This Is Boston, Not L.A.

I couldn't think of any album more fitting to start this monster thread of Boston punk/hardcore/metal than the phenomenal compilaiton, "This Is Boston, Not L.A." Featuring eraly-career tracks from such Boston punk/HC luminaries as Gang Green, The F.U.'s (later to become the Straw Dogs,) Jerry's Kids, and The Freeze among others, "This Is Boston..." served as the defining moment in the very early Boston scene.

The following review was written and posted online by someone who has a great grasp of what this album meant to people when it dropped. FYI - this is a review of the original vinyl release from '82. The rip here is from the CD re-released by Wicked Discs. The re-release also contained the "Unsafe At Any Speed" EP, which accounts for the extra songs at the end of this upload:

"You know those moments in your life when you experience something for the first time and you think to yourself, “Wow! This is amazing! I like this so much I’m going to ______ for the rest of my life!” Now unless the ______ you’re filling in is “shoot heroin” or “listen to my talking dog” this is usually a positive development. It happened to me when I first met my wife. And when I first went steelhead fishing. But my very first life changing experience, the first time I knew that things would never be the same, I was much younger….

Becoming Punk

I was 13 in 1985. I remember that summer more clearly than any other time in my childhood. ’85 in Boston was a very hot summer. When I close my eyes now and think back, I can almost smell the melting asphalt of the streets that I would race down on my fat, bright green, Sears-bought skateboard. I can see the broken glass on the sidewalk glinting in the sun and hear the static skit-skit-skit of the wheels beneath me.

I’m not a very sociable person, never have been, but at 13 I was feeling particularly alone. That summer my older brother Ed, who I usually hung out with, had gone off and got himself a job scooping ice cream at J.P. Licks. With no one to hang out with my days were spent cruising around the city streets on my cheap skateboard and sitting at home in the air conditioning figuring out how to use my parents old TRS-80 Model 3.

One day my brother brought home a very strange looking kid that he worked with at the ice cream shop. I knew he was from my bother’s job because he worked in Cambridge and there is a lot of weird looking people in Cambridge. We were introduced and I leaned that his name was Rusty. Rusty Nails. Rusty had brought a bunch of records with him that he was lending my brother. They both disappeared upstairs to Ed’s room and soon I heard the muffled sound of music and my brother’s god awful bass playing filtering down through the floor.

The next day I sneaked into my brother’s room to peruse his minute collection of old porn mags and found Rusty’s pile of records sitting in the middle of the floor. I was curious as to what kind of music interested someone who looked so much different (and cooler) than the people in my neighborhood. Up to this point music wasn’t really important to me, it was just something that provided background noise to whatever activity I was involved in. Listening to music was not an activity in and of itself.

I pushed the records around in front of me, fanning them out like a deck of cards. I played the records one by one from the top of the pile down. Looking back now I realize that Rusty had some pretty eclectic taste in music, everything from Echo and the Bunnymen to Fishbone. I liked most of it, especially the funny stuff, but I’d hit a slump of three or four slow goth albums and was quickly getting bored. Deciding to give Rusty’s music one more shot before I went out skateboarding I reached for This is Boston Not L.A. and experienced the mystical revelation that is Punk Rock.

My jaw dropped and the hair on the back of my head stood up as flailing guitars and screeching feedback turned me into a new person. 30 second songs filled with chaos and immediacy poured out from my brother’s cheap speakers and into my ears, entering my brain and changing me forever. I felt the metamorphosis come over me as I slowly became charged with this vital energy. I thought to myself, “Wow! This is amazing! I’m going to listen to punk rock for the rest of my life!”

The Record

I didn’t know it then, but I was listening to some of the finest hardcore punk rock ever created.

With the success of other regional punk scene compilations like Flex Your Head and Process of Elimination, the Boston record and comics store Newbury Comics decided to release their own comp., documenting the bands who made up the Boston hardcore scene of the time. This is Boston Not L.A. was the 12th release on Newbury’s label, Modern Method, having been recorded in 1982, a time when the sound of American punk/hardcore was still evolving. This diversity of style is well represented in the artists selected in the compilation. Some of these bands have talent and some do not, but they all have something to say. Remember, these bands were young and raw, the average band member age in Gang Green on this recording is 15.

There are thirty tracks in all, from seven different bands. If you care, the average time on these songs is about minute each.

The Songs

Jerry’s Kids have the first six songs:

1. Straight Jacket
2. Uncontrollable
3. Wired
4. Desperate
5. Pressure
6. I don’t wanna

Jerry’s Kids play with a full-on sloppy/fast hardcore style reminiscent of Minor Threat or a sped up Circle Jerks. The songs are short, with simple to the point lyrics. The stand out cut here “Uncontrollable” about how much it sucks to be the unpopular kid no one wants to be around. The singing is so full of anger, the lyrics are almost choked out instead of sung. Like most of the bands here, if it wasn’t for the lyric sheet I’d be lost. Jerry’s Kids were never known for being the most talented band in Boston, but the ferocity of their playing and the desperate, emotionally raw sound they generated, created some of the most “punk” music I’ve ever heard.

