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Are you looking for ultra rare punk rock cassette titles by some of the greatest punk rock bands ever? You gotta check out some of these awesome punk classics!
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Buzzcocks - Trade Test Transmissions - UK import cassette tape on Castle Records
Formed in Manchester, England, in 1975, the Buzzcocks were one of the most influential bands to emerge in the initial wave of punk rock. With their crisp melodies, driving guitars, and guitarist Pete Shelley's biting lyrics, the Buzzcocks were one of the best, most influential punk bands. The Buzzcocks were inspired by the Sex Pistols' energy, yet they didn't copy the Pistols' angry political stance. Instead, they brought that intense, brilliant energy to the three-minute pop song. Shelley's alternately funny and anguished lyrics about adolescence and love were some of the best and smartest of his era; similarly, the Buzzcocks' melodies and hooks were concise and memorable. Over the years, their powerful punk-pop has proven enormously influential, with echoes of their music being apparent in everyone from Hüsker Dü to Nirvana.
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Angry Samoans - Live at Rhino records - Cassette tape
Along with X, Black Flag, Fear and the Circle Jerks, the savagely satirical Angry Samoans rode the first wave of Los Angeles punk. Formed in Van Nuys, California in the summer of 1978, the band was founded by singers and guitarists "Metal" Mike Saunders and Gregg Turner, a pair of erstwhile rock critics who previously teamed with fellow writer Richard Meltzer in the group Vom. After considering names like the Egyptians and the Eigen Vectors (a mathematical term -- Turner later became a math professor), they settled on the Angry Samoans, enlisted Saunders' brother Kevin on guitar, bassist Todd Homer and drummer Bill Vockeroth, and initially set out as a Dictators cover band.
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Bongwater - The Power Of Pussy - Cassette tape on Shimmy Disc Records
Earlier recordings consisted of psychedelic-era cover songs, sound collages and originals in an abrasive and/or abstract, dense and sludgy experimental style with often punishing vocals by Magnuson on the songs "Frank" (a sardonic "tribute" to Frank Sinatra) and "Dazed and Chinese" (Led Zeppelin's "Dazed and Confused", sung in Mandarin). which approach evolved into a more poppy, sexy approach which still retained an experimental edge as well as retaining the surreal and wicked, often self-deprecating wit which had distinguished the group's earlier releases. Lengthy sound collages would often terminate or begin the songs and without warning, a spoken word monologue might cut into the music.
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D.O.A. - Talk Minus Action Equals Zero - Cassette tape on Restless Records
D.O.A. is not only Canada's most important punk band; they're also one of punk's most enduring bands, period. While many of the punk acts that emerged in the late '70s broke up in the '80s - that is, if they even stayed together until then -- D.O.A. was still going strong well into the '90s. Recorded at Club Soda in D.O.A.'s native Vancouver in 1989, Talk Minus Action Equals Zero is among the albums that demonstrate how exciting and vital the Canadians can be on-stage. The lineup on this CD consists of singer Joey "Shithead" Keithley, guitarist Chris "Humper" Prohom, bassist Brian Roy Goble, and drummer Jon Card. Together they prove quite riveting on such left-leaning, angrily socio-political rants as "Fuck You," "General Strike," "Liar for Hire," and "Race Riot." This performance was recorded 11 years after D.O.A.'s formation, and it's clear that the band softened their blow very little during those years.
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Dag Nasty - 1985-86 - Cassette tape on Selfless Records
Dag Nasty kept roaring D.C.-styled hardcore alive during the mid-'80s. Although the group was more accessible and melodic than Minor Threat, they never lost their bracing, blistering edge. Formed by former-Minor Threat and Meatmen guitarist Brian Baker and ex-DYS vocalist Dave Smalley, Dag Nasty recorded their first album, Can I Say (1986), with D.C.-punk guru Ian MacKaye assisting on the production. The following year, Smalley left the group; he was replaced by Peter Cortner, who added more pop elements to the band's sound. Dag Nasty moved from MacKaye's Dischord label to Giant in 1988, releasing their last album, Field Day. Along with former-Big Boy Chris Gates, Baker formed the metal band Junkyard in 1989, which released two records on Geffen before fading away. Dag Nasty came back together in 1992, releasing Four on the Floor for the growing underground punk scene that was only a few short years from breaking into the mainstream. The response was enthusiastic, but the band stepped away from the business again. Ten years later, they reunited with the emo rock call-to-arms Minority of One and released it on Revelation Records.
