DIG THAT
SOUND
From the hallowed halls of
CBGB's to the cavernous Ritz,
New York lives up to its reputation
as the hardest city on Earth by
producing more than its share of gut-
slash, aggressive, high-energy outfits. In
a scene with thousands of participants, thrashing creativity
abounds and many members of the dedicated audience participate
in the innumerable and diverse bands which define the NYC sound.
If ya' can't find it in New York, ya' just can't find it. There's a little
for everyone, from the utter dissonance of Sonic Youth and the no-wave
scene to the phenomenal hard-core explosion. You want metal? You want
straight-edge? You want drunk edge? You want Krishna? How about Rasta-
fari? Howz about plain old punk? It's all here and much, much more. New York
punk granddaddies The Ramones, Television, Blondie, 8-Eyed Spy, James Chance,
The NY Dolls and The Plasmatics have given way to today's hyperactive brood, who
have come to own the streets of "the hardest city on Earth."
HISTORONICS Hard-core in the Apple didn't begin with the sounds of Murphy's
Law or the Cro-Mags. While Black Flag, SSD, Minor Threat and the Necros
thrashed to sweat-drenched crowds in their respective cities, the New York sound
was starting to emerge from the likes of The Abused, Antidote, Last Resort,
Death Before Dishonor, Cause for Alarm, The Undead, Urban Waste and a
host of others, most of whom have since broken up or faded into obscur
ity. Reagan Youth, fronted by the yammering Dave Insurgent, led the
city's initial hard-core charge, jamming down hard and fast with plenty
of choruses and sing-a-longs. Today, the newly-dreadlocked Insur-
gent fronts a 70s hard rock, politically-oriented Reagan Youth
who pepper thrashers from their "Youth Anthems for the
New Order EP (R Radical) with classic rockers
including Sabbath's "War Pigs" and Zepplin's
"Communication Breakdown."
Ray of Today kicks in a few
knee licks.
by Mike Gitter
SASE
CAUSE
ALAIM
FOR
C
Above: NYC's Cause For Alarm, summer 1984.
Below: Jimmy Gestapo pours the liquid on an
exhuberant crowd.
DEATH
Most of NY's original
hard-core outfits managed to
release a sparse number of long out-of-
print seven-inch EP's, the best of which in-
cluded Antidote's "Thou Shalt Not Kill" and The
Abused's "Drug Free Youth." Early labels included the
now-defunct Ratcage and Javi Savage's Big City, who have
recently started exposing Apple thrashers once again.
Savage's Big City and Guillotine, both of which are still pub-
lished occasionally, were leading fanzines that reported on the
burgeoning scene.
CBGB's reigned supreme as home of Sunday afternoon hard-
core matinees, featuring both hometown and touring acts.
Thousands have played the famed bowery rock-room, from the early
days of Ramones-era punk to the present. Other small
venues included A7 and Gildersleeves, while bigger shows
found their way into the Irving Plaza, which has recently
re-opened it's doors on a very limited basis. The
Plaza presented such incomparable bills as Kraut,
SSD, MDC and Minor Threat on a regular basis.
Chris Williamson's Rock Hotel opened its
doors in 1983 and began to
feature bigger name US
(Cont. on page 89)