bidhardcore.com

Out of 13 auctions from user unionpride69 I can see a mere 3 that are not major marquee items. USHC is the specialty, for the most part Dischord. In fact I’m not exactly sure where to start here, so let me just say, I may end up bidding on at least one thing here. After some thought I may just ride this dude out for the rest of the week.  Here’s Part 1:

• Teen Idles - Minor Disturbance 7″  - not sure if this is the 1st or 2nd press but it is signed by all the members. Personally I’m not a fan of autographed hard core records, I think I’d rather have a clean mint copy. Geordie Grindle isn’t really a celeb, and his note of “why am I signing this” sums it up well. Nonetheless, it’s still sort of cool, and I mean, let’s face it, this is top shelf heat. One of the very first hard core records I ever heard, ”Sneakers” still amps me up, and on a side-note The Misfit’s “Nike-A-Go-Go” has a similar begining. Now that we’re talking about Nikes and Sneakers (well I am), let me mention www.heatunitreport.com. It’s much funnier than this blog, and it reads better too.  Anyhow, this record is essentially when the Teen Idles became a hardcore band, mostly by speeding up and playing about as fast as anyone in 1980. If you listen to their recordings from before then they have a scrappy kind of sub-Dangerhouse delivery, that I’m sure was ditched as soon as they’d seen the Circle Jerks on their notorious cali jaunt. Even though this record is remembered more for the iconic photo on the front, and the bands it begat, it is also remembered for the songs on it, which I think is attibutable to the fact that the music was originally written to be much more bouncy and tuneful, and then simply sped up to double time. This is why so few bands today that attempt to revist this style, can come up with anything worthwhile.
• State Of Alert - No Policy 7″ - Firstly let me note this is a first pressing on green vinyl. Secondly let me note I own this record, but I do not have a sleeve for it. If you have a spare sleeve, even for a different pressing of the record, I would like to trade with you! I have some good stuff, and a paying job. Okay so this record is once again kind of overshadowed by what it begat (namely Henry Garfield’s career as Rollins, but I guess also Iron Cross).  I said this in an earlier post, but I really mean it, the first time I heard this it was just a total paradigm shift for what “hard” sounded like, and it seemed like the coolest thing in the world that there was a lead-off song that was railing against drugs and booze. One thing that still blows my mind today is this music was basically written between 1980 and 1981 (most of these songs appear on their 1980 demo which I think is a better recording btw). There was almost no precedent for music this primal and primative, and this is a lot further removed from the punk before it than The Teen Idles. It’s like the 2 chord riff/1 note solo structure of Discharge, sped up faster, cut down to about 1/3 the length, and then injected with all the raukus knuckle-headed sentiment of British Oi bands, only I kind of think it’s cooler than both. This might be the first time a hard core band seemed to be purely hardcore, without much connection to the “punk sound” although that’s pretty debatable.
• Youth Brigade - Possible E.P. - Man. I love this record. In fact I may throw my hat in the ring here. So I could be blowing up my own spot, but fuck it, there’s a lot of them around I guess - well 1,000 anyway. One thing that always struck me about this record, and I guess the band in general is that it has a really heavy and driving sound, with thiiiiick bass, that’s a step apart from most of the other DC bands at the time, and thereafter (Minor Threat, Artificial Peace, Scream, GI’s, Faith, etc.). Did anyone else notice the Fight Back button on Nathan Strajeck’s jacket in certain photos in Banned In Dc? Youth Brigade tried to go on tour with Minor Threat but had to nix the whole thing a few days in because they had taken someone’s parent’s van without asking. The band disolved soon after, probably for no good reason, I really think they could have been contenders, but aside from this cult classic, the only other thing they can lay claim to are a demo, and a few comp tracks. Btw Cali-Youth Brigade never had anything on “Sick Of Things The Way They Are”. Some of the personel in the group made their way into other also-rans like Double-O, Second Wind, Madhouse (under rated lp!), and so on.
• Government Issue - Legless Bull 7″ - Ah Legless Bull. The John Stockton of the early Dischord “roster”. It’s not that it’s not very good, but when your teammates are Ewing,  Jordan, Bird, Magic, and Barkley, you just can’t expect to be a starter, but you can still make a career out of being on the dream team. Actually, that’s not fair, Stockton already had made a name for himself, if anything, the GI’s would be the Clyde Drexler or Christain Latener I guess (note: after some thought I’m going w/ Latener). I just always remember how short Stockton seemed, but only because he was dwarved by these giants (litterally as well as figuratively). My favorite GI’s album has always been Joy Ride which I have always thought would be good to skateboard to, and it’s at weird time when their Damned influence hadn’t completely taken over, but had been pretty obvious. I think Make An Effort is truely their shining moment though, with the best Stabb vocals, and the most memorable songs.
• Iron Cross - Skinhead Glory + Hated and Proud 7″s - I think if I continued along with the analogy in the Government Issue section above, it would make Iron Cross that Angolan dude that got elbowed by Charles Barkley. Ultimately a footnote, but noted nonetheless. Not known for being very good, but they were known to have been there. Leaving that behind, Iron Cross is one of the shittiest bands of all time. Frequently cited as “too slow” and as a “one-hit-wonder”, and rightfully so, though they’ve basically staked their legend on the fact that they were slow (citing various oi influences) and that their most popular song (Crucified) is still a punk staple today. They’re also a terribly confused mess, switching from a quasi-facist skinhead image replete with lyrics about gay-bashing, to a studs and bristles “look”, half way through their career, union-jack tshirts and all, and at least some attempt at more socially responsible lyrics.  At least YDL had English Nick to front their sketchy slow-core band. Seriously Skinhead Glory is one of the most ineptly performed, idiotic, atonal slabs to be remembered from the early days of hardcore BUT there is something I absolutely love about it. I could never pay the going rate for a copy, because somewhere in my brain I know it’s aweful, but there’s just a certain ignorant charm to the whole thing, although accounting for the wealthy backgrounds the members came from this may be the original suburban “thugcore” record. Hated and Proud finds the band trying to take a sensative stance on issues like… beating up the elderly, which you should NOT do I’ve learned. Also the recording is all treble, it sounds worse than the first record, but their guitar tuning skills have advanced. Still there is a cult around the band for being, I guess the first US Oi band, as well as intersecting with the early DC hard core scene.  Oh also the copy of Skinhead Glory is signed, which I will again note, doesn’t really add anything from my point of view. Is anyone kicking their heels for having Wendel Blow’s autograph?