Movie Review: SLC Punk

I've seen this film once before...When I was 16. It was good then. Now, I'm 21 and I decided to relive a film that had some bearing on the development of who I am today...

Maybe I avoided this film again because of the obvious stigma this movie holds in the punk community. Most view it as a piece of shit. Maybe it is, but only if you really want to call it a "punk" movie. It's basically an 80s teen comedy set in punk land. There's nothing wrong with 80s teen comedy's (John Hughes was the shit...RIP), but the movie should not be taken as a guideline for impressionable youths trying to defy social norms by dressing trendy with all the sheep. It works as what I said it works as. Anything else however, it fails miserably...

It's basically a 90 minute long introduction. The film is basically "Hey, I'm a punk and I believe in anarchy" and "Now that you know that, here's my friends, who are mostly punks and believe in anarchy as well"...And the film even calls anarchy a "system of government", when it's clearly just "no government", followed by personal opinion whether you talk to a crusty or a chaos punk about it...The film fails in that there really isn't a plot type plot. It just presents things as they are in Salt Lake City and babbles on for fucking ever...And if there is a plot, it's hidden good as fuck, because you're distracted every other minute by some stupid flashback (some of which are funny) or a pointless rant by Shaggy. It fucking blows. It kinda works like a pilot episode, in that they set up and introduce for the whole run time...What's sad is that this also wouldn't work as a pilot, cause they kill off the only character that's likable (Heroin Bob).

It ends on too much of a downer. Someone always dies in these punk movies. It's like the kid in Suburbia, except that part was funny. This movie loses it's humor and get's all up it's ass in the third act. Fuck that. Make me laugh for fuck's sake. It's a fucking comedy. But still, my biggest gripe is that they don't kill off Shaggy...

Fuckin' Shaggy lives, but the lovable Travis Bickle look alike doesn't? What the fucking fuck!

And then there's the ending, after Bob dies...

The motherfucker becomes a lawyer? Shaggy is gonna fuckin' decide shit in court? Maybe the message is "grow the fuck up and get a job"...And I kinda like that message now that I think about it. This movie says more against punk than it does for it. So, the next time some 16 year old kid at Hot Topic buys it, I hope he or she gets the fucking message. Stop fucking dressing like a clown and get a god damned job you fucking waste of life. I hope you get aids and die. Thank Joe Pesci for this movie.

The movie would of been good if Heroin Bob were the lead character. Matthew Lillard is unlikeable in every movie I've seen him in. You feel no compassion for his character whatsoever. You feel bad for Bob and that's about it. Fuck this film.

Emergency Hour-The Children's Hour

I really hate the majority of what comes through my email. Some of the shit is so god awful bad that it makes Limp Bizkit sound like a viable listening option. Thankfully, these guys are only half bad. These guys are called Emergency Hour and hail from Albuquerque, New Mexico. They have been making tune-age since they were in 8th grade and have been around for a few years now. There are elements of both punk rock and early hardcore to be found here...

In all honesty, they remind me of all those obscure musically talented hardcore punk bands from Bumfuck nowhere that only released one or two EPs or LPs (that can be found on some of those other blogs) and then abruptly drifted off into the abyss. There is something to be said about all of those hardcore gems that circulate the internet...And that is that most of them suck, but some are still great. I find this to be somewhere in the upper middle to higher end, you know...Half bad, but still kinda fucking really good...The vocals kind of turned me off a bit at first, but they grew on me, kinda like a tumor or Bob Saget does. Hell, I can find fault with everything though, except for maybe food, cause I'm fat. So, I am recommending it. It's punk rock, in all it's shit-tasticly good glory. I like it...So, enjoy!

To the band: If you're ever in California, I'll book you guys a show with my band.

Emergency Ahead-The Children's Hour:

1. Digital Age
2. Testing
3. Bomb In The School
4. Over There
5. Self Destruct
6. Run Away
7. Eat The Fetus
9. Insignificant
10. No Mind
11. Puking Up The Pieces
12. Emergency Ahead

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Doggy Style-Side By Side

For those who don't know the history (This link is pretty useful), Doggy Style is Daddy X from the Kottonmouth Kings' first band. Putting that entirely aside, they fucking kicked ass. This is what you'd call O.C. skate punk that knows how to have a good time...Very fun and energetic, but not really pissed off. Enjoy!

