MC5 - Black To Comm (White Trash Soul 60s Punk No.6 & White Trash Soul Real R'n'R No.19)

 

My first encounter with the MC5 was at a very young age, not through someone who played their music for me to listen to, but through a relatively mainstream yet good Greek music magazine, which had published a feature on the best live LPs of all time. "Kick Out the Jams" ranked second, surpassing names that were better known to me at the time (The Doors, Thin Lizzy, etc.). The cover art was also enough to make you fall in love with it at first sight - a psychedelic kinda collage yet punk at the same time. It might even have been the first of many albums I'd go on to buy based solely on what caught my eye (for the record, the second was "Raw Power"). The reviewer left me no room for doubt writing that this particular album "broke through the virgin membrane of rock'n'roll and gave birth to punk" or that "there's a lot of debate, with serious arguments on both sides, about whether the hippies or the punks played better but there was no question as to who sounded better." The fact that I can recall all of this without referring back to the review means that it left a lasting impression on me.

So, I bought "Kick Out the Jams" on CD (it was 1991 or '92 and vinyl records had begun to gradually disappear from the market, making way for the new format) which included the intro with the famous "motherfucker" yell - which, for some strange reason, later editions removed before reinstating it in the "Big Bang!" compilation, if I'm not mistaken. In the '90s, that particular expression didn't seem offensive at all, but just imagine how all of this would have sounded in 1968 in an America rife with racism and prudishness. Something that has been making a comeback like a whirlwind for many years now, on a global scale. The guitars cut like sickles, and the drums, maracas, and tambourines pounded like hammers. A little later, I discovered that this was by no means a coincidence, since this particular band had much more to offer in terms of challenging the fascist ideologies of the era than just their music.

As I usually do in this space, unless the band is completely unknown, I don't think it's necessary to recount its history. Where do you even start with The 5? There are books and documentaries out there that you should look up and watch (all of them!) if you want to consider yourselves serious rock'n'roll fans, since we're talking about a group of people who unwittingly wrote the rulebook for true revolutionaries, even though they didn't like the rules themselves. They brought the entire (rich) musical tradition of Detroit (and beyond) into one package and took it even further, so much so that I don't think anyone has yet come along to take up the torch from them and carry it on. For better or worse, some people arrive and put an end to things. Like prophets who hate prophecies. Honestly, I don't care if anyone agrees or disagrees with what I write, but the MC5 played just as important a role in my life as Karl Marx.

I created this MC5 package as an alternate "Best Of" compilation, an extreme digital dirt done properly featuring their early garage punk - needle in the red and no overdubs 45s, the unused Grande Ballroom recordings that didn't make it to the "Jams", pre-production studio tapes, alternate takes, remixes, full-length versions and outtakes from their studio albums. All of these are from the best audible sources that are known to me (for more details, look at the parentheses next to the songs titles). 

"BROTHERS AND SISTERS! I WANNA SEE A SEA OF HANDS OUT THERE!"

The Misfits - Static Age, Mix-Down Tape Feb. 1978 (White Trash Soul Real R'n'R No.18)

 

It's hard to imagine just how much of an impact "Static Age" would have had if it had been released in 1978, as originally intended. Considering the hostility between the Misfits members, however, we should be grateful that it ultimately saw an official release in 1996. What I really like about that era is the absence of the campy horror punk aesthetic that they later developed and became widely known for. The Misfits look pretty much like every other punk rock band of this period but this hasn't stopped Glenn Danzig from ignoring the sociopolitical issues of the time. In his Elvis/Jim Morrison style, he sang about JFK's bullet-ridden body, Patty Hearst's kidnapping turning left-wing guerrilla bank robber and every other perverted thought that had occurred to his teenage brain. Now that I think about it, perhaps he did write political songs after all... Anyway. 

At the time, both Mercury and the Misfits were using the name 'Blank Records'. Our New Jersey psychos had already released their embryonic "Cough/Cool" and "She" recordings through their Blank imprint and Mercury wanted full ownership. In exchange for the name, Mercury suits offered them a swap: 20 hours of free studio time and the recordings has began. The end result made the band feel proud but they had a problem, no label was willing to release it. According to Jerry Only, they talked to every label - even Sire, which had The Ramones, Dead Boys, DMZ and the Voidoids on their roster but they passed on it! The (legendary) "Bullet" EP, released via Danzig's own label (Plan 9), featured four of the "Static Age" tracks: 'Bullet', 'We Are 138', 'Attitude' and 'Hollywood Babylon'. After Franché Coma and Mr Jim left in the middle of a tour in 1980, Only and Danzig decided that the "Static Age" was cursed and shelved it.

