Review #112: Party or Go Home (1983)

PARTY OR GO HOME

Year: 1983

Genre: Punk Rock
Sub-Genres: Hardcore
Label: We Got Power! Records
Tracks: 43
Length: 41 Minutes (Long)
Style: Fun/Angry/Weird
My Rating: 6/8

We Got Power! was a Los Angeles punk rock 'zine that was published from 1981 to 1983. Run by David Markey of Sin 34, and later, a notable punk rock film-maker later on in the decade and onwards. Truly a legend in his own right. And by "right" I mean that he did a pretty damn good job of keeping document of the L.A. punk scene back in his day. Anyways, he eventually did put together a series of compilations called "Party Or Go Home". This iz the first volume in that series, so buckle up and be prepared for a lotta audible punk rock action! YEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAHYEAYAHHH!!!!

1. The Authorities - "I Hate Cops"
Begins with a guitar-produced simulation of a police car siren. Soon afterwards, the song begins. The singer sings about how he hates cops/piggers, n' their little moustaches and how much they suck testes n' stuff. The only time I ever got bugged by a cop was when my friends told me to piss in an alley this one time. And the cop was the biggest dick I've ever met. Luckily I didn't get arrested, though. The singer talks about how they were shooting up heroin and then got busted by the cops. Pretty nice solo in here.

2. Nip Drivers - "Tang"
The riff here reminds me of the Germs for some reason. "Richie Dagger's Crime", to be more specific. The singer sings the first few verses, and screams the last. What iz this song about, you might ask? Well, it's about wanting tang. WHAT tang? Poon-TANG? TANG, the drink? A TANGerine, perhaps? An oranguTANG? Like, for a pet? Your call, dude.

3. J.F.A. - "Middle America"
Yay! It's JFA! This song is even shorter n' faster than the other songs we've heard so far. It's about the monetary selfishness of the middle-American Reaganites back in the '80s. And today, pretty much. "Fuck the Arabs, fuck the Jews, we only want what we can use." Middle America sucks major ass, sometimes.

4. Dr. Know - "Savior"
Once again, ultra fast! I really like this one. The riff is really cool and frantic. Some parts are very fast, some parts are slow. This song's basically about people looking for a new "savior" (probably a religious one) to tell them what to do and push them around.

5. White Flag - "Celibate"
Look out, Black Flag... here comes... WHITE FLAG! The universal symbol of surrender. Heh heh heh. Pretty catchy. I swear I'm hearing horses sounds in the background. The lead singer has a cool voice.

6. White Flag - "Hoppity Hooper"
More White Flag. This is a really short song with a rolling bass beat, and some backing vocals.

7. White Cross - "Nuke Attack"
Nope, this izn't Red Cross. It's WHITE CROSS. MORE WHITE THINGS. LIKE... WHITE NOIZE! OH BOY!!!!! Anyways, this one almost seems like two songs in one. The first one is shorter than the second one. Both are very brash and fast. The singer has a rough voice, and the guitars are loud n' energetic. I'm not very smart, but I'm guessing this one's about a nuke attack. Just guessing.

8. The Fuck-Ups - "Bacon & Eggs"
Fast, thrashy, bacony, eggy. The singer says "short and sweet" a fucking lot. Hate to break it to you, buddy, but there's a lot of bands doing shorter songs here than this one. But at least it's a good song. They didn't fuck up. Or maybe they're fuck-ups because they're failing to fuck up.

9. Putrid Girls - "1234"
Hey, it's a girl band! They sing about hurting yourself and killing yourself. There's a weird part in the middle where someone's making the noize "WWWEOOOWOEOEOEOWWOWOWOWOEOEOEOEOWWW" a bunch. Counting iz pretty damn dangerous, man.

10. Ill Repute - "Count the Odds"
Okay, if you've ever heard "Scared" by the Melvins, you'll notice that inbetween the intro and the first verse, Matt Lukin starts playing a different bassline. It's the bassline to this song, intentional or not. It iz what it iz, man. But yes, it's fast, it sounds cool, so it must be a good song.

11. Stalag 12 - "Selfish"
Okay, there's fast, and then there's REALLY fast. This song would be the latter.

12. Rebel Truth - "Monkey's Paw"
The voice sounds familiar, but I'm not sure whose voice it reminds me of the most. Maybe D Boon from the Minutemen. Or Jay Briggs from the Sonitus Revolution. But these guys came before the Sonitus Revolution, unless Jay is a lot fucking younger than he looks.

13. Willful Neglect - "EMS&D"
Know what EMS&D stands for? "Eat My Shit & Die". That's nice to know, isn't it?? There's a guitar solo on this song. The bass guitar is pretty good, too.

14. Tar Babies - "Confused"
The singer for this band sounds like his head was dipped in tar while giving birth to a baby. That'd confuse me, too.

15. Mecht Mench - "Might Makes Right"
A song protesting macho arrogance. Lotsa screaming, too.

16. Graven Image - "My World"
His world is dead, dude. Know what killed it? A bunch of feedback solos.

17. The Vacant - "Caught by the Mafia"
It's fast and it's about getting caught by the Mafia. I can't think of anything interesting to say about this one.

