Cassette Reviews

CASSETTE REVIEWS
by Joey T. Germ

T.S.O.L.
Thoughts of Yesterday 1981-1982 (Posh Boy) 1988

Few 80s bands went through as many stylistic somersaults as the SoCal band T.S.O.L. Melodic hardcore, gothic guitar rock, hard rock and metal where all tackled with a fluctuating line-up and a loyal fan base. By the time this reissue came out in 1988, The True Sounds of Liberty were dressing like the rest of the L.A. glam poseurs who were starting to chart at that time. Admittedly, T.S.O.L. had a much harder sound than your Poisons and your Cinderellas. This cassette features the band's first EP, their first 7" and an alternate take on "Peace thru Power" from 1981's Dance with Me LP. This EP contains the best of the fast punk rock model with "Abolish Government" "No Way Out" and "World War III" being the archetypes of the genre. To paraphrase singer Jack Greggors/Ladoga/Grisham, President Reagan can still shove it.

R.O.T.A.
Kick Happy, Thrill Hungry, Ready and Willing (Noise International) 1991

Rights of the Accused started out as a juvenile hardcore band in Chicago in the early 80s. That's not to say that their subject matter was juvenile (it was) but these snotty punkers were barely out of puberty when they formed in 1982. Their 1984 Innocence 7" is considered a classic of early Chicago hardcore.

Over the course of the decade ROTA evolved into a hard rock party band or (depending on how much credit you want to give to the intelligence of it's members) a parody of a hard rock party band. Kick Happy, Thrill Hungry, Ready and Willing is a pretty weak party, however. It's full of generic riffs, forced ideas, bland vocals and pretty much encapsulates everything I don't like about this hybrid of punk and metal—it's all the cheese with none of the tongue-in-cheek.

In 1988, Herb Rosen (bass), Wes Kidd (guitar) and Brian St. Clair (drums) along with original singer Mike O'Connell, constituted the new Rights who seemed to open every decent rock show I found myself at that year. I was not a fan. It seemed to me at the time that ROTA just wanted to break out, Beastie Boy-style, and party rock to a major label deal and national fame. Nothing wrong with that, it was just hard to sit through while waiting for touring band like White Zombie (featuring original guitarist Jay Yuenger no less) to play. Kidd's subsequent band, Triple Fast Action, would score a record deal with Capitol in the signing frenzy of 1995. Brian St. Clair would go on to drum for local duo Local H and Rosen and O'Connell may or may not still play in the local Chicago bar band, The Beer Nuts.

GUNS AND ROSES
GNR Lies (Geffen) 1988

In the late 80s and early 90s, Guns and Roses were the biggest band in the world. And they weren't whinny little twits like Billy Corgan either. They were nasty, dirty, drunken, drugged out, impolite rock stars. They could also be clownish buffoons and in Axle's case, a gigantic, megalomaniac a-hole. In 1988 however, they were still getting a pass.

When G 'N' R Lies came out in 1988, it sold 10 million copies. That's pretty good for a bad record. Perhaps bad is a bit strong, but it certainly was no Appetite for Destruction. And it shouldn't be treated as a legitimate full-length release either, seeing how it was a cobbled-together place holder to placate fans and make some dough while GNR toured the world placating fans and making dough.

The G Side (presumably the Guns side) of GNR Lies features the four tracks that comprised the 1986 EP, Live ?!*@ Like a Suicide. The sad truth about Live Like a Suicide (we'll dispense with the ?!*@ from here on out because it's silly and makes no sense) is that it was NOT recorded live like a suicide. It is in fact a studio recording with crowd noise dubbed in. This hardly mattered to fans in 1988 and is awesome now as a testament to how ridiculous GNR could be. "Reckless Life" and "Nice Boys" are similar hard-driving odes to the degenerate lifestyle espoused by these hard-edged glam rockers. "Move to the City" features a horn section and hits on a theme young Axle would return to countless times: a hick from the sticks moves to the big city a.k.a. The Jungle. "This is a song about your fucking mother" announces Axle at the start of the Steven Tyler penned tune, "Mama Kin" which closes out the side G. The fictitious crowd especially enjoys this number. They must be Aerosmith fans—hell maybe this crowd noise was taken from an Aerosmith show. Wouldn't that be ironical?

Then there's the R side (for Roses). This shows that the band can lay it down acoustically (hard rockers with a tender side) as is evidenced on the drippy "Patience"— Axle at his cartoonish best. Things turn ugly (or hilarious depending on your perspective on murder) with "Used to Love Her"—not the first murder ballad ever written but certainly guaranteed to cause controversy. The second track is a pointless, acoustic version of "You're Crazy" from the Appetite record and then the coup de grace: "One in a Million." Axle lets his redneck shine brightly on a return to the hick-in-the-city theme. In this piece, Axle calls out "immigrants and faggots" for not making sense to him, what with the different languages and all. "It's all Greek to me," Axle observes with a bit of ironic wit not seen in a GNR song since "Turn around bitch I got a use for you" on "It's So Easy" in '87. Axle also advises "police and niggers" to get away from him as he will not be needing any gold chains at this point in time. For complete lyrics to this tune, maybe you could ask John Rocker. I'm sure he has them burned into his frontal lobe if not tattooed on his ass.

Rolling Stone gave GNR Lies four out of five stars in their 1989 review, citing the release as proof of GNR's sustainability and calling 'One In a Million' a "beautiful ballad" with Axle's homophobic and anti-immigrant spiel "tempered with something that sounds oddly like compassion." Yes, Axle Rose may be a complete tool, but Rolling Stone built the tool box.

Take Me Back, Please!