Doggy Style-Side By Side:

1. Be Strong
2. Side By Side
3. Still Hope
4. Nympho
5. Straight
6. Bite The Bone
7. Donut Shop Rock
8. Enough
9. Ladies From Neptune
10. Rookie Cop
11. Denial
12. Skate Party
13. Do It Doggy Style

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Just Buzzed-Demo

Just Buzzed is my friend Taylor's new band. They play fast paced hardcore punk are actually quite good at playing their instruments...I saw them last night at the Karma in Victorville. In all honesty, the recordings here suck and are not a proper representation of the band, but at least will get you by until they release a real record, which I will post here for free, thus fucking them out any profit. Yes, I would do that to my friends. I am a bastard. Now, download these motherfuckers and enjoy!

Click their logo to download:

Lard-Pure Chewing Satisfaction

Lard is basically Jello Biafra (Dead Kennedys) and Al Jourgensen (Ministry), with various other members of Ministry, playing a hybrid of Industrial, Hardcore and Metal. If you're in the mood for something different, check this out. Enjoy!

Lard-Pure Chewing Satisfaction:

1. War Pimp Renaissance
2. I Wanna Be A Drug Sniffing Dog
3. Moths
4. Generation Execute
5. Faith, Hope And Treachery
6. Peeling Back The Foreskin Of Liberty
7. Mangoat
8. Sidewinder

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Bad Religion-How Could Hell Be Any Worse?

Bad Religion's remastered version of "How Could Hell Be Any Worse?" is basically a remastered version of "80-85"...This is basically everything released during that period except for their progressive rock piece of shit, "Into The Unknown" (which has been purposely out of print since it's release). It includes "How Could Hell Be Any Worse?", the "Bad Religion" EP, the "Back To The Known" EP and Bad Religion's three tracks from the "Public Service" compilation released on Smoke 7 Records in 1981 (Re-issued in 2003 on Puke & Vomit Records).

It's worth noting that the band doesn't really sound like Bad Religion until the "Back To The Known" EP (Tracks 21-25), where Graffin adopts his signature vocal sound...You can't hear any hints of "Suffer" or "No Control" really on anything except for that. The rest is your standard, yelled-vocal, fast as fuck hardcore punk with very little melodic sensibility when lined up to their later material. Sure, there is some pop-sensibility...Certainly more so than other bands of the time...One other thing that could be said though, is that the songs don't all sound alike. I mean, for hardcore punk that is...They hadn't yet fallen into the whole "Bad Religion" trap where everything sounds the fucking same...Either way, they were and still are, a great band. This is a great record. Enjoy!

Bad Religion-How Could Hell Be Any Worse?:

1. We're Only Gonna Die For Our Arrogance
2. Latch Key Kids
3. Part 3
4. Faith In God
5. Fuck Armageddon...This Is Hell
6. Pitty
7. In The Night
8. Damned To Be Free
9. White Trash (Second Generation)
10. American Dream
11. Eat Your Dog
12. Voice Of God Is Government
13. Oligarchy
14. Doing Time
15. Bad Religion
16. Politics
17. Sensory Overload
18. Slaves
19. Drastic Actions
20. World War 3
21. Yesterday
22. Frogger
23. Bad Religion
24. Along The Way
25. New Leaf
26. Bad Religion
27. Slaves
28. Drastic Actions

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Agression-Agression

To be honest, Agression's self-titled record doesn't hold nearly as much of a special place in my heart as "Don't Be Mistaken" does...That doesn't mean it's a bad record in my eyes, it's just not as good. I'm sure that there'll be some asshole who comments and says "You don't know what you're talking about" and "Your blog sucks ass"...Hell, I readily admit that my blog does in fact, suck ass, but I have my opinions and opinions are like assholes in that everyone has one. Let's say, this is more rock than punk rock, but still punk as fuck and a bit more technical...It's fucking badass, just not as classic as "Don't Be Mistaken". I just have a hard on for Nardcore and Skate punk bands, so I like. What's even worse though, is that before posting this, I hadn't heard any of this record since 2006...I liked it more then. Enjoy!

Agression-Agression:

1. Rich Kids
2. Dear John Letter
3. I'm Alive
4. Salty Leather
5. The Keeper
6. Guillotine
7. Go To War
8. Voo Doo Stew
9. Watching You
10. Never Alone
11. Foxy Lady
12. Drunk On Your Love
13. Ripped Off

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Buy their "Best Of" record here

Revolution Mother-Glory Bound

I saw these guys open for Social Distortion about a year and a half back. They stole the show. Revolution Mother is Mike Vallely's second music venture, the prior being Mike V. & The Rats. Revolution Mother pretty much blows The Rats out of the water and fucks them with an icepick. Musically, they sound like what the mid-80s Black Flag should of sounded like, or maybe even a slowed down version of Zeke. Basically, it's hard driving metal-tinged punk rock that is primarily played at a not too fucking fast tempo, but still never looses any of it's energy. It's fucking good. You should download it...Enjoy!

