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Stuart Schrader of www.Shit-Fi.com returns with a write up of the alltime classic Jezus and the Gospelfuckers demo tape.  Read on!

Jezus and the Gospelfuckers’ cassette, released in 1982, offers everything the discerning punk of today could desire: over-the-top Discharge-influenced lead-driven raging hardcore, song titles like “Kill the Police” and “Live Fast Die Young,” a crucifix-ejaculating skeleton crucified on a penis as a logo, a cassette-only release of course, and, the name, oh, that name!

As is rarely the case today, the music matches the reputation (and vice versa). J&TGF were a rowdy group of nihilistic leather-jacketed misanthropes who drugged, fucked, robbed, and stabbed their way from the ho-hum closing days of the 70s punk scene into the 80s and the by-the-throat musical inferno that exploded after Stoke-on-Trent’s shot heard ‘round the world, “Realities of War.” Yes, J&TGF’s anti-everything stance may not have neatly fit in with the politically engaged Dutch punks of the late 70s, but the music they played circa 1979 was above-average snotty pogo punk. Then, they heard Discharge and their attitude found its sound. But J&TGF were no clones. They used their own rabid energy and formidable musical chops to produce a sound no other band has quite matched. It is metallic insofar as, unlike so much hardcore, it does not eschew lead guitar. In fact, the lead guitar is wild, aggressive, and nonstop. It feels less like an indulgent, boring, predictable rocknroll solo (which is what hardcore meant to decry by avoiding solos altogether) than a Gatling gun stuck on kill. The nine songs on the tape are distinct, memorable, and drenched in adrenaline (or is it amphetamine?).

As cassette-only releases from the 80s go, this one is in the mid-range of rarity. Its sheer brilliance meant that word spread quickly and the band was able to distribute a lot of copies. But it is a cassette, so probably many fewer remain in existence than if it had been a record. The original is easy to spot because it has labels stuck on it. The j-card insert is nothing fancy, with the song titles, that logo, and the member names. For around 20 years, this cassette had the distinction of being considered by the cognoscenti the best hardcore recording never to be released on vinyl. A few years back, it was reissued on vinyl (and CD) as a split with Agent Orange (reissuing their two EPs), perhaps the only band that could be considered to have topped J&TGF at their own game—except it was pretty much the same band with some new members. Agent Orange, of course, recorded a new version of J&TGF’s anthem “Kill the Police,” though I think I prefer the slowed-down barbiturate swagger of the original. Anyway, the split LP includes a booklet with cool photos and perhaps the single greatest piece of writing about hardcore punk ever, the bands’ biography. The LP also includes a couple bonus tracks by Agent Orange and Genocide Express. If the madness of seeking out original cassettes from the 80s has not yet infected your cortex, this reissue should be relatively easy to track down. But this cassette is about as close as you can get to that bygone era, and the music it contains seems to me a pretty good justification for continued fetishization of something most would today find repulsive and frightening if encountered on the backstreets.

(This eBay seller is also auctioning some other essential 80s hardcore records, including Shotgun Solution’s lone EP, which is Southern Europe’s answer to J&TGF/Agent Orange and one of the most over-the-top records ever.) [editor’s note: there are 2 copies of the Shotgun Solution 7″ on ebay right now. wtf?]

Jezus and the Gospelfuckers demo tape