Manny, Moe, and Jack

God I love 1980s hardcore and punk.

Fuck Ronald Reagan, fuck his memory, and fuck what he and the baboons that love him have done to our country. If I have to see hagiographies to that senile old crook celebrating the fact that he’d be 100 this weekend, this may be the only way to deal with it. I’m glad he’s dead, and frankly I wish he had died before he could have run for president, never mind governor.

I shit on his legacy.

Adding: leave it to the Dead Kennedys. They were right about Reagan from day one. We’ve got a bigger problem now.

and hey, why not this too:

I think it’s the entire album.

And here’s 20 hardcore songs in 10 minutes:

…including some REALLY old Beastie Boys.

Get the fuck away from me,
I think i’m gonna be sick
I’m usually a pretty tolerant guy
But you’re such a fucking dick…

one to two

There are things I’d like to say
that I’ve said too many times before
Things I should have done
instead of looking for a way to get out
You’ll never know the sorrow I felt
or the hours I’ve laid awake
thinking about just what you said
How could you know how I felt?
I never took the time to figure it out
or see how the problems arose
I tried to blame the two of you
I can only blame myself
for the pain we felt
There are words I should have spoken
but I kept my fucking mouth shut instead
Words would’ve made the difference
but they always stayed unsaid
Why won’t you ever see?
Why won’t you even see?
It’s not just me

circles

I wouldn’t speak my mind
I didn’t want to make them mad
I looked up to them
for the courage I thought I didn’t have
I never bothered to lift a finger to make my point
now I’m spelling it out
and nobody’s listening
it’s hard to take it to heart
it hurts to be apart
but I can’t watch and not be heard
the days go by and things get worse
but they say they can only get better
I try to make a dent
but it blends in with all the damage
I try to look the other way
but there’s a mirror behind me
I see images of what can be done
it seems like I’m the only one
I wouldn’t speak my mind

For no particular reason other than it’s a great Black Flag song from a great movie. And for added fun, can you spot the Chili Pepper?

This is going to be one awesome documentary. The Bad Brains are one of the best, if not THE best hardcore bands I have ever seen in my entire life.

The bourgeoisie had better watch out for me. All throughout this so called nation, we don’t want your filthy money, we don’t need your innocent bloodshed. We just wanna end your world. Well my minds made up. Yes, it’s time for you to pay, better watch out for me. I’m a member of the F.V.K….

And yes indeed, Don’t care what they may say, we got that attitude! Don’t care what they may do, we got that attitude! AYYY! Got that PMA.

When I heard Uniform Choice from Orange County California (probably sometime around 86 or 87), it rocked my world as hard as Minor Threat did. They had that same straight-edge sound I loved so much.

But today one of my favorite songs from that album, the title cut “Screaming for Change”, popped into my head again. Whether you like hardcore music or not, and i’m sure a lot fo you don’t care for it, it is impossible to tell me thse lyrics don’t matter:

Screaming
For a change
Forever reaching
To once again rearrange
Another struggle
With the wind in my face
Forever blowing
But this time at my pace

Screaming for change
Still screaming
Screaming for change

Some is better than one
But some just isn’t enough
I hope the best is yet to come
But hope alone won’t stand

I-Scream-For-Change

Understand that you make a difference
No difference between you and I
Look beyond the shadowing surface
Take the time don’t limit your mind

When I look at what’s going on in my world today, at the flatulent and ultimately empty promises of hope and change, I realize I’m going to be screaming for change for a long, long time. It’s nice to have a soundtrack.

Slamming in the 1980s, no idea what show this was.
At the time there was this whole “skate and destroy” meme going around. I wanted to destroy plenty of things just as much as anyone else, but I never figured out what the two had in common.

Given how angry we made the cops, I thought “skate and annoy” was a much better motto, and wrote it on the brim of my hat.

Good times.

I’d put this photo at or about 1986. That’s my buddy Kellfire Bray in the beret (berets were cool in the 1980s). The reason the mohawk is so shiny is because I would obsessively apply the strongest Aqua-Net hairspray available (it came in the white can) over the course of the day: I slept on my side (still do), and in the morning I’d straighten my mohawk, hit it with a lint brush to get any scraps off of it, and pssssssshhhhhhht, more Aqua-Net.

Good times, great hair.