The 14 tracks of "Static Age Mix-Down Tape Feb.78" as I said in the first lines, were supposedly intended for release on the "Static Age" LP that same year. In 1986, Curtis Casella of Taang! Records made and distributed a tape containing eight songs from Glenn's vault. Of course, this was done without permission. This tape and a later CD-R bootleg of the same name were the only sources available to fans. (This is the CD-R that I am offering you in this post, which contains the complete set of songs). So, when Danzig finally provided the original multi-track masters for a standalone release, hardcore Misfits fans and completists took note that the original 1978 mix-down sequence of "Static Age" had actually been used on disc 4 of the Coffin shaped Misfits box set (based on Franché Coma's copy), rather than the remastered and overdubbed versions on "Legacy of Brutality" from 1985-86 or the re-remastered editions on "Collection II" (1995). 

In any case, this is the best place to hear the Misfits' best line-up as intended: Undubbed, unremastered and raw. This recording, originally from the 7.5 ips reel-to-reel, includes the microphone pop at the end of 'Come Back' or the conversation before 'Theme for a Jackal', both of which were edited out of the officially released versions. I would put these recordings at the very top of the list of the ten best punk rock ever produced, no matter what period or decade you look at.

Jeff 'Monoman' Conolly (1956-2026)

Monoman was a genuine character. His deep knowledge of all things rock'n'roll, particularly the more obscure one was legendary. Dick Dickerson wrote about his somewhat difficult personality a few hours back on Facebook and it reminded me of Nick from The Nomads saying pretty much the same thing a few years ago. Even Tim Warren was diplomatic when I asked him about Jeff and Mike Mariconda added that Conolly always carried a glass of water full of vodka with him. I guess everything related to his complex identity is true. But he was also the rock'n'roll madman and nerd we all used to adore. I have written so many pieces about Lyres and DMZ that it would be redundant to repeat myself. This is just a farewell to ol' "Jeffrey's excitable personality that was mushroomed in the land of dirty water" as Miriam Linna once wrote. Safe travels motherfucker.

The Hellacopters - Maximum Supershit! (White Trash Soul Real R'n'R No.17)

The Hellacopters' early years are the punkier thing of the '90s, up to the release of "Suprshitty To The Max!", when the "Raw Power"-era Stooges, MC5 and Radio Birdman were the only bands that mattered to them. I still clearly remember picking up "Supershitty To The Max" based solely on the SST Records-like front cover and the band shot in the back of CD. There was a guy wearing a Motörhead cap and another wearing a Nomads t-shirt. There was also a glam-punk giovine and someone at the back who looked like Rob Zombie's Nordic cousin. As I said, I still didn't know shit about them. The Thing, the only local fanzine that could have written about them (and has written about them countless times since), hadn't even picked them up on its radar yet. As I usually did on the bus ride to my bachelor pad, I popped in to see what it was and the references to everything I loved only multiplied. There was a Coop-like sketch featuring a helicopter on a 7-inch record with Gene Simmon's KISS-style makeup, a collage of photos clearly evoking the punk aesthetic and yet another sketch of the band alongside little devils wearing Converse All Stars or leopard-print creepers. There was also a direct reference to The Stooges with the words 'Jesus Loves The Hellacopters'. I was FUCK ME, MAN! Even before I played this, the manifesto on the inner sleeve about loathing CDs and the famous Johnny Rotten quote 'Ever Got the Feeling You've Been Cheated?' as headline, left me floored...

And I wasn't wrong - always trust your sences kids, what came out of the speakers when I pushed the play button was the most fucked up thing I have ever heard! "If there's a higher power, it must have taken pity on me and sent me this band!", thought my younger atheist Marxist self. A little later, the reviews started to come in. On his website, Jack Endino wrote: "Everything is massively distorted including the drums! (And the drummer's better than Keith Moon!)" and MRR added: "I am now a believer. I have seen the light. The Hellacopters are worth all the hype. They’re so punk, they even make maracas punk." I went hunting for everything they had released, which was no easy task back then and today I have a massive collection of Hellacopters stuff. Maybe I should tell my kids about them in case something happens to me, so they can sell them at the right price. At the moment, none of them seem to like rock 'n' roll. I know I failed miserably on this but there's always hope, right?

For the next few months I was unable to switch to another band. All my best friends have always been basically metalheads. They still are. I wanted to convert them. I told them about this Swedish group that the ex-Entombed drummer had formed to play punk rock and they seemed suspicious at first. They weren't though, right after the first run and they're now also huge fans. OK, from "Grande Rock" onwards, their sound became more hard rock-friendly, so I guess that helped too. 

