02 March 2012

WORLD CLASS PUNK


Jakke handed this gem off to me when I was in New York a few weeks back, a brilliant picture of international early '80s hardcore and punk. Compiled by Mykel Board and released by ROIR in 1984, World Class Punk gave a peek into scenes in corners of the world often overlooked, especially in the pre-interweb infancy of punk. COPULATION (Switzerland) dish out a dark post punk dirge that might steal the whole tape for me,  POP GUNS (South Africa) sound like JOE JACKSON - just brilliant pop, WARRIORS OF THE LAST DAYS (Columbia) slog through a wholly inept number with a determination that cannot be faked - though France's NÉVROSE make a case for being even more brilliantly chaotic while CCM (Italy), BASTARDS (Finland), BGK (Holland), RATOS DE PORÃO (Brasil), PURRKUR PILLNIKK (Iceland), DEZERTER (Poland) dish out the kind of quality they are famous for. Sweden's DANSA SKIRKER blew me away and Spain's SLIPS Y SPERMA are raw hardcore brilliance. File this one in the mandatory column, and read Mykel's liner notes here or buy yourself a copy here.

3 comments:

zhollows said...

Wow! I'm SO glad you posted this Wizard! After the Crucifucks and the Descendents as the first two punk tapes dubbed for me by my friend from his older brother's record collection, this tape comp was the first punk tape I bought around 1989/90. I couldn't believe there were punk bands in Poland and Yugoslavia. It opened up my eyes to how awesome worldwide punk was and is. Seriously. Thank you. This tape means a lot to me. Cheers! Zak

cowboy pennepants said...

Thank you so much for this. I've only had a tape of a tape of this comp since the late 90s from a friend in New Haven. "Super low-fi romantic" quality (3rd generation). The Pop Guns track was on a mix from him and I had to heard more... Cheers!

Sid Genocide said...

Absolutely the best punk compilation of all times IMO. I found it in 1995 in a record store in Toronto. If I had to be picky I wouldn't choose the band that was representing Yugoslavia. Saying this because even though it's not a bad song it would be like choosing UK Subs a representatives of that British punk sound and ignoring all the other bands. many folks never heard of punk bands from eastern Europe so it was an opportunity missed really. If you'd like to explore more interesting punk from former Yugoslavia be sure to check out bands like Pekinska Patka, Kud idijoti, Sarlo Akrobata, Kaos, early Elektricni Orgazam, early Paraf...too many to list really.