18. Adrenaline O.D. - "WW4"
I really like this one. The first half of the song is real fun, energetic like a good song should. The second half is, well... the band's rendition of "Pop Goes the Weasel". Here's one band that never took themselves seriously.
19. The Clones - "Conform to the Norm"
A band that sounds like all of its members are a bunch of robots. The voices sound like robots. The instrumentation sounds like some sort of freakish robot factory thing. Occasionally there's a real noisy part. The song ends in some creepy backwards music. Definitely one of the weirder bands on here.

20. Big Boys - "Brick Walls"
Sometimes I eat at Frisch's Big Boy. It's a pretty good place to eat at if you're hungry. However, I don't think this band is associated. The singer sounds like a cross between the guy from Agnostic Front and Keith Morris from the Circle Jerks.

21. Sin 34 - "Not"
This iz the band that David Markey was in! The guy who put this whole damn thingie together. Apparently the singer is a girl. Her name is Julie Lanfield, apparently. Short and fast song. End of Side 1.

22. El Duce - "Glad"
El Duce! The infamous rape-rock singer of the Mentors... probably one of the most funny and shocking rock performers ever. Well, in this track, El Duce lets us know that he's glad we all came here. Thanks, El Duce. I am too.

23. Minutemen - "Party With Me Punker"
PARTY WITH ME, PUNKER! IN A CONDO! IN AN AIR-RAID SHELTER! ANYWHERE! JUST PARTY, ALL YA PUNKERS!!!! WITH MARIJUANA! This iz a very bass-driven song. And the guitar solo is fucking awesome. YAEY.

24. Dayglow Abortions - "Scared"
This is another awesome song. The singer's voice perfectly compliments the guitar, here. This song is about being scared of people; including me. And you. And wanting to die and stuff.

25. Caustic Cause - "Look to the Left"
SDUDUFDSGFjdsgfdkhgdfkjhgdskjfhsdfsd

26. Don't Know - "Millionaire"
This song is surprisingly "long" for this album -- almost two minutes long. It starts out kinda mid-tempo, and then it gets fast. And the singer sings about wanting to be a millionaire. The part in the middle is slow with a guitar solo.

27. SVDB - "Flames of Hell"
This song's about wanting to see someone die and burn in Hell.

28. Patriots - "Cavity"
Occasionally there are little pauses in the music in this sawng.

29. Hated Principals - "Survival At All Costs"
The singer here sounds a little bit like Darby Crash from the Germs. Some fucking awesome screams, here. There's a heavy metal-esque guitar solo here also, which sounds pretty good. The song reminds me of the beach for some reason.

30. Crankshaft - "New Wave Homos"
A homophobic song about how New Wavers are homos and stuff. And killing fags.

31. Urban Assault (San Francisco) - "Night On the Town"
There were two different bands both called "Urban Assault" on this album. This is the Urban Assault from San Francisco. This song is very bassy.

32. Urban Assault (Tahoe) - "Rock & Roll Burnout"
This is the other Urban Assault. Personally, I find this song more amusing. It's extremely fast and pretty short. Just a very nice hardcore song. THISONGISGOOD.

33. 7 Seconds - "Wasted Life Ain't No Crime"
One of the more notable bands on this album. Supposedly later they started playing pop-punk and stuff (they're still around), but this song is just hardcore punk rock. And you probably know what that implies.

34. Jackshit - "Follow the Leader"
The guitar here is kind of abrasive and wild due to the mixing, but that's a good thing! There's also a saxophone solo at the end of the song.

35. Atheists - "Music I Hate"
Duurrghhkkdfgfgfdgd.

36. Romulans - "Judgement Day"
The mixing here is pretty good. Kinda echo-y. The bassline is awesome. Great song.

37. No Labels - "Ego"
The verse of the song is sorta slow, but the chorus is fast as fuck; faster than anything else on the whole album. Wow.
38. Armed Response - "Ted Night"
It's a song about beating up a guy named Ted. The song begins with the shouted line "EAT MY SHIT, TED". The intro is kinda fast, but the main part of the song is ultra speedy.

39. Deranged Diction - "Crooning"
The chorus riff reminds me of "Pay to Cum" by Bad Brains. If ya listen, you'll hear it.

40. False Confession - "Kill For Fun"
Though the title is listed as "Untitled", "Kill For Fun" is the real title to the song. The singer sounds like a young Henry Rollins.

41. Manimals - "Things Under My Bed"
I'm assuming these guys named themselves after a certain song by ze Germs. The later part of the song is very lead-driven. It's a pretty upbeat song.

42. Red Cross - "Pseudo Intellectual"
Yes, this band would later become known as "Redd Kross" when they made the shift towards pop-punk in the mid '80s. This song was recorded live. The song's rhythm is different from a lot of the other band's on this album.

43. A Barking Dog - "Woof Woof"
This is literally just a track of a dog barking. Nothing else, here. That's all.

Most hardcore bands are unable to fill up an entire LP, but here, we see it pretty much done. Over forty minutes of thrash. Some of the bands are good. Some are bad. But mostly good. I gotta give Dave credit for putting this all together. You should listen to it. In fact, the whole thing is now available to be downloaded for free off of his website: www.wegotpowerfilms.com -- check it aut, there. Hope you enjoyed my review. Until next time...

Top 3 Favorites:
1. Scared (Dayglow Abortions)
2. Party With Me Punker (Minutemen)
3. Survival At All Costs (Hated Principals)