Garage+punk+unknowns

Five CD set bringing a comprehensive, big-tent look at the early years of punk rock in the US and Canada. Over six hours of music. Includes benchmark tracks by the scene's most influential bands plus many rare singles making their first appearance on CD. This five CD includes influential NYC bands - Patti Smith Group, The Ramones, Television, Blondie, The Voidoids, etc. - as well as the scene's other pioneers such as Pere Ubu and The Dead Boys (both Cleveland, Ohio), Dead Kennedys and Crime (San Francisco), Devo (Akron, Ohio), The Germs and The Weirdos (Los Angeles) and Mission of Burma (Boston, Massachusetts). Blank Generation offers a deliberately broad definition of punk, encompassing contributions from such outré acts as Suicide, The Cramps and The Residents through to new wave/power pop combos (Sneakers, Chris Stamey & the dB's, etc.). While the US punk scene was arguably always more diverse musically than that of the UK, the music evolved quickly, as evinced by the choices heard on Discs 4 and 5. Many of the acts here such as X, The Replacements, The Feelies, Redd Kross, The Dream Syndicate, The Gun Club and Minor Threat would make an even greater impact as the 1980s wore on. It's hard to overestimate the seismic shocks caused by the music on 'Blank Generation', not only on everything in alternative music which followed in North American, from the 80s hardcore scene and the music heard on the whole alternative college radio network through to grunge and beyond. And yet this era has never before been treated to a comprehensive retrospective of this kind.

Five CD set bringing a comprehensive, big-tent look at the early years of punk rock in the US and Canada. Over six hours of music. Includes benchmark tracks by the scene's most influential bands plus many rare singles making their first appearance on CD. This five CD includes influential NYC bands - Patti Smith Group, The Ramones, Television, Blondie, The Voidoids, etc. - as well as the scene's other pioneers such as Pere Ubu and The Dead Boys (both Cleveland, Ohio), Dead Kennedys and Crime (San Francisco), Devo (Akron, Ohio), The Germs and The Weirdos (Los Angeles) and Mission of Burma (Boston, Massachusetts). Blank Generation offers a deliberately broad definition of punk, encompassing contributions from such outré acts as Suicide, The Cramps and The Residents through to new wave/power pop combos (Sneakers, Chris Stamey & the dB's, etc.). While the US punk scene was arguably always more diverse musically than that of the UK, the music evolved quickly, as evinced by the choices heard on Discs 4 and 5. Many of the acts here such as X, The Replacements, The Feelies, Redd Kross, The Dream Syndicate, The Gun Club and Minor Threat would make an even greater impact as the 1980s wore on. It's hard to overestimate the seismic shocks caused by the music on 'Blank Generation', not only on everything in alternative music which followed in North American, from the 80s hardcore scene and the music heard on the whole alternative college radio network through to grunge and beyond. And yet this era has never before been treated to a comprehensive retrospective of this kind.

Five CD set bringing a comprehensive, big-tent look at the early years of punk rock in the US and Canada. Over six hours of music. Includes benchmark tracks by the scene's most influential bands plus many rare singles making their first appearance on CD. This five CD includes influential NYC bands - Patti Smith Group, The Ramones, Television, Blondie, The Voidoids, etc. - as well as the scene's other pioneers such as Pere Ubu and The Dead Boys (both Cleveland, Ohio), Dead Kennedys and Crime (San Francisco), Devo (Akron, Ohio), The Germs and The Weirdos (Los Angeles) and Mission of Burma (Boston, Massachusetts). Blank Generation offers a deliberately broad definition of punk, encompassing contributions from such outré acts as Suicide, The Cramps and The Residents through to new wave/power pop combos (Sneakers, Chris Stamey & the dB's, etc.). While the US punk scene was arguably always more diverse musically than that of the UK, the music evolved quickly, as evinced by the choices heard on Discs 4 and 5. Many of the acts here such as X, The Replacements, The Feelies, Redd Kross, The Dream Syndicate, The Gun Club and Minor Threat would make an even greater impact as the 1980s wore on. It's hard to overestimate the seismic shocks caused by the music on 'Blank Generation', not only on everything in alternative music which followed in North American, from the 80s hardcore scene and the music heard on the whole alternative college radio network through to grunge and beyond. And yet this era has never before been treated to a comprehensive retrospective of this kind.

Five CD set bringing a comprehensive, big-tent look at the early years of punk rock in the US and Canada. Over six hours of music. Includes benchmark tracks by the scene's most influential bands plus many rare singles making their first appearance on CD. This five CD includes influential NYC bands - Patti Smith Group, The Ramones, Television, Blondie, The Voidoids, etc. - as well as the scene's other pioneers such as Pere Ubu and The Dead Boys (both Cleveland, Ohio), Dead Kennedys and Crime (San Francisco), Devo (Akron, Ohio), The Germs and The Weirdos (Los Angeles) and Mission of Burma (Boston, Massachusetts). Blank Generation offers a deliberately broad definition of punk, encompassing contributions from such outré acts as Suicide, The Cramps and The Residents through to new wave/power pop combos (Sneakers, Chris Stamey & the dB's, etc.). While the US punk scene was arguably always more diverse musically than that of the UK, the music evolved quickly, as evinced by the choices heard on Discs 4 and 5. Many of the acts here such as X, The Replacements, The Feelies, Redd Kross, The Dream Syndicate, The Gun Club and Minor Threat would make an even greater impact as the 1980s wore on. It's hard to overestimate the seismic shocks caused by the music on 'Blank Generation', not only on everything in alternative music which followed in North American, from the 80s hardcore scene and the music heard on the whole alternative college radio network through to grunge and beyond. And yet this era has never before been treated to a comprehensive retrospective of this kind.

This elegant CD reissues the sole album by this obscure Connecticut group who recorded this one LP and a classic psychedelic garage punk single which appears on the Psychedelic Unknowns compilation. While the debut single was classic beat garage of the period 1966, by the 1969 album the group expanded into more hard rock and progressive styles – and this album is drenched in the lead guitar blitz of Reggie Wright.

The history of punk rock is rife with underground aggressors who enjoy a surprise brush with mainstream notoriety thanks to an atypically sunny song that teeters precariously close to novelty-tune status. So the crossover success of the Chats is all the more remarkable given that it came through their surliest song. With the 2017 single “Smoko,” the Australian trio not only scored an anti-social anthem that’s since been covered by the likes of YUNGBLUD and Wet Leg, they also transformed regional vernacular—in this case, Aussie slang for “smoke break”—into an international catchphrase. Vividly channeling the boiled-blood irritation of a service-industry worker who’d sooner gut you than waste a precious second of their five-minute puff session making idle conversation, “Smoko” nonetheless possessed the sort of Seinfeldian relatability that landed the then-teenaged band on morning shows and the 6 o’clock news back home. But since then, the Chats have hardly gone out of their way to make themselves more respectable for the masses. The best songs on their 2020 debut High Risk Behaviour concerned venereal disease, getting caught wanking on webcam, and gorging yourself on rump steak. Now their second album comes bearing a title that’s practically begging to get them disinvited from the late-night talk show circuit.