Thursday 24 January 2008

GOVERNMENT ISSUE – LEGLESS BULL (DISCHORD)


GOVERNMENT ISSUE – LEGLESS BULL (DISCHORD)

This is my all time favourite hardcore record.  It was the fifth record released by Dischord back in 1981 and was one of their famous ten song seven inch singles.  There is no fat on this record; it is all pure energy and raw drive.  Like most hardcore as a result it is brief and thus never outstays its welcome.

Ferocious from the start Government Issue were able to muster a guitar sound their peers did not accomplish.  And this accompanied by the frenzied drumming perfectly set a frame for the crazed poetic shouting of John Stabb.  It sounds like all the band members are participating in the most violent contest.

The first track is “Religious Ripoff” that immediately highlights a fizzy and effective guitar sound that the other bands on Dischord of the time did not match.  The hooks are crashing and huge and even though the vocals and indecipherable, the song title tells everything you need to know.

From here the band takes further, clear aim at the annoying aspects around, sneering with sarcasm as they point accusatory fingers at frauds who are just “Fashionite” and individuals posing out with “Rock n Roll Bullshit” before declaring that “Anarchy Is Dead”.  In many ways this feels a band with a mixed agenda, in many ways condemning others of being just like them.

“Asshole” is an incredible song, again displaying/using/demonstrating their unique (to this scene) guitar sound and making a huge declaration by screaming, “I’m an asshole, look at me” in the chorus.  Did this band fucking like anybody?  Thankfully they were fond of hooks.

A song such as “Bored To Death” blows away the cobwebs and expounds (slightly explains) the mindset of hardcore and how it came about.  This is a point reiterated by the intense frustration of “No Rights”.

Honestly, I will always take this record over the Teen Idles and Minor Threat releases of the time.  It is one of the most tiring records in history to listen to.  Then in a flurry it is done.  I feel energised and cleansed.

Shame it didn’t last.

Thesaurus moment: blast.

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