Discharge - 2 Albums, an EP and a Compilation

Discharge formed in 1977 but it wasn't until their first release - 1980's "Realities of War" that they began to shape the sound and style of UK82 and with it helped spawn a wave of European hardcore. They were a main influence on thrash, hardcore, crust & D-beat and most extreme metal to come. The original members Kelvin "Cal" Morris (vocals), Tony "Bones" Roberts (guitar), Roy Wainwright (bass), and Terry Roberts (drums) stuck the distortion, guitar solos and frantic drums of NWOBHM on dirty '77 punk to create their signature sound. Their uncompromising anarchist and pacifist politics were shown not only in their lyrics but in the iconic artwork depicting black and white scenes of war which was imitated by everyone in a band with a copy of the communist manifesto and a scruffy mohawk. As the band progressed, their sound became faster, more distorted and more filled with rage. Unfortunately, by the late 80's they had become a glam metal band (a fate that befell far too many punk bands).






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Seminal debut EP


Download
First album


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Second album


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Compilation of various EPs

Minor Threat - Complete Discography

 

Minor Threat were a short lived but highly influential D.C. hardcore band formed in 1980 by former Teen Idles bassist Ian MacKaye. In their three years they released several singles, EPs and one LP (all of which are collected on this album) on their own label Dischord which also released titles from bands such as Rites of Spring, Youth Brigade and MacKaye's future band Fugazi. The frantic punk riffs played at breakneck speeds were exhilarating and became the trademark of the band while MacKaye's lyrics in "Straight Edge" and "Out of Step" such as "Don't smoke/Don't drink/Don't fuck/At least I can fucking think"  founded the straight edge movement.

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Million Dead - A Song To Ruin & Harmony No Harmony

To call Million Dead simply a hardcore band wouldn't really do them justice. Founded in 2001, the Anglo-Australian band took the blueprint of Refused's 1999 manifesto "The Shape of Punk To Come" (even taking their name from a line in "The Apollo Programme Was a Hoax") and expanded on it. Fusing vocalist Frank Turner's wry and thoroughly British socio-political commentary with the band's post-hardcore bite, they created two very fine albums. From short punk thrashes like "Pornography for Cowards" & "Bovine Spungiform Economics" to sprawling epics like "Carthego Est Delenda" & "The Rise and Fall" the band didn't really miss a step. Turner's vocals and Tom Fowler's guitar kept the songs melodic on top of the rhythm section of Julia Ruzicka's thumping basslines and Ben Dawson's energetic drumming.

The band split amicably in 2005, only a few months after Harmony No Harmony was released. All of the band members have since been in musical projects of some kind, most notably Turner who turned his hand to punk-tinged folk (he had been playing solo for a time before the break up). More on him later!




A Song To Ruin


Harmony No Harmony

Bad Brains - Bad Brains

Bad Brains began as a jazz-fusion band named "Mind Power" but after listening to punk for the first time in 1977 renamed themselves "Bad Brains" after the Ramones song. After playing now legendary shows in the Washington D.C. area and releasing the single "Pay To Cum" in 1980, the band gained a growing interest (not just because they were an entirely black group playing punk) released their debut album in 1982.
The album shocked the burgeoning hardcore scene with it's taut musicianship and reggae influences. That's not to say that on the most part the album isn't fast, distorted and frenetic punk thrash. Highlights include "F.V.K.", "Banned in D.C." and "Pay to Cum". H.R.'s madly spat lyrics carried their live energy onto the record and Dr Know's fusion guitar solos laid alongside huge riffs. Their mix of lightning-fast punk and reggae paved the way for hardcore bands to come and later groups that would mix reggae with hard rock.
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Killing Joke - 6 Albums & an EP

Killing  Joke were formed in 1978 to, as Jaz Coleman put it, "define the exquisite beauty of the atomic age in terms of style, sound and form." Originally playing a type of dub inflected punk (as heard on the Turn to Red EP), as time passed their sound became more rhythmically industrial and then pop-infused. "Killing Joke" was a caustic punk skank, while 1981's "What's THIS For..." and 1982's "Revelations" showed the industrial elements of the band coming through. Through this all, "Big" Paul Ferguson's drums held the outfit together with his strong, almost tribal rhythms and  Martin "Youth" Glover's basslines were jumpy reggae funk underneath the shimmering metal riffs.

With the apocalypse not having happened, the band returned from Iceland to record "Fire Dances"  in 1983. A largely underrated album but still a definite Joke classic from this period. 1985's "Night Time" brought the band popular acclaim with a more pop and synth infused sound that brought singles "Love Like Blood" and "Eighties". While the sound was more pop, the lyrics were still fiercely intelligent chunks of cold war paranoia.







Downloads:

Turn To Red EP

Killing Joke

What's THIS For...

Revelations

Fire Dances

Night Time

Brighter Than a Thousand Suns

Black Flag - Damaged

Blag Flag were a pioneering American hardcore band formed in 1976 by founding member and mastermind Greg Ginn. The line-up changed many times during Black Flag's existence (including members of Circle Jerks, Descendents, Misfits and various others) but the definitive vocalist Henry Rollins appeared in time for their definitive record.

Damaged was released in 1981 to a fledgling hardcore scene, which had finally found the bible it would be reading from for years to come. The sense of aggression and urgency heard on the record tell you why. Rollins' misanthropic and nihilistic lyrics and Ginn's trademark atonal guitar work are what make the album, but the songs are catchy too with a strong rythym section from Chuck Dukowski's bass and Robo's drumming. "Rise Above", "Police Story" and "Depression" are among the highlights while "Damaged I" paves the way (for better or worse) for future Flag releases.
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Joy Division - Unknown Pleasures

Unknown Pleasures is Joy Division's first album, released in 1979 on Factory Records and recorded by the legendary Martin Hannet. In their embryonic form, Joy Division formed in the aftermath of the now legendary Sex Pistols Lesser Trade Hall gig in Manchester (which also spawned the likes of Buzzcocks, The Smiths and The Fall). Having finally found the sound that would define them after flirting with simpler '77 punk on their earlier releases under the name Warsaw, Unknown Pleasures is one of, if not THE defining album of the post-punk era.

Ian Curtis' baritone vocals and astounding lyrics weaved in the disorientating aural landscape of Bernard Sumner's rythymic guitar work and Peter Hook's melodic bass underpinned by the clockwork precision of Stephen Morris' drumming. The sound is at times sparse and others awash with layers of swirling guitars and synth. Opener "Disorder" is a drum-led 3 minute soundtrack to an urban mental breakdown, while "She's Lost Control" is a cold sounding but personal insight into an epilepsy sufferer Ian came into contact with and the effect she had on him. The band showed off it's brooding underbelly on tracks like "I Remember Nothing" and the almost metallic "Day of the Lords".

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Introduction

Hey, I'm Dan and in this blog I will be sharing the cream of the crop of punk and alternative music that I love. I'll probably upload a lot in the first week or so and then maybe less as it goes along (as with a lot of my projects!) but I'll try to keep it going.

Enjoy!