X 'Hate City' 7"Record Review

1977 was that strange crossroads where that incendiary initial punk rock explosion had been ignited, but was already splintering into myriad genres and already being claimed as 'over' as quickly as it had begun. The Heartbreakers, Pistols Buzzcocks and many others helped establish punk as a reactive force that altered the way people viewed music. The pomposity and flagrant showmanship of the larger rock world (though rad in its own way) ceded to a more amateur-hour, visceral group of disaffected youth who had little regard for the formalities of musical training or crowd pandering. Whereas The Sonics were Little Richard influenced, The Dolls indebted to the Shangri-La's and The Ramones were coated in a thin patina pf Beach Boys worship, other bands like the Dead Boys, The Pagans, The Testors, etc. took that original punk rock ideaolgy established by the forbearers and began turning it into something else. Things started to get uglier, meaner, sloppier, more utilitarian and we begin to see the onset of what would eventually become hardcore. Middle Class, Teen Idles, Black Fag and many others exploded out of the punk rock template laid down by The Stooges and created a venomous and destructive offshoot.

But in-between that were bands like X. Not the X from L.A. who played a terrific version of rockabilly inflected punk rock that I adore, but the X from Australia. And folks, this ain't Radio Birdman. Though sitting snugly within the blue based fundamentals of rock n' roll, this 7" by X displays a band blurring that line between Chuck Berry based punk and the fast, raw and ire-riddled bands that defined late 70's hardcore. I love soupy, shitty production, and this sounds like a live in the studio recording. Dunno if it actually is, but whatever. 'Hate City' is especially sick. I mean, what a rad hook to start the song with shouted, anthemic vocals buttressed by Cheetah Chrome guitar licks and a fist-raising chorus along with a pretty sloppy 2 note lead. A bit of Crime in there for good measure. Total comp-tape worthy gem, which makes the single worth it for that track alone. But the whole thing is super rad. 'Home is Where the Floor Is,' especially is a stepping stone from the rock of the past to the hardcore of the future. This tune also sounds like their Australian brethren in Victims.. 'Good on Ya Baby,' is the one song where you can hear the Rose Tattoo background that some members had, and it does have that super rad AC/DC amateur-hour guitar chunk to it. The band went on to release a great LP called 'Inspirations' I also recommend.

This was put out by Dirt Cult Records, who release a ton of killer garage punk records. This was done in an edition of 500 copies and was nicely packaged along with lyrics insert. I got this at Amoeba Records last time I was in San Francisco and super glad I carted this home to Minneapolis. Taking records home in a plane can be a fucking hassle, especially if you have LP's, so I usually buy a huge stack of singles and get home to excitedly drink NA beers and plow through my purchases. This was one of those bands I had heard of, but had never listened to, so its been a joy to get to know the band better through these early recordings. Great punk rock record from a great punk rock label. Perfect for lighting the curtains on fire and dancing around the room spilling your drink!

This is the very first vinyl muse review, and I don't wanna spend time dissecting this as I want this blog to be organic, so, many any more reviews to come, but I dunno if the format will be shorter, longer, or what, but guess what, it's my blog and I can do whatever the fuck I want, so, hooray for me.