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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