Corrupted Morals

Next in my series of Lookout! Records releases, and today it's the turn of a band called Corrupted Morals. Hailing from California, they were active from 1986-1990 and were one of the original Gilman Street bands, appearing on the legendary 'Turn It Around' compilation. Their debut release was a 7" entitled 'Chet EP', released as Lookout! Records number 2 in 1988. I've owned a copy of this 7" for getting on for 30 years now, but just recently took the opportunity to upgrade to this first press copy from my friend's collection.

Fun fact - the picture on the cover is an illustration of a scene from the film 'Weird Science', with the character of Chet being payed by Bill Paxton. I managed to find a screenshot of it online:

The first pressing is denoted by the number stamped on the back cover. For some reason, each of the first 4 Lookout! 7" releases had this same stamped numbering system applied to the back cover, all in red ink and probably done with the same stamp (the others being the Operation Ivy 'Hectic EP', Crimpshrine 'Sleep, What's That?' and Isocracy 'Bedtime For Isocracy'). Despite being numbered, it's not clear how many of each were actually made, although I have seen numbers in excess of 1500, so I would guess at 2,000 copies of each. This now completes my collection of these numbered 7"s, and about bloody time too.

I also decided to keep their second 7", which I hadn't even seen before. This one is titled 'Think About It EP' and was released on Very Small Records in 1989, and it's quite hard to find as there were far fewer copies made of this one than there were of the band's first 7" or full length. In total there were 624 copies of this one made. It sounds like a reasonable amount by today's standards, but to put it in context, it means that probably only one in every five people who owned the first 7" could also own one of these.

I've never really known how to describe this band musically. But to me they just sound like the bands I used to hear on H-Street skateboard videos back in the day. Bands that just played fast songs that had melody but were also kinda messy sounding. A bit too metal to be punk, but not really punk either. Perfect.

The Lookouts!

I was always a fan of the early Lookout! Records releases. One of the first bands I got into was Operation Ivy as a result of watching skateboard videos, and once I picked up an actual physical copy of the Op Ivy album, it opened a door to a new world of music. The collection I have been selling lately for my friend contained quite a lot of the Lookout! Records catalogue, and I decided to keep a few for myself. So I have decided to plough through them in the next few posts.

I'm starting off the the band that started the label. The Lookouts was a band started by Larry Livermore (owner of Lookout! Records) back in 1986. They're kind of well known these days for the fact that the band contained a 12 year old kid on drums by the name of Tré Cool (who went on to drum for a band called Green Day that you may have heard of). Their first vinyl release was a full length called 'One Planet One People', which was effectively self released as Lookout! Records number 1, back in 1987. Note that this is the only release where the band's name has the exclamation mark at the end.

I have the band's second LP in my collection, which is very disappointing compared to this one. This LP is without doubt the band's finest moment. It's basically just a young band playing short, fast punk songs that sounds raw and I would say that they don't make 'em like this anymore. I can't describe it much better I'm afraid. But in 2022 this sounds kinda refreshing, to me at least.

Next up is a 7" by The Lookouts entitled 'Mendocino Homeland'. This one was released as Lookout! Records number 28, in 1990, which was their third release (after two full lengths). I'm not sure how many were on blue vinyl, but it doesn't seem overly rare or saught after judging by the number of copies for sale on discogs.

You can tell that the band had grown since their first LP, as the songs on here come in between two and a half and three minutes each, compared to the one minute blasts of the debut LP. But these songs are still pretty raw punk rock.

And finally, the band's final release, a 7" entitled simply 'IV'. This one was released in 1991 and is Lookout! Records number 42.

The song writing seems to have advanced a little on this release, with the songs sounding a bit more melodic than previous efforts. Interestingly, Bille Joe from Green Day plays guitar on three of these four songs, so I'm not sure if that may have something to do with it.

Overall these records sum up what I like about early Lookout! Records releases. The songs are melodic yet kinda sloppy (in a good way), and the artwork for the records is great. They really don't make records like this anymore. It feels like there has been a lot of interest in Lookout! Records the past few years, and I can really see why. There were some great bands and releases which now, with the gift of hindsight, were clearly representative of a time and place.

