arm of the Law by Saxon (November 14th, 1980) – exemplary track, “To Hell and Back Again”
11. Ace Of Spades by Motörhead (November 8th, 1980) – exemplary track, “Ace Of Spades”
12. Why EP by Discharge (May 1981) – exemplary track, “Ain’t No Feeble Bastard”

VERY GOOD with HINTS of GREATNESS
13. Wheels of Steel by Saxon (April 1980) - exemplary track, "747 (Strangers In The Night)"
14. Iron Maiden by Iron Maiden (April 14th, 1980) - exemplary track, "Phantom of the Opera"
15. Overkill by Motörhead (April 24th, 1979) - exemplary track, "Overkill"
16. No Sleep ‘Til Hammersmith by Motörhead (Recorded 28 to 30 March, 1981) – exemplary track, “Motorhead”
17. Fight Back EP by Discharge/May 1980) – exemplary track, “You Take Part In Creating The System”.
18. (GI) by The Germs (October 1979) - exemplary track, "Lexicon Devil"
19. New Hope for the Wretched by Plasmatics (March 1980) - exemplary track, "Dream Lover"
20. All My Friends Are Dead by The Consumers (1977) – exemplary track, “Anti Anti Anti”
21. Realities of War EP by Discharge/March 31st, 1980) – exemplary track, “Society’s Victim”
22. Breaker by Accept (March 16th, 1981) – Exemplary track, “Run If You Can”
23. T.S.O.L. EP by T.S.O.L. (1981) – exemplary track, “Abolish Government/Silent Majority”
24. St. Valentine’s Day Massacre EP by MotorheadGirlSchool (February 1981) – exemplary track, “Please Don’t Touch”

GOOD, down to KIND OF FINE … but not my thing yet or maybe ever
25. Angel Witch by Angel Witch (December 1980) – Exemplary track, “Angel Witch”
26. Dance With Me by T.S.O.L. (June 1981) – exemplary track, “Funeral March”


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The next post will be just as long probably. To be honest, initially I was gonna listen to and write a summary of about 5 more punk releases. But Minor Threat stole my heart for a week and it got too long and was taking too much time. So, I will be back next with some more metal and punk that perhaps at least somewhat presaged and influenced the sound and arrival of Thrash. Namely, some more wild UK metallic hardcore from GBH, Exploited, Discharge, along with more American hardcore and some NWOBHM as well. This fucking chronological list I am making for myself is getting longer and longer and longer. But its fun so it is alright.


Okay, see you guys later. Peace.
_________________
-Ryan

ONLY 4% of people can understand this chart! Come try!

My Fave Metal - you won't believe #5!!!