Echoes of the late '60s Detroit punk scene, as I said in the first lines are clearly audible in those early releases. No other group aside from Teengenerate has managed to turn the sonic liability of needle in the red oversaturation into a convincing aesthetic trademark. What set the Hellacopters apart from any other band of that era (and beyond) was their incorporation of every rock'n'roll instrument into their sound, instruments that all the other punk rock bands seemed to ignore. The distinctive language of down and dirty rock'n'roll is more widespread here. It has the elements of MC5's maximum rhythm and soul. These take the beat beyond the pogo stage. There are wailing harmonicas and crusty slides, not for show off but for the sheer enjoyment of it. Handclaps, maracas and one-note pianos... It was as if Lemmy and his bandmates were trying to play 'Shake Appeal'. Besides, he said himself that after Hawkwind he wanted his new band to sound like the Five from Detroit.

Anyway, here's another White Trash Soul Special. As you probably understand from what you've read, it contains all of their singles from the beginning up to "Supershitty". I've added the New York Dolls' only on vinyl cover of 'It's Too Late', as well as the cover of 'Bullet' that was featured on the Japanese edition (which at the time was only available elsewhere to a Scandinavian Misfits tribute that is worth tracking down). For their early singles, they chose to cover 'The Creeps' by Social Distortion, 'Low Down Shakin' Chills' by The Nomads (Hans and Nicke are featured on their debut) and 'I Got a Right' by Iggy and the Stooges. I suppose that sums up what your poor ears are going to hear. Of course, I've made the required changes to the front cover and the title while trying to stay as close as possible to the original concept. 

PS: I was fortunate enough to interview my favourite 'copters member, the drummer Robert/Robban, twice, and finally to see them live with all my buddies in July 2022. Kick Out The Jams Bastards!

New Bomb Turks - Four Times Nine (White Trash Soul Real R'n'R No.16)

 

In my previous post about Teengenerate, I mentioned the New Bomb Turks as one of my favored punk rock bands of the '90s. The first time I saw and heard them playing this suprecharged rock'n'roll, there was a look of obvious surprise on my face, see I was expecting guys in leather jackets with long or spiky haircuts and other such dumb clichés. I hadn't even heard of the Descendents or Milo yet (this was the pre-internet era, as I've mentioned many times already) and I also didn't know that the members of Bad Religion were college graduates. Learning through fanzines that these four guys had English degrees from Ohio State University was quite a revelation for me. I was myself, too, something in between because I wasn't a nerd definitely but I also wasn't someone who didn't like to read, especially literature and history. As you might have guessed, I felt completely at home.

The band took their name from Robert Wuhl's character in the early-'80s cult classic comedy 'The Hollywood Nights', which also marked the screen debut of Tony Danza. I remember them uploading a letter to their embryonic website from an Armenian guy complaining about the name because he believed it had something to do with Turkey and genocide. Afterwards, he told them to fuck off and sent him some patches or pins, it was hilarious!

It was the "Destroy-Oh-Boy!" album that first blew me away on Tim's Crypt. The New Bomb Turks combined the rawest '50s rock 'n' roll with the snotty '77 punk and the intense warp speed of '80s hardcore, a winning formula copied by at least two other great bands of the era, The Dirtys from Michigan and Los Ass Draggers from Spain. From that moment on, I felt that things were going downhill for me. I was hooked on like a heroin addict. I couldn't wait for their next single or LP and that continued until they decided to split. They reformed thanks to some evil rock'roll power and I got to see them on stage here in Greece about ten years back. 

The homegrown stuff I made especially for you once again was inspired by the Rolling Stones' "12X5". Somehow, I had to force myself to narrow it down to just four songs from each of their albums and three compilations of singles and other tracks. It turned out to be a real challenge. If you think the job of a serious compiler is easy, just try doing the same thing with the Ramones or Motorhead smart ass... But I think I've cracked it. The more I listen to this, the more I like it. For the cover of the comp, I used the stunning sketches of Arturo de Leon, the man behind the artwork for N.B.T.'s debut and a '90s t-shirt that I found on eBay and bought without hesitation. I believe it is his too. 

Bear in mind that these guys are from the same region as Cheetah Chrome of the Dead Boys and Mike Hudson of the Pagans. Their punk rock 'n' roll has some serious bloodline and DNA. I don't know about the Epitaph stuff but Crypt have reissued multiple times their first two albums, so do yourself a favor if you're not sitting on any of these and go fuckin' buy everything with their name on.