Sonic Bloom

So I thought I'd take a break from my pop punk nostalgia phase and post something else for a change...

It's been quite a while since I gave the band GIVE any real thought. I spent some time today reading all my previous blog entries for their records, and two things kinda stood out to me. FIrstly, that I own a shitload of Give records and, secondly, that it's been over ten years since I got into them. Looking back, it seemed that they put out a bunch of great 7"s, then an LP which seemed way too long and everyone kinda lost interest. Then they put out another couple of 12"s with songs that were outtakes from the LP recording session, and then they called it day.

The band's second to last release before they called it a day was the 'Sonic Bloom' 12", released by Revelation. At the time this came out I was pretty disappointed as it contains 5 songs, two of which had been released a few monhts earlier on their full length. But listening to it today, I enjoyed it a lot. Anyway, I picked up a test press. Apparently 10 exist.

This one definitely made me feel that I have been missing Give for a while. Aside from the overly long LP, they have a pretty flawless catalog. It's a shame they called it a day before putting out a second full length, but that's the way it goes I guess.

It's A Girl

I may or may not have mentioned that there were some pretty important compilations in my younger years which helped introduce me to a lot of great bands. One of my favourite comps ever is 'Turn It Around', which was released by Maximum Rocknroll in 1987 and which featured some (now iconic) bay area punk bands. One of the lesser known bands on the comp for me was Sweet Baby Jesus, who had two very poppy songs featured on the comp. They also had a song on 'The Thing That Ate FLoyd' compilation, although on that song their name had been shortened to Sweet Babys. And that was all I had heard of them, until a few weeks ago when I picked up my friend's records to sell, and found a test press of their full length in the midst of the collection.

Well, it doesn't look like much, but I was intrigued. I hadn't even been aware that the band had actually released anything other than the 3 comp tracks that I had been familiar with for the past 29 years or so. So I immediately went to discogs to find that they had in fact released a full length titled 'It's A Girl' waaay back in 1989. And here I was holding a test press of it.

I was really interested to find out that this LP was released on Ruby Records, who also released Misfits records, and which was somehow related to Slash Records, which was somehow related to Warner Bros. So basically, this was probably a pretty big label for a little punk band from the Gilman Street scene to be signed by.

Well, after listening to this one online I decided to keep this record. I have to say, this is one of the catchiest records that I have ever heard in my life. It's also not the kind of thing that I would usually listen to. I played this in the kitchen a couple of weeks ago and Anna said that she thought it sounded like The Beatles... which I think is pretty spot on. Early Beatles to be exact. It features 13 songs that are all about girls, and everything is over in 26 minutes.

I'm now on a mission to pick up a regular copy with a proper cover in good condition at a fair price. Hopefully it won't take me too long.

Make The Collector Nerd Sweat

I'm still riding the nostalgic pop punk train, and today's post is a compilation from the end of the 80s which includes an interesting selection of bands. For some reason, this one was released as a 10" record (ugh!), but size aside, this is a pretty nice and interesting release. Put out by Very Small Records in 1989, this one is called 'Make The Collector Nerd Sweat'. I assume it is titled this because there were lots of different versions made. As of today, there are 5 different versions listed on discogs, although the copy I've just picked up isn't one of them. I also found 3 more on popsike. So there were at least 9 different versions, and quite possibly more. By today's standards that may seem relatively normal, but in 1989 we were still in a world where generally most records were pressed on black with maybe a couple of hundred on colour vinyl for mailorder. So the title makes sense to me on that level. But also, I'm guessing that the title may also be a reference to the fact that this is yet another compilation of bay area punk bands, of which there seem to be a lot from this era. Back then comps were a good way for people to hear new bands without shelling out for a record, as there was no internet and it was hard to check bands out without paying actual money. And I guess there were a lot of bands in that scene. So I imagine there was a new record coming out every other week, which made it hard for those interested to keep up.

