This Is Boston, Not L.A.
This Is Boston, Not L.A. | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Compilation album by various artists | |
Released | May 1982 |
Studio |
|
Genre | Hardcore punk |
Length | 36:46 |
Language | English |
Label | Modern Method |
Producer |
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
This Is Boston, Not L.A. is a hardcore punk compilation released in 1982. It is considered the definitive album from the Boston hardcore scene, as several of its most prominent bands appear on the record, namely, Jerry's Kids, the Proletariat, the Groinoids, the F.U.'s, Gang Green, Decadence, and the Freeze.[1] For them, with the exception of the latter, This Is Boston, Not L.A. was also their debut release. Al Barile's band, SSD, were asked to contribute, but they refused to participate.[2]
The album was named after its closing track, the eponymous song by the Freeze:
If you dance the same and dress the same
It won't be long 'til you are the same
You look the same and act the same
There's nothing new and you're to blame
This is Boston, not L.A.
This is Boston, fuck L.A.
According to Clif Hanger, vocalist for the Freeze, the title song was written not to insult Los Angeles scene, but to encourage other Boston acts to find their own unique, local sound rather than emulate other bands from other areas.[4][5] However, Boston audiences often took away a different meaning. They assumed the song asserted Boston's superiority to Los Angeles.[4]
The album's front cover features a black-and-white image of a mosh pit, taken by Bostonian punk photographer Phil In Phlash.
This Is Boston, Not L.A. would be followed up a few months later by a six-song complementary record, the Unsafe at Any Speed EP.[nb 1]
Release
Consisting of only previously unreleased material, This Is Boston, Not L.A. was originally released in May 1982, as LP[nb 2][6] and Compact Cassette,[nb 2][7] on Modern Method Records.[8][9] A second vinyl pressing of the album would be released later that same year.[10]
Critical reception
Writing contemporaneously in The Boston Phoenix, Doug Simmons said that "crudely put, our punk scene is a pimple compared to California’s festering wounds. What's even more dehabilitating [sic], as Cliff Hanger points out, is that Boston hardcore lacks even the force of originality. Shaved skulls, scrawled-on T-shirts, and heavy boots have become just one more uniform. Still, I find hope in This is Boston, Not L.A. Jerry's Kids, the Groinoids (defunct), the F.U.’s, Decadence (ditto), and Gang Green may all be Circle Jerkoffs in terms of sound (raw, fast, brief, mean), but many songs strike a nerve."[11]
In his review for AllMusic, Alex Henderson said:
"... in the late '70s and early '80s. While Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco were famous for their punk scenes, Boston's punk scene didn't enjoy nearly as much publicity. But make no mistake: Boston was a punk hotbed back then, and Modern Method Records tried to spread the word with this obscure but excellent compilation ... This Is Boston, Not L.A. ... paints an impressive picture of the Beantown punks who were active during that era."[1]
Unsafe at Any Speed EP
Unsafe at Any Speed | |
---|---|
![]() | |
EP by various artists | |
Released | Late summer 1982 |
Genre | Hardcore punk |
Length | 11:48 |
Language | English |
Label | Modern Method |
A few months after releasing This Is Boston, Not L.A.,[nb 2] Modern Method issued a follow-up companion record, the 7-inch EP titled Unsafe at Any Speed,[nb 1][9][12] featuring one unreleased song apiece from six of the bands which had appeared on the original compilation.
Also featuring a Phil In Phlash's photograph of a mosh pit, and bold typography, the record's front cover is of a similar design to that on the original album.
The tracks that make up the EP resurfaced in 1995 as the last six songs on the CD re-release of This Is Boston, Not L.A.[nb 3][13][14][15]
Track listing
No. | Title | Artist | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Selfish" | Gang Green | 1:44 |
2. | "Empty Skull" | Groinoids | 1:18 |
3. | "Voodoo Economics" | The Proletariat | 2:51 |
No. | Title | Artist | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Machine Gun" | Jerry's Kids | 1:17 |
2. | "CETA Suckers" | The F.U.'s | 0:57 |
3. | "Refrigerator Heaven" | The Freeze | 3:41 |
Total length: | 11:48 |
Influence
After the record's release, Boston natives took to mocking the title with T-shirts that proclaimed in large type: "This is L.A. (Lower Allston), not Boston" in reference to Allston, Massachusetts. In the early to mid-1980s, the T-shirt appropriately mimicked the NBA rivalry between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers.
