Agony Shorthand
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Tuesday, January 17, 2006
POISON IDEA : “PICK YOUR KING” 7”EP.....
POISON IDEA are one of those bands like MOTORHEAD or BLACK SABBATH that have always sounded better on paper than they actually have over a full album’s worth of brutality; the hits are always bone-crunching and the music’s a total face-wash, but until I heard “Pick Your King” this month I admired the ‘Idea more for their generous girth and on-paper power than I had for anything I’d ever actually ingested by these Oregon beef boys. Yeah yeah, I know, “King”’s been everyone’s favorite for years – I’ve just been real real busy, you know what I’m saying? But when they called this 1983 dozen-plus 7-inch a “hardcore landmark”, "they" weren’t kidding. Razor fast, angry, louder than even my all-time favorite brute force 45, the NEGATIVE APPROACH EP. It blows by with total g-force fury, and makes stuff like NA’s “Ready To Fight” sound about as dangerous as MDC or THE RED ROCKERS. It's also thirteen songs on a 7" -- the only (decent) record I know of with more tracks than that is that first DRI single ("I Don't Need Society"!!!), one I'm sure you all have, right?
I guess I missed the “blurred stage” in this band’s early evolution and had them filed more on the fist-pumpin’ speed metal side of the aisle. And going on that late 80s/early 90s stuff, some of which is still pretty balls-out, I don’t think I was too wide of the mark. But I implore you to listen to the next fella that tries to get you to listen to “Pick Your King”, a rule I chose not to follow to my eternal disgrace for over 20 years. And can someone let us know how many of these gentlemen are still alive? I used to get a real vicarious kick out of reading about their drunken hijinks and shenanigans.
POISON IDEA are one of those bands like MOTORHEAD or BLACK SABBATH that have always sounded better on paper than they actually have over a full album’s worth of brutality; the hits are always bone-crunching and the music’s a total face-wash, but until I heard “Pick Your King” this month I admired the ‘Idea more for their generous girth and on-paper power than I had for anything I’d ever actually ingested by these Oregon beef boys. Yeah yeah, I know, “King”’s been everyone’s favorite for years – I’ve just been real real busy, you know what I’m saying? But when they called this 1983 dozen-plus 7-inch a “hardcore landmark”, "they" weren’t kidding. Razor fast, angry, louder than even my all-time favorite brute force 45, the NEGATIVE APPROACH EP. It blows by with total g-force fury, and makes stuff like NA’s “Ready To Fight” sound about as dangerous as MDC or THE RED ROCKERS. It's also thirteen songs on a 7" -- the only (decent) record I know of with more tracks than that is that first DRI single ("I Don't Need Society"!!!), one I'm sure you all have, right?I guess I missed the “blurred stage” in this band’s early evolution and had them filed more on the fist-pumpin’ speed metal side of the aisle. And going on that late 80s/early 90s stuff, some of which is still pretty balls-out, I don’t think I was too wide of the mark. But I implore you to listen to the next fella that tries to get you to listen to “Pick Your King”, a rule I chose not to follow to my eternal disgrace for over 20 years. And can someone let us know how many of these gentlemen are still alive? I used to get a real vicarious kick out of reading about their drunken hijinks and shenanigans.