Anyway, this one contains 10 songs. The most well known bands on it (these days at least) are Jawbreaker & The Offspring, but it also features some (nowadays) second tier bands of the day such as Samiam, Crimpshrine, & The Mr. T Experience. And then filling out the other half of the record are the less well known bands such as The Lookouts, Plaid Retina, Crummy Musicians (!), Coffee & Donuts, and The Wrong. I don't really know why I have bothered to type all of these band names out when I am posting a pic of the back cover, but never mind.

It's also interesting that all the colour vinyl copies of this one come on various splatter colours. Interesting because splatter vinyl was super rare back then. And this one looks good. Not like the modern dog sick stuff that clogs my instagram feed on a daily basis. This record also features some cool packagaing - the cover folds out into a poster size thing, and as was the norm with comps like this, it comes with a booklet with a page devoted to each band.

Overall a nice item, and one that I always used to kinda want back in the day, but one never really fell in front of me. So glad to have one eventually on what I consider to be the best colour it exists on (that we know of).

Who Cares Wins

Looking back at this blog, it was ten years ago that I got into an old UK indie pop punk band called Mega City Four. I was aware of them from a pretty young age as my friends were into them when I was 15 or 16, although back then I wasn't interested. But randomly I got one of their songs in my head in 2012 and bought a couple of their records, which I really enjoyed. But Iwas happy with the couple of records I bought and felt no need to venture further into their discography.

Well, nearly ten years on and I found a copy of their second album in the collection I have been selling, so I gave it a spin and it immediately went onto the 'keep' pile.

This record is a weird colour for sure. It's kinda somewhere between gold and brown and I don't think I've seen this colour ever before. Not that this is a bad thing really. It's not the nicest colour ever.

Anyway, this is the kind of record that takes a bit of effort to appreciate. The first couple of plays it felt a little slow, but with each subsequent play it sinks its hooks deeper into my brain. After listening for the past week and a half or so, today I was at the stage where I woke up this morning and immediately wanted to listen to this. I'm not sure how long it will last, but this is a really great find and I feel like a fool as I could have found this a decade ago.

Let 'Em Out

I'm still stuck firmly in my early 90s pop punk phase thanks to the collection I have been selling. Today's post isn't exactly pop punk, but more of a hardcore 7" by a band that later in their career became kinda pop punk. This is the second release by No Use For A Name, a 7" called 'Let 'Em Out', released by Slap A Ham Records in 1990. I picked up a copy of this 7" many, many years ago, but couldn't resist keeping this one as it's on a nice shade of clear blue vinyl.

This is also one of those 7"s that I have kinda fallen into collecting by accident, as this marks my 3rd copy. The 1st press copies are on solid colours of vinyl and have blue labels, whereas the 2nd press copies are on clear vinyl colours and have pink labels. I'm not sure exactly how many colours exist, but there are quite a few different ones to collect. I'm not sure that I will ever add more copies to this collection unless I see any copies for sale cheap.

This one had me listening to No Use For A Name again and I have to say, their first 3 LPs are still great. I never listened to anything after 'The Daily Grind', but I may have to now give some of their later releases a go now finally after all these years.

NOFX

So I've never really been a fan of NOFX. But I've never really had anything against them either. It's always felt to me that they are a pretty polarising band, i.e. people tend to either love them or hate them. For me personally, I always kinda thought that they were kinda goofy but harmless. I saw them play once at a large festival in 2002 and thought that they were pretty entertaining. And over time I have decided that I really like Fat Mike. I watched a Fat Wreck documentary last year on Amazon Prime, and I listened to an episode of Toby Morse's podcast with him on last year too, and I think that maybe people who don't like him have him all wrong.

Well anyway, I became aware a few years ago that NOFX records are highly collectible these days, and some sell for a lot of money. So I was never going to try to get into any of that. But I decided to keep 4 of their LPs that were in the collection I have been selling. I've been listening to them these past few weeks and my conclusion is that I can definitely hang with early NOFX records. So I'm happy to have their early LPs in my collection.