The Boston-based ska-punk band Big D and the Kids Table printed T-shirts referencing the song and compilation. They featured "L.A" with a strike through it on the front and "This is Boston Not L.A." on the back. South shore pop-punk band A Loss for Words also made shirts that featured a modified version of the Celtics logo and the same saying on the reverse side. This alludes to both the compilation and the Celtics' victory in the 1984 NBA Finals.
In 1994 Zafio Records released the This is Berkeley Not West Bay 4-way split EP with Black Fork, Dead and Gone, Screw 32 and AFI on it. As a response, in 2000 the Amsterdam-based Kangaroo Records label released the compilation EP This is Kangaroo Not Berkely, with 12 bands from different countries playing 'straight forward hardcore. Like the way it SHOULD be.'[16]
The compilation was mentioned by the punk rock band NOFX on their song "We Got Two Jealous Agains", featured on their album The War on Errorism, released in 2003. A verse of the lyrics reads: "But when I saw Christ on Parade, and This is Boston, Not LA, I knew you were the one".
In 2012, appeared an unlabeled self-released EP titled This Is Boston and S.J., displaying on its cover art the same photograph and graphic style of the 1982 LP, but instead of it saying "Not L.A.", it's crossed off and says "and S.J.". Hostage and Swamps from Massachusetts share the record with Bad Times Crew, and True Hearted from San Jose, California.[17]
Reissues
In October 1995, This Is Boston, Not L.A. was re-released as a remastered CD[nb 3][14][15][18] on Newbury Comics' in-house record label Wicked Disc,[15][18] a short-lived follow-up to the demised Modern Method Records.[19] This edition included, as bonus tracks, the entire Unsafe at Any Speed EP.[nb 1][15][18]
On July 29, 2016, Newbury Comics re-released the album as a limited repressing of 1,500 copies on colored vinyl,[nb 2][20] in four different design variations.[21]
Track listings
In the original LP from 1982, "Straight Jacket" is spelled "Strait Jacket" on the side A disc label[6] and on the inner sleeve, while "I Don't Know" appears as "I Don't Care" on the back cover and on the side B disc label, and "This Is Boston, Not L.A." is shortened to "Boston not L.A." on the back cover and on the side B disc label. In the Compact Cassette version, also from 1982, "I Don't Know" appears as "I Don't Care", and "This Is Boston, Not L.A." is shortened to "Boston not L.A."[7]
1982 LP and MC release
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Artist | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Straight Jacket" | Rick Jones | Jerry's Kids | 0:27 |
2. | "Uncontrollable" | R. Jones | Jerry's Kids | 0:50 |
3. | "Wired" | R. Jones | Jerry's Kids | 1:22 |
4. | "Desperate" | Bob Cenci | Jerry's Kids | 1:15 |
5. | "Pressure" | Dave Aronson | Jerry's Kids | 1:25 |
6. | "I Don't Wanna" | Cenci | Jerry's Kids | 1:25 |
7. | "Options" | Richard Brown, The Proletariat | The Proletariat | 2:00 |
8. | "Religion Is the Opium of the Masses" | Brown, The Proletariat | The Proletariat | 2:14 |
9. | "Allegiance" | Frank Michaels, The Proletariat | The Proletariat | 1:39 |
10. | "Angel" | Mongoloid, Groinoids | Groinoids | 1:06 |
11. | "Preskool Dropouts" | John Sox, Peter Cristofono | The F.U.'s | 1:32 |
12. | "Radio UNIX USA" | Steve Grimes | The F.U.'s | 1:01 |
13. | "Green Beret" (version) | Robin Moore, Barry Sadler | The F.U.'s | 1:39 |
14. | "Time Is Money" | Bob Furapples, Grimes | The F.U.'s | 0:20 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Artist | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "Snob" | Chris Doherty | Gang Green | 0:26 |
2. | "Lie Lie" | Doherty, Mike Dean | Gang Green | 0:33 |
3. | "I Don't Know" | Doherty | Gang Green | 1:01 |
4. | "Rabies" | Doherty, Dean | Gang Green | 1:26 |
5. | "Narrow Mind" | Doherty | Gang Green | 0:41 |
6. | "Kill a Commie" | Doherty, Dean | Gang Green | 1:07 |
7. | "Have Fun" | Doherty | Gang Green | 0:54 |
8. | "Slam" | Jonathan Anastas | Decadence | 1:31 |
9. | "Broken Bones" | C. Croce | The Freeze | 1:31 |
10. | "Idiots at Happy Hour" | Croce | The Freeze | 0:58 |
11. | "Now or Never" | Rob DeCradle, Croce | The Freeze | 0:39 |
12. | "Sacrifice Not Suicide" | Croce | The Freeze | 1:08 |
13. | "It's Only Alcohol" | DeCradle, Croce | The Freeze | 1:24 |
14. | "Trouble If You Hide" | DeCradle, Croce | The Freeze | 2:49 |
15. | "Time Bomb" | Croce | The Freeze | 1:58 |
16. | "This Is Boston, Not L.A." | Croce | The Freeze | 0:25 |
Total length: | 36:46 |
1995 remastered CD edition
Track 36 hides an untitled looped version of the final line of the title song: "This is Boston" is heard once, "fuck L.A." is the loop.
No. | Title | Artist | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Straight Jacket" | Jerry's Kids | 0:28 |
2. | "Uncontrollable" | Jerry's Kids | 0:51 |
3. | "Wired" | Jerry's Kids | 1:22 |
4. | "Desperate" | Jerry's Kids | 1:17 |
5. | "Pressure" | Jerry's Kids | 1:26 |
6. | "I Don't Wanna" | Jerry's Kids | 1:25 |
7. | "Options" | The Proletariat | 2:01 |
8. | "Religion Is the Opium of the Masses" | The Proletariat | 2:14 |
9. | "Allegiance" | The Proletariat | 1:38 |
10. | "Angel" | Groinoids | 1:07 |
11. | "Preskool Dropouts" | The F.U.'s | 1:32 |
12. | "Radio UNIX USA" | The F.U.'s | 1:01 |
13. | "Green Beret" | The F.U.'s | 1:38 |
14. | "Time Is Money" | The F.U.'s | 0:21 |
15. | "Snob" | Gang Green | 0:27 |
16. | "Lie Lie" | Gang Green | 0:36 |
17. | "I Don't Know" | Gang Green | 1:03 |
18. | "Rabies" | Gang Green | 1:27 |
19. | "Narrow Mind" | Gang Green | 0:44 |
20. | "Kill a Commie" | Gang Green | 1:08 |
21. | "Have Fun" | Gang Green | 0:54 |
22. | "Slam" | Decadence | 1:30 |
23. | "Broken Bones" | The Freeze | 1:32 |
24. | "Idiots at Happy Hour" | The Freeze | 0:59 |
25. | "Now or Never" | The Freeze | 0:39 |
26. | "Sacrifice Not Suicide" | The Freeze | 1:08 |
27. | "It's Only Alcohol" | The Freeze | 1:23 |
28. | "Trouble If You Hide" | The Freeze | 2:46 |
29. | "Time Bomb" | The Freeze | 1:57 |
30. | "This Is Boston, Not L.A." | The Freeze | 0:25 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Artist | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
31. | "Selfish" | Chris Doherty | Gang Green | 1:47 |
32. | "Empty Skull" | Mongoloid, Groinoids | Groinoids | 1:20 |
33. | "Voodoo Economics" | Richard Brown, The Proletariat | The Proletariat | 2:49 |
34. | "Machine Gun" | Rick Jones | Jerry's Kids | 1:20 |
35. | "CETA Suckers" | Steve Grimes | The F.U.'s | 0:59 |
36. | "Refrigerator Heaven" | C. Croce, The Freeze | The Freeze | 8:27 |
Total length: | 53:41 |
Personnel
Jerry's Kids
Groinoids
Gang Green
The Freeze
| Production
Additional production (1995 remastered CD edition)
|
Notes
References
- ^ a b c Henderson, Alex. "This Is Boston, Not L.A.: AllMusic Review by Alex Henderson". AllMusic. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
- ^ Hurchalla, George (Zuo Press, 2005). Going Underground: American Punk 1979–1989. Second ed., 2016. Oakland: PM Press. ISBN 9781629631134. pp. 197–200.