Proletariat

7. Options
8. Religion is the opium of the masses
9. Allegiance

Proletariat are the odd men out on this record. A highly political leftist/communist band they sound more like the British punk of the time than anything coming out of the US. Their stand out song is “Religion is the opium of the masses”, a rallying cry to enlightenment and a wake up call to people following church dogma like sheep. Not technically hardcore, this is still good, sparse sounding punk rock reminiscent of non-ska Citizen Fish.

Groinoids

10. Angel

The Groinoids have only one song on This is Boston not LA, but it’s still a good representation of garage punk. Played fast but very sloppy, with lyrics that make no sense at all, The Groinoids are probably the most forgettable band on here. Maybe if I’d ever heard more of their stuff I might feel different, but I was never compelled to search that out.

The FU’s

11. Preskool dropouts
12. Radio UNIX USA
13. Green beret
14. Time is money

The FU’s were an amazing and influential hardcore band from Boston who put out quite a few excellent records. Sounding a lot like bands from the early New York scene the FU’s blazed through their minute long songs with a thumping double time put down by a unusually talented drummer. Their stand out cut is Radio UNIX USA, a song which encapsulates all that punk and hardcore music was created to rally against.

Gang Green

15. Snob
16. Lie Lie
17. I don’t know
18. Rabies
19. Narrow Mind
20. Kill a commie
21. Have fun

How can I describe the God-like punk rock experience that is these seven songs from Gang Green? Blazingly fast on all fronts, with a lead singer forcing his voice to do things no human throat should be forced to endure, these Gang Green songs ALL stand out. If I were to play this record for someone with absolutely no exposure to hardcore, they would recognize that what is happening with this band transcends the intensity of anything else they’ve heard. Speed, intensity and cohesive song structure are the traits that put Gang Green in a class all their own. All of these songs clock in at under 35 seconds, most with 2 to 3 second insane guitar solos. From the initial blast of feedback to the final chord played Gang Green never lets up. If I had to pick a favorite song I’d have to say “Rabies”, but really they are all better than 99% of all the other punk rock music ever made.

Decadance

22. Slam

Decadance also have only the one song here, but it’s a classic nonetheless. Remember when slam dancing and the mosh pit weren’t parts of the popular lexicon? Back before the days of football jocks making football field sized pits at Woodstock? Well, that’s what this one’s all about. A little dated now, but if you close your eyes and listen closely, you can still hear the honesty in this song. LA style mid-tempo hardcore that gets you ready to Move some SH!theads Over.

The Freeze

23. Broken Bones
24. Idiots at happy hour
25. Now or never
26. Sacrifice not suicide
27. It’s only alcohol
28. Trouble if you hide
29. Time bomb
30. This is Boston not LA

The Freeze are probably the most musically talented band represented here. Known for writing longer songs (up to 1minute :30!) with clever, story based lyrics, they played some of the best punk rock loser anthems ever recorded. Their songs are about racism, townie-ism, and narrow minds. Finest among them is "Broken Bones", a rousing sing-a-long about being the only weird kid at the party and what pea-brained drunks will do to prove their man-hood. With an amazing rhythm section, The Freeze drop seven golden gems of punk rock goodness. Of all the bands on this compilation, The Freeze were the one band who would go on to continue recording relevant music. If you pick this up and like their stuff go get “Token Bones” the Freeze retrospective, it’s an excellent overview of their music.


The Lowdown

Sitting down in front of my brother’s stereo with that pile of records during that hot summer afternoon in Boston was the first time I ever heard music that forced me to listen, music that would never allow itself to become just background noise. It changed my life forever. If you are at all interested in early 80’s punk/hardcore and have never head This is Boston Not LA, drop what you’re doing and go get it. You’ve been missing a classic.

If you’re into today’s music, nu metal (bizkit) or pop-punk (blink182) and are not hopelessly narrow-minded pick up this comp and get educated.

With that I’ll leave you with a snippet of the lyrics from The FU’s song Radio UNIX USA. This pretty much sums up what punk rock means to me…

I wish I was a man like you
I wish I could look so bad
As you sing all your hit songs
‘bout all the sex you’ve ever had.

Your riffs are so mean and professionally clean,
I’m impressed with all your preteen groupies,
And how you really know how to rock.
I’m impressed with all the money you’ve made,
Sucking record executive c*cks.

Your riffs are so mean and professionally clean,
So tight-@ssed controlled are your five minute solos,
But you’ve got,

NO BALLS, NO BALLS, NO BALLS, NO BALLS! (X8) "

The only issue I have with the above review is the author's assertation that The Freeze is the only band that went on to record anything relevant. I think that statement is not only untrue, but borderline idiotic. Gang Green released the genuis "Another Wasted Night," The F.U.'s released "My America" and then became The Straw Dogs and released a couple of killer albums and Jerry's Kids would go on to release "Is This My World?" which I think is one of the best Boston HC albums to come out...not to mention that members from these bands went on to play with such bands as Agnostic Front and Mung. I think a sweeping statement on a band's musical "relevance" is ill-founded, especially in such an otherwise killer review.

Get this.

http://rapidshare.de/files/7546445/Boston_Not_LA1.zip
http://rapidshare.de/files/7546567/Boston_Not_LA2.zip