First up, the 1st LP. 'Liberal Animation' was originally released back in 1988 on Wassail Records. All subsequent pressings after 1991 were released by Epitaph Records. This copy I have acquired is a yellow vinyl from 2011. Given that most of my friend's records date back to the 90s, I'm not sure how this more recent pressing was in his collection. I'm happy enough with it though.

Compared to later records, this first LP does sound kinda sloppy. But at the same time, I think it sounds messsy in a good way. It's punk.

Next up is the band's 2nd LP, 'S&M Airlines'. This was originally released by Epitaph in 1989. This one definitely shows progression from the first LP, althugh

Third is the 3rd LP, 'Ribbed'. This one came out on Epitaph in 1991. I think this one is my favourite, and to me it definitely feels like a good progression from the last one.

for some reason, the band's 4th LP ('White Trash, Two Heebs And A Bean') was not in the collection, so I have a gap to fill there. But there was a copy of the 5th LP 'Punk In Drublic'. This is the only one that I actually remember coming out. It was released in 1994, the same year as Green Day's 'Dookie' and The Offspring's 'Smash'. My only real criticism of this one is that it feels that there are too many songs on it, as there are 17 in total.

It's kinda funny how I used to find black vinyl Epitaph releases boring, but these days I would prefer to have those than recent colour vinyl represses. But as much as I feel pretty happy about picking these up, I have no interest in picking up anything later than these records.

Firme

The next stop on my pop punk nostalgia trip is the second LP from Voodoo Glow Skulls, 'Firme'. I was into this band up until this record came out, but I didn't buy this one. Same story as before really - I was way too into straight edge hardcore, and anything that I used to listen to previously no longer interested me. Also it probably didn't help that this one only came on black vinyl. I think back then I had limited money and was prioritising what to buy based on how limited it was. I mean, in any given week I was buying whatever record(s) I thought might not be available next week. So an Epitaph release on black vinyl was never a priority. So I never heard it until last month.

I do remember when this came out because they also made a Spanish version too. At the time I remember thinking that it would be cool to own the Spanish version. But checking discogs, it turns out that the Spanish version was a CD only release.

One thing that I found slightly odd about this is how many of the songs I already knew. Without doing a proper count, I know that at least 5 of these songs had previously been released on other records. I'm not sure why, but would guess that it was because this was supposed to be the record that launched them to the next level, so they probably re-recorded some of their classics for the potential new audience. Like I say, I'm guessing, but let's remember that this came out around the time that Green Day and The Offspring had started to get really big, and after reading one of the Lookout! Records, I know that a lot of bands around that time were really focussed on marketing themselves to a wider audience.

I haven't thought about this band in a long time, but I was surprised to see that they carried on going up until 2012, and have put out a furhter 8 albums since this one. Oh yeah, and one of them is a new album that came out last year that features the dude from Death By Stereo on vocals as the original singer left. Crazy how time flies I guess.

The First Of Too Many

Another record I have taken from my friend's collection I am selling is an album from a band called Senseless Things. They were a UK band in the early 90s, and played a kind of mix between pop punk and indie. They also achieved a bit of success over here and had a couple of songs in the top 40. Around the age of 15 to 17, my skate friends were all into them, but I never really was. I mean, I dabbled with a couple of songs on a 12" EP, but that was about it.

So here we are 30 years or so later, and you know how it is with the passing of time - sometimes it is kind to some music. I've been feeling nostalgic of late, and very much enjoying some more poppy stuff, so I decided to give this one a go... and I found myself really enjoying it. I've ended up playing it quite a lot in the past month or so, so when it came to selling records I decided that I wanted to keep hold of this one.

This is the band's second LP titled 'The First Of Two Many' which was originally released back in 1991.

This one also exists on purple vinyl, although I think that's a later pressing. I'm happy with this one.

I've also been listening to their other releases online as a result of being into this one, so I may have to try to track those down at some point. I've said this before, but if I could go back in time to 1991 and tell myself that I'd be actively seeking out Senseless Things vinyl records in 2022, I'd probably have thought that the future was actually some weird parallel universe.