- ^ Various artists (1982), This Is Boston, Not L.A.. Modern Method Records. #MM 012. Inner sleeve.
- ^ a b Abbene, Jillian (February 2008). "On the record with... Clif Hanger - The Freeze". SugarBuzz Magazine. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
- ^ Carnes, Aaron (October 25, 2016). "The Return of Boston Hardcore Anomaly, The Proletariat" Archived 2016-10-27 at the Wayback Machine (interview). Noisey. Retrieved October 27, 2016.
- ^ a b This Is Boston, Not L.A., 1982 LP release cover art. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
- ^ a b This Is Boston, Not L.A., 1982 MC release cover art. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
- ^ Varnum, Steve (mid-1982). Title unknown (review about the Proletariat's contribution to the This Is Boston, Not L.A. compilation). The Standard-Times.
- ^ a b Blush, Steven (2001). American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Second ed., 2010. Port Townsend: Feral House. ISBN 9781932595895. pp. 185-187.
- ^ This Is Boston, Not L.A., 1982 LP repressing cover art. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
- ^ Simmons, Doug (May 18, 1982). "Slamming hardcore". The Boston Phoenix. Retrieved August 31, 2024.
- ^ Unsafe at Any Speed, 1982 7-inch EP release cover art. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved February 16, 2016.
- ^ FuckYouOiOiOi (January 16, 2007). "Various: This Is Boston, Not L.A. (1982)". Punknews. Retrieved February 12, 2016.
- ^ a b This Is Boston, Not L.A., 1995 CD edition cover art. Record Collectors of the World Unite. Retrieved February 15, 2016.
- ^ a b c d This Is Boston, Not L.A., 1995 CD edition advertisement. Official Website of the Proletariat and Churn. Archived from the original on June 20, 2008.
- ^ This is Kangaroo Not Berkeley 7″ Kangaroo Records blog. Retrieved November 29, 2016.
- ^ Various artists, This Is Boston and S.J., 2012 CD EP, FLAC and MP3 files release review. Idioteq. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
- ^ a b c This Is Boston, Not L.A., 1995 CD edition. AllMusic. Retrieved July 29, 2016.
- ^ LeBlanc, Larry. "Industry Profile: Mike Dreese". CelebrityAccess. Retrieved May 20, 2016.
- ^ Marotta, Michael (July 21, 2016). "Living History: Newbury Comics to re-press iconic 1982 record 'This Is Boston, Not L.A.'". Vanyaland. Retrieved July 23, 2016.
- ^ This Is Boston, Not L.A., 2016 LP repressing cover art. Rackspace CDN. Archived from the original on August 18, 2016.
Further reading
- Blush, Steven (2001). "Boston Not L.A.: The Kids Will Have Their Say". American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Second ed., 2010. Port Townsend: Feral House. ISBN 9781932595895. pp. 177–191.
- Hurchalla, George (Zuo Press, 2005). "Bend My Ear, Twist My Arm". Going Underground: American Punk 1979–1989. Second ed., 2016. Oakland: PM Press. ISBN 9781629631134. pp. 197–214.
- Quint, Al (September 1982). "Various Artists: Unsafe at Any Speed (Modern Method)". Suburban Punk (1).
External links
- Henderson, Alex. "This Is Boston, Not L.A.: AllMusic Review by Alex Henderson". AllMusic.
- Erich (July 15, 2008). "V/A Unsafe at Any Speed- Compilation 7″EP (Modern Method Records, USA, 1982)". Good Bad Music for Bad, Bad Times!
- v
- t
- e
- Bob Cenci
- Chris Doherty
- Walter Gustafson
- Matt Sandonato
- Brian Betzger
- Kevin Brooks
- Mike Dean
- Mike