Revolution Mother-Glory Bound:

1. Come On
2. Above The Crawl
3. Switchblades & Urethane
4. Bullet
5. Burning From The Inside
6. Do Or Die
7. The Real Deal
8. The Accuser
9. Hole In The Sky
10. Who I Am
11. Roll Tonight

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NOFX-S&M Airlines

NOFX-S&M Airlines:

1. Day To Daze
2. Five Feet Under
3. Professional Castration
4. Mean People Suck
5. Vanilla Sex
6. S&M Airlines
7. Drug Free America
8. Life O'Riley
9. You Drink You Drive You Spill
10. Scream For Change
11. Jaundiced Eye
12. Go Your Own Way

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NOFX-Liberal Animation

NOFX-Liberal Animation:

1. Shut Up Already
2. Freedumb
3. Here Comes The Neighborhood
4. A200 Club
5. Sloppy English
6. You Put Your Chocolate In My Peanut Butter
7. Mr. Jones
8. Vegetarian Mumbo Jumbo
9. Beer Bong
10. Piece
11. I Live In A Cake
12. No Problems
13. On The Rag
14. Truck Stop Blues

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Suicidal Tendencies-Prime Cuts

Suicidal Tendencies has always been one of the more musically polarizing bands. They have never truly conformed to one genre, and while they are rooted primarily in crossover thrash and hardcore, they do experiment with funk and some other shit from time to time. This doesn't really cause a major rift in their fan base, like the whole Danzig/Graves/"I like em both, but fuck Only" thing does for the Misfits, but there are the distinct camps of diehard Suicidal fans who like it all and then there's the "Hey, I like their hardcore albums, but everything else is ass" clique.

"Prime Cuts" is greatest hits of sorts, but it only includes the material made during their years on Epic, so expect it to be heavy on thrash and funk, while being light on punk. Even the songs from their first record are the re-recorded ones from "Still Cyco..." that sucks ass. Rest assured, there is something here for everyone. It's definitely worth a listen, but I seriously recommend sifting through their entire discography, as there are plenty of gems to be found...And yes, you will have to sit through some shit...Download this for a taste, then get on the other blogs or get a fucking torrent to get the rest (You could buy it?). I'm lazy and am not posting the rest out of fear of Mike Muir showing up at my house and kicking my ass. I figure they won't care too much on this one, cause this was an unauthorized release to begin with...Enjoy!

Suicidal Tendencies-Prime Cuts

1. You Can't Bring Me Down
2. Join the New Army
3. Lovely
4. Institutionalized
5. Gotta Kill Captain Stupid
6. Berserk
7. I Saw Your Mommy
8. Pledge Your Allegiance
9. Feeding the Addiction
10. I Wasn't Meant to Feel This/Asleep at the Wheel
11. Send Me Your Money
12. No Fuck'n Problem
13. Go Skate! (Possessed to Skate '97)
14. Nobody Hears
15. How Will I Laugh Tomorrow

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Yuppie Pricks-Broker's Banquet

If any reader has ever had the luxury of having XM Radio and ever listened to Channel 53 (Fungus), then you've more than likely already been introduced to The Yuppie Pricks. If you haven't, think everything hardcore punk has come to stand against made into hardcore punk songs. The band defies political correctness by pandering to the excessive nature of the right end of the political spectrum in a fiercely leftist punk world...This is a band that Patrick Bateman would surely enjoy...I am pretty much positive that it's all in good fun...Actually pretty much certain...They're on Alternative Tentacles for fuck's sake. So yeah...Enjoy!

Yuppie Pricks-Broker's Banquet:

1. Coke Party
2. Hummer In My Hummer
3. Mirror Mirror
4. Rich Bitch
5. Gonna Die Rich
6. Cherry Red
7. Day Spa
8. Boo-Fucking-Hoo
9. Black Tuesday
10. Paycheck
11. Prick For President
12. New Rolls
13. Damn It Feels Good To Be A Yuppie

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Fear

Click on the album cover to download: