Publication:
MaximumRockNRoll

Author:
Felix Von Havoc

MRR #181
I'm not going to spend my whole column eulogizing Tim, I really barely knew him. I met him once at Gilman in 1987. He took my five bucks and gave me a card to fill out. Here was a man totally dedicated to rock and roll. Whether you agreed with his opinions, and the way he ran this magazine, or not you must respect the man's dedication. How many of today's loudest critics will be doing their part to keep punk rock alive at the age of 53?

At one of our shows a hepcat asked me what kept me involved in hardcore since I had nothing good to say about it. Reading my columns he had formed the opinion that all of my views on punk today were negative. Well I guess it is a lot easier to point at what you think is fucked up. Those people who are truly dedicated and doing a good job of keeping punk rock alive don't get props very often. In fact these are usually the people most targeted for shit-talking back stabbing. Sorry for not being more positive, rest assured I'm still totally excited about hardcore. More so probably than I have been in years past. After fifteen years in the hardcore scene my faith has not been shaken. I'm in for the duration, true to the old school and here to stay. All the dime-droppers and ankle-biters feel free to look me up in ten years. Will you still be walking the same walk and talking the same talk you are today? I think not. Try to impose your views on me, where the fuck were you when it fucking mattered? As Minor Threat once said "At least I'm fucking trying, what the fuck have you done?"

"Punk rock with horns" isn't this pretty much an oxymoron. I'm talking of course about a horn section not Antler Helmets or Viking gear. In my close-minded opinion brass and wind instruments have no place in punk and hardcore with the following exceptions: X-Ray Spex, early Naked Raygun, that one Fear song, the Big Boys and the first two Psychedelic Furs albums. What the Psychedelic Furs aren't hardcore? Well to tell the truth they are a lot harder than much of what I've been hearing these days.

Once upon a time the music industry came up with a technological marvel. Space age materials allowed recorded music to be stored on an easily transportable medium that made traditional vinyl records obsolete. The possibilities were endless, consumers embraced the new medium. Obsolete records were sold off and forgotten. Times were changing, the cult of the new demanded new hardware and the next generation of audio. Unfortunately the 8-track quickly became obsolete itself. Today's CD fans take note you are participating in the 8-track of your generation. In 20 years CD will no doubt be a whimsical curio relegated to the bottom shelf at the Salvation Army where our father's 8-tracks currently languish. I think of the schmucks who sold their record collections in 1970 to get on the bandwagon. A collection of circa 1970 records is probably worth twice what it was then, while the eight tracks are less than worthless. A year ago my mother gave me her old records. Original pressing Hendrix and Dylan records still play and sound as good as they did in the 60's and are somewhat valuable collectors items. Can you say the same thing about the same music on 8-track or CD? In fact vinyl prices everywhere seem to be on the rise. Records I used to think were a dime a dozen used bin staples are now selling in the $10-$20 range. (example-any Metallica record, 80's speedmetal, crossover and Mystic label releases). So vinyl is a win-win situation, your records appreciate in value, while providing entertainment and inspiration. You can draw an analogy to comic books, however, some records I never get sick of listening to while you can only read the same issue of Deathlok the Demolisher so many times before it becomes tedious. In fact I'm listening right now to the Rudimentary Peni Death Church LP. I mail ordered this album when it was new about fourteen years ago. It cost five bucks, plus shipping. It has long been one of my all time favorite albums and provided me with tattoo artwork some years ago. After all this time and thousands of spins on my table there are no scratches, skips or surface noise and the poster sleeve is still in fine shape except for pin holes in each corner from the years it hung on my wall. Indeed, if someone brought this record into the record store where I work I would probably pay them ten bucks for it and sell it for fifteen. Can you say the same thing about any of your 8-tracks and CD's? Another thing I've noticed is that lots of stores have quit selling cassette tapes, could they be the Beta Max of the 21st century?

Some of you are pointing fingers at me as you read this. "Felix Havoc is a fucking hypocrite, he owns a CD player and distributes CD's". Well yes, for the same reason I pay sales tax and practice safe sex. I pretty much have to because everyone else does, I try to avoid it, but often modern society doesn't give you a whole lot of choice. That is, someone has chosen for you. A notice to those labels who release on CD only: You are showing much disrespect to the people. If your target audience is the mall shoppers fine, but do not front that you are true to punk/ hardcore with a CD only release. Almost as bad are the sucker MC's who release the CD version several weeks ahead of the vinyl version. I refuse to believe that any reputable label can't figure out their production schedules to make the release dates coincide. The real deal is that the profit margin on CD is so much higher. The label is banking on thousands of die-hard fans buying on CD to have it right when it comes out when they really want the vinyl.

Which brings me to this. Independent (the industry term is "mom&pop") record stores are struggling. When Code 13 toured the East Coast I visited some of my old favorite stores and all of them complained about the same thing. They supported and sold underground music for years, now that music is part of the mainstream and they can't compete with the malls. The marketing practices of the "major independent" labels are oriented towards selling cases of NOFX and Earth Crisis CD's to chain stores. Only the independent stores are going to gamble on unknown bands, support local music, carry vinyl and self released records etc. When these places are gone where will you find new music or find out about shows? The industry desperately wants us to all listen to the same music they play on the radio and TV, they want us to buy the clothes the musicians wear and drink the soft drinks that they drink. The few of us who have decided to sit out the latest trend may indeed have the last laugh at some point in the future. But, if all the "cool record stores" we bought our records at and hung out back in the day are gone it will be a bittersweet victory. Support your local independent record store, don't buy false hardcore on bogus formats at chain stores. These guys are struggling to make a living running independent record stores because they love the music, show some respect.

Publication Date:
January 1, 1988

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