SUICIDAL TENDENCIES 1982 DEMOSYear: 2008
Genre: Hardcore Punk
Label: Unknown
Tracks: 17
Length: 32 Minutes
My Rating: 6/8
Suicidal Tendencies formed in Venice, California in 1981. Their first album is one of the most famous hardcore records ever... before that, they were recording demos and being notable for connections with gang activity and violence at their shows. The original line-up of the band was Mike Muir, Mike Ball, Carlos Egert, and Mike Dunnigan. This line-up of the band recorded demos in 1982 to cassette tape... now about three years ago, these demos got released in bootleg form FOR ALL THE WORLD TO HEAR -- AHAHAHAHA, S.T., YOUR SECRETS ARE OUT NOW!!! BUAHAHAHA. Anyways, yeah, we (me) here at Legit Music Reviews do not endorse suicide and GO KILL YOURSELF whoops, I mean, "DON'T KILL YOURSELF"... PLEASE. JUST LOOK AT HOW MUCH IS GOING RIGHT FOR YOU RIGHT NOW... what's that? Nothing? Oh well, whatever, nevermind...
1. Suicide's an Alternative
The grainy quality of the recording adds an extra CRUNCH to the sound of this song... kick-ass riff, AWESOME guitar solo, it's about being sick of the world and wanting to die because everything sucks so bad.
2. I Shot Reagan
Slow intro, fast verse n' chorus... ever have one of those days when you just wanna shoot Ronald Reagan, Sadat, the Pope, and John Lennon? WELL NOW'S YOUR CHANCE, JUST LISTEN TO THIS SONG AND ALL OF THOSE PEOPLE WILL BE DEAD!!!!!! DEAD, I TELL YA!! This version's only about half as long as the album version.
3. Suicidal Failure
A slow, depressing song. Excellent guitar playing, as can be heard. The song's about wanting to be dead and being sick of life, but too scared/lazy to kill yourself... actually, if you listen to the lyrics, Mike really DID try killin' himself all these times, but somehow he didn't die. HE IS IMMORTAL. Damn, this sore on my tongue really hurts. The ending part is essentially the same verses and choruses, but sped up to a more intense pace.
4. Memories of Tomorrow
This song exemplifies the future-anxieties of all of us, and in this case kids back in the '80s who thought that Ronald Reagan was gonna kill everybody in the Cold War. Mike sees visions of what could happen in this situation and probably still could happen and decides he'd rather kill himself before the visions become reality.
5. I Saw Your Mommy (Version #1)
This is a kind of long song... the guitar riff rules... the drumming is great too. It's about seeing a kid's mom's dead body washed-up and rotting on the street and thinking it's kind of funny. "I took a picture 'cause I thought it looked neat"... the song describes the condition of the dead mommy in great detail. The chorus sections are really fast. Great guitar solo towards the end... man, this band has really good guitar-playing. Hardcore should have more solos.
6. Fascist Pig
This song's about the police state. Y'know, riot cops, tear gas, unkillable drones of the machines beating protestors to their deaths. I like the part about brains being "the fascists' favorite meal". Makes sense. Te-he!
7. Possessed
The first section of this song has a more metal-type guitar riff... then the chorus riff kind of ascends out of that. The lyrics are about being possessed by a demon and being caused pain n' stuff. Once again, kick-ass guitar playing. HAVE I ALREADY LOST MY MIND? DO I STILL HAVE A SOUL?
8. I Saw Your Mommy (Mystic Records Version)
This is the version of the song that was on the Mystic Records Sampler #1. The quality is great, and it sounds really good. Actually a studio recording.
9. You Are Forgiven (Version #1)
An early song that didn't make it on the album. Starts off with a creepy/really good/depressing guitar solo. I think it's a nice intro for a song like this. The song is fast, the "YOU ARE FORGIVEN" chorus is really memorable and effective. The song is critical of the mentality of organized religion. The part at the end has a sad-sounding riff and it's slow.
10. War Inside Myself
This is actually "Parents for Adoption", not what the title says. It has a real cool guitar riff and it's about Mike being pissed off at how much his lazy hypocritical parents suck, and begs the listener to "adopt" them so that he can be free. You can barely hear the vocals, they're kinda muffled. End of Side A.
11. Stupid Genocide
This song is extremely similar-sounding to "Suicide's an Alternative"... the lyrics are different, though. The quality of this recording is ultra-grainy. Good song, still.
12. Kill (Version #1)
This one also has pretty poor quality. I really like this song... there's a slower version on this one documentary film that sounds even cooler, however... the song's about how obsessed society is with murdering.
13. Pseudo Mom
I can't even hear the lyrics for this one, they're totally muffled. The song is fast, pissed. He was probably pissed off at his mom or something.
14. Two-Sided Politics
This is actually not "Two-Sided Politics", it's a completely different song. However, it does sound pretty damn awesome, whatever it's really called. The guitar riff rocks, there's a sweet solo, the rhythms and beats just rock!
15. You Are Forgiven (Version #2)
This isn't actually You Are Forgiven, once again they got the song title wrong! It's fast. The chorus guitar riff is pretty cool. Frantic drumming! You can't even hear Mike's voice.
16. Burn the Constitution
THIS is "You Are Forgiven". THIS IS IT, GOD DAMN IT!! The guitar intro is really beautiful... it's like depression and self-loathing embodied in a guitar melody. It's really good. After this, the song explodes into the thrashing verse and chorus parts. The chorus is reassuring and sarcastic all at once. BUT YOU'RE FORGIVEN. I like this version better. Mainly because I like the intro for this one better.
17. Kill (Version #2)
This version sounds creepy as fuck. You can't hear any vocals. The guitar riff is bordering on scary, especially with how the quality sounds and stuff. The beat is kinda fast. As the final track, it's like that final moment looming right after a hypothetical suicide with the dead body bleeding out as it's already dead.
So, there's early Suicidal Tendencies for ya! I think this LP is interesting for the unreleased tracks -- the songs that didn't get put on their album, even though I find it annoying that most of the time the titles are wrong. But yeah, these are all real cool songs, and it rocks! The second half could practically be considered an instrumental side since you can't even hear Mike's voice. Maybe he was just off having sex with every species of animal in the Universe while they were recording those songs. Anyways, that's all I've got to say for now. Lemme know if I missed anything.
Top 3 Favorites:
1. Two-Sided Politics
2. Burn the Constitution
3. Suicide's an Alternative
EVEN OLDER VERSIONS OF "KILL" AND "PARENTS FOR ADOPTION"
Awesome right up man. I just got this record. And it's so rad to hear a band that I've loved my entire life. And hear these songs that are all new to me!
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say. Maybe "15. You Are Forgiven (Version #2)" and "16. Burn the Constitution" titles are just swapped. So 15 should be Burn the C. and 16 should be Forgiven... same with the other songs that are labeled wrong.