I have recently given this band yet another try and remain as perplexed as ever.

So, objectively:
. 80s L.A. hardcore (which I especially love)
. "Everything's fucked but you gotta stay strong" vibe (another plus)
. Little interest in scene trends (one of the earliest crossover bands, unusually strong musicianship, played the biz game surprisingly well (3 gold records!))

Then why oh why do I hear album after album of cheese? Particularly wimpy sounding cheese? (Esp Muir's vocals and the bizarre music they started making on The Art of Rebellion.)

I'll admit the debut has some moments, but the rest of their catalogue is so lame. Am I missing something? Do I need to wear a bandana to get it?

The first one is still cool, but they really had lost the script by the funk metal era. I liked Rocky George, but there was so much better thrash around.

Yeah, I really liked Rocky George's playing, very tasty and entertaining solos, but otherwise....not so much.

Krev wrote: The first one is still cool, but they really had lost the script by the funk metal era.

I was just thinking this morning that Dischord's Beefeater might be unintentionally responsible for the Chili Peppers and Fishbone. Maybe later ST too, but I haven't done the forensics.

This is a good one. I need to go back and listen to the first few to see where I draw the line. Probably slightly not crap for nostalgia purposes. The first couple albums meant a lot to me as a young skater in the midwest, but I never listen to any of the records besides the 1st one on occasion.

Anyone remember Infectious Grooves? Oof.

I started with How Will I Laugh... as a teenager and worked my way backwards. Getting ahold of important underground records in the 80s while living in a Podunk logging town 4 hours from anywhere was nearly impossible. That third album was really well executed. Agreement on the Rocky George assessment, dude brought serious shred.

losthighway wrote: Wed Nov 23, 2022 10:06 am

Krev wrote: The first one is still cool, but they really had lost the script by the funk metal era.

I was just thinking this morning that Dischord's Beefeater might be unintentionally responsible for the Chili Peppers and Fishbone. Maybe later ST too, but I haven't done the forensics.

Both of those appear to pre-date Beefeater. Fishbone (wiki search) formed in '79 (!) though may have been more ska initially.

(I wouldn't rule out the influence Waiting Room had on some of those bands by the late '80s though)

I do think often about where funk metal went wrong. It should work: P-Funk had plenty of hard rock guitar, even some of Hendrix's later stuff grooves pretty hard at times. Dunno. Faith No More probably got closest to making it not repulsive.

No vote for ST, don't know enough of their stuff.

Funny this should come up. I was listening to the first album a couple of days ago. It’s untouchable. Possibly the first hardcore album I ever heard, when I was 13 or 14. I remember hearing it for the first time and trying to decide if I liked it, like drinking my first cup of coffee. There was something both repellent and intriguing, and “Institutionalized” definitely spoke to me. There’s something about the guitar sound that I love.

I never gave their metal stuff the time of day, but I’ve been revisiting some of the crossover albums of my youth (DRI, Excel, Crumbsuckers, etc), this would be a good time to give it a go.

Not crap for the first album alone.

penningtron wrote: Wed Nov 23, 2022 10:49 am

losthighway wrote: Wed Nov 23, 2022 10:06 am

Krev wrote: The first one is still cool, but they really had lost the script by the funk metal era.

I was just thinking this morning that Dischord's Beefeater might be unintentionally responsible for the Chili Peppers and Fishbone. Maybe later ST too, but I haven't done the forensics.

Both of those appear to pre-date Beefeater. Fishbone (wiki search) formed in '79 (!) though may have been more ska initially.

(I wouldn't rule out the influence Waiting Room had on some of those bands by the late '80s though)

I just keep cooking up these wild theories without doing the research.

How Will I Laugh is a fucking masterpiece. Every single track is great, and the B Side has some hof riffs going on.