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Dead Milkmen - Instant Club Hit Youll Dance To Anything - Cassette tape on Restless Records
The most entertaining and ridiculous thing the band ever did takes deserved center stage - "Instant Club Hit (You'll Dance to Anything)." Consisting of drum machine fills, intentionally basic basslines and Rodney Anonymous' instantly recognizable sneer, it's a hilarious, all-too-knowing rip on '80s new wave / dance culture. With lines like "Oh, baby, look at you, don't you look like Siouxsie Sioux" and "'I met Andy Warhol at a really chic party/Blow it out your hair, dude, cuz you work at Hardee's!" it's hilarity personified (and bizarrely enough won them an appearance on an MTV dance show, where they encouraged a bout of stage diving). Nothing equals that song's sublime satire, but the Milkmen still stir things up with a touch more fire and sass than before
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GBH - From Here To Reality - Cassette tape on Restless Records
G.B.H.'s sixth album, 1990's From Here to Reality, marches on in the same direction as the preceding A Fridge Too Far -- only the hardcore is harder, the speed metal is faster, and the energy on display defies any suggestion that G.B.H. were anything but the same committed mob they'd always been. The new musical approach may not have been to everyone's taste -- their most loyal audiences were now in Japan and the U.S., from whence the hardcore influence oozed in the first place. But, within the parameters of that audience's demands, there was no respite. "New Decade" sensibly opens the album, and does so with a discordant edge that proves to be this album's key. From "Trust Me I'm a Doctor" to "The Old School of Self Destruction" and "Just in Time for the Epilogue,"classic latter-day G.B.H. permeates every cut and, though it's all a lot less melodic than Fridge, From Here to Reality compensates for that via a succession of chopstick rhythms and dislocated riffs, a series of edgy anthems whose relentless hammering established this among the crucial punk albums of the 1990s, before the decade was even a year old. Besides, there is respite at the end of the rainbow, as "Moonshine" uncorks a country & western-style knees-up, all sheet-keecking geetars and the world's worst Southern accent, and a guest appearance from Angus Young's cousin, the pseudonymous Casper Wyoming. It's a lunatic way of ending such a hard-hitting album, and it works all the better because of it. Welcome to the 1990s!
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Green River - Come On Down - Cassette tape featuring Pearl Jam and Mudhoney one Homestead Records
Green River were the among the first bands in Seattle to mix metal and punk, heavily influenced by Iggy Pop's original proto-punk group The Stooges, leading to the sound known later as "grunge". Mark Arm, the group's vocalist, is widely credited as being the first person to use the term, though not in relation to the sound it has come to signify. The members were Mark Arm (vocals), and original guitarist Steve Turner, both of whom went on to play in the Thrown-ups and later form Mudhoney (even further down the timeline they played together in the side project The Monkeywrench as well); Jeff Ament (bass) and Stone Gossard (guitar), who went on to Mother Love Bone and Pearl Jam, Bruce Fairweather (guitar), who also went on to Mother Love Bone, and Alex Vincent (drums).
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Reagan Youth - Volume 2 - Cassette tape on New Red Archives Records
Reagan Youth was an American hardcore punk band started by singer Dave Rubinstein (Dave Insurgent) and his friend and guitarist Paul Bakija in Queens in early 1980. They have been labeled peace punk as well as hardcore. Their name is a word play on Hitler Youth. An important group in the New York/New Jersey hardcore scene, they performed very regularly at CBGB and toured the U.S. extensively, often with other early punk bands such as the Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains and The Misfits. The Beastie Boys and Rancid, among other significant successful punk rock and alternative rock groups, have cited Reagan Youth as an influence.
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Redd Kross - Born Innocent - Cassette tape on Frontier Records
Originally issued in 1982, Born Innocent was the debut full-length release from Redd Kross, a band of suburban L.A. youth fronted by brothers Jeff (guitar, vocals) and Steve McDonald (bass). Aged 18 and 14, respectively, the aspiring punks are aided and abetted here by rhythm guitarist Tracy Lee and drummers Janet Housden and John Stielow as they attack these 16 songs with all the patience of over-stimulated teens and all the subtlety of a slasher flick. The average song length falls below the two-minute mark, during which time Jeff McDonald's whine is rarely coherent above the clamor of his band's brutal rock assault. The punk negation of titles like "Kill Someone You Hate," "Look up at the Bottom," and "Notes and Chords Mean Nothing to Me" couldn't be more appropriate descriptions for this music. "Solid Gold" is a slice of dislocated blues while "St. Lita Ford Blues" disintegrates from a stop-start punk party (complete with jubilant screams) to a raucous three-chord blur. Included for good measure are tributes to both actress Linda Blair ("Linda Blair") and serial killer Charles Manson ("Charlie" and a cover of Manson's own "Cease to Exist"). Though subsequent releases found Redd Kross cleaning up their act, this debut captures them in all their youthful glory; documenting the sound of the McDonalds and company unleashed on an unsuspecting set of guitars, bass, and drums.
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Samiam - Samiam/Underground - Cassette tape on New Red Archives Records
Compared to the pop and polish of its later releases, Samiam is barely recognizable on its self-titled debut. The sound is raw and angry, highly influenced by hardcore. But Jason Beebout's lyrics, though more cryptic than his later works, distinctly place Samiam in the realm of emocore. Instead of making broad political statements, like the early-'80s hardcore bands, Beebout turned inward, while the music stayed fast and furious -- still a novel concept on the West Coast in 1989. A sample line from "The Bridge": "My bridge is too unstable, the insecurity is letting go." Some of these songs later appeared on the collection The New Red Years.
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