This deluxe reissue from
Sanctuary Records Group
compiles
Discharge
's 1981 10,"
"Why,"
with the initial EPs that established the Stoke on Tent-based shock unit:
"Decontrol,"
"Fight Back,"
and
"Realities of War."
emerged in 1980 and 1981 -- after
the Sex Pistols
had fizzled and
the Clash
's popularity had exploded. While the media proclaimed the death of the scene,
Terry "Tezz" Roberts
(drums),
Tony "Bones" Roberts
(guitar),
Roy "Rainy" Wainwright
(bass), and vocalist
Cal
lurched out of the gate with
And like any great grass roots effort, the band began to make considerable noise without the support of a distribution network or widespread media attention. Their one- and two-minute screeds (
"Religion Instigates,"
"Maimed and Slaughtered,"
etc.) seemed taped together from existing shreds -- harsh screams, snatches of messy guitar, and one-dimensional, lockstep drumming -- but were the nourishment that sustained the vital U.K.
punk
scene beyond the implosion of its first wave. There's no posing here, no spectacle. Rather,
"Why"
and its accompanying material hum with desperation and attitude. The
Roberts
brothers and their mates certainly had something to prove, as vicious lyrical tirades against war mongering and repressive social politics can attest (a lyric sheet is included in the reissue). But while their agenda was admirable, it's the snapping, popping, hair dryer-in-the-bathwater quality of
's music that resonates almost two decades on. Musicians will write protest songs forever. But the immediacy of this torn and stained
punk rock
snapshot is hard to replicate. [
Captain Oi
reissued the album with bonus tracks and videos in 2007.] ~ Johnny Loftus