Dear Friends,
In the past couple of days, two of my favorite people, Shane and Amy, have celebrated birthdays. I really should have mentioned both on their big days because my life is immeasurably better because of both of them. I am indebted to both of them and I hope they know how much they mean to me.
Oddly enough, both of them have been my partners in doing things I have never done before knowing them. I played my first show in San Francisco, my favorite town to play music in, with Shane. Amy and I did the first radio show that I ever did together, as well, and both experiences added so much to my life.
Both are drummers, too.
I could go on and on, but neither of them is the type to truly enjoy the spotlight. They both prefer to let their actions speak for them. I admire that, too. I’m lucky to have such great, incredibly talented, friends.
Happy belated birthday to you both. I love you guys.
*****
I went to see the local Nurse Practitioner yesterday. Her name is Heather, and she was cool. So was the nurse, Karen, who told me all about being freaked out by the roads up here in the winter. They took good care of me. Hopefully today I will be able to go and fetch my prescription from the nearest pharmacy which is about forty or so miles away.
Apparently, I have gotten a little sinus-type infection from getting some lake water trapped up in my sinuses. That seems to be the guess. Stupid lake water. I spent years and years of not holding my nose when I jumped in, and I forgot to blow out once and now I’m full of inflammation.
So, hopefully I’ll be going down the mountain at some point today to pick up my scrip.
*****
We are traveling back to the summer of 1985 today, kiddies. After my punk rock show cherry was burst earlier that year, it was time for me to go to shows every chance I got. I happened to be staying with my mom in the summer of 1985 and working at Taco Bell to earn a few bucks here and there. It was a glorious time for me in many ways.
On July 27, 1985, I walked up to the Mason Jar on East Indian School Road in Phoenix and went to see Youth Brigade, SNFU, and (apparently) the Asexuals by myself. I don’t remember that particular set by the Asexuals, but I do remember seeing them another time when they played for Ben and I and their roadies during the minor show.
This show was incredible, and the energy was high. I left there a full-on fan of both Youth Brigade and SNFU. I immediately went out and spent Taco Bell money on their records.
Sound and Fury became an immediate favorite of mine (as did SNFU’s And No Else Wanted to Play, but that’s another story and I am just realizing that I will have to come up with another story to start that blurb, but I have other SNFU stories). My punk record collection expanded greatly thanks to Taco Bell, if I remember correctly, and I probably drove my mom crazy that summer with all my new records. I’m not going to apologize here, though.
One of the things that drew me to Youth Brigade was their positivity. I’ve always liked to have a nice balance of the dark and the light in my life. I enjoy the angry and evil side of punk, for sure, but I also like a lot of the bands that were looking at things from the standpoint of let’s create something instead of destroying it. Youth Brigade seemed to be doing a lot of creating.
They also ripped in those days. The stuff on Sound and Fury is fucking good. When I saw them a few years ago at Punk Rock Bowling in Las Vegas, they played a ton of stuff off this record, and it brought me back to the place where I was a big fan of theirs. I don’t know what happened, but at some point, I kind of forgot about Sound and Fury.
In fact, in 1987 or 1988, I sold it to Zia for money to go to Rocky Point. I probably got $2 for it. Dumb move because I bought it again a few years ago for about $25. I had a few of those weak moments in those days. Money for cheap Corona. Yay.
The Stern brothers, Shawn (vocals, guitar), Adam (bass), and Mark (drums) could really play punk rock extremely well. They wrote a bunch of super catchy songs for Sound and Fury and while every song isn’t instantly memorable, most of them are and that’s what matters. There are some really good bass lines on this record.
You also have to hand it to them for getting their act in gear and putting out not only their own music, but a lot of other great music on Better Youth Organization. Maybe they were kind of striving to be the West Coast version of Dischord, but I’m guessing they were doing their own thing. I respect that they had a lot of things going for them.
Back to the record, though.
Sound and Fury has a number of my early favorite songs on it. “Sink With California” kicks things off nicely. I liked it a lot when I heard it live and was stoked to have it kick off the record.
“Men in Blue (part 1)” was another early favorite of mine and how could it not be? It takes on the cops about as well as any punk song ever has, in my opinion. It was also one of the first punk/rap crossover songs. If you don’t believe me, just listen to it.
“I would understand if I committed a crime/they could’ve locked me up, I would have done my time/well I didn’t do nothin’ no man had said/so he jacked me up and he cracked my head” has always stuck with me. I used to be able to recite the whole thing verbatim, no problem, but age, I guess, and literally thousands upon thousands of other lyrics have joined the fun.
“Fight to Unite” is one that has a lot of spunk and spirit. “Jump Back” has a great drum and bassline, as well. The whole Robin Hood thing as applied to Ronald Reagan is pretty darn clever. Catchy, too.
“Live Life” was an early favorite of mine, too. Good riff and a good message. Still gets me going a bit, too, and leads right into the stellar, “What Are You Fighting For.” It’s a bit Ramones=y, sure, but that’s okay. I don’t mind a few “Whoa-ohs” here and there.
“Did you Wanna Die” and “You Don’t Understand” are both fucking great, too. Just good, solid, punk rock. They are kind of buried on side two, but that’s okay. Youth Brigade did a good job of spacing out the record nicely.
The last track, “What Will the Revolution Change” is another favorite of mine. I think the way the song builds is something that takes me right back to that feeling I had in 1985 when I was first discovering them. It is an authentic, or at least it seems authentic, question that matches the theme of what the Stern brothers were trying to get across.
Some people thought Youth Brigade was too preachy, but I disagree. They were just dudes who were saying, “Take a look around and do something positive if you want to complain.” That’s admirable in my book.
*****
See you tomorrow.
Welding at the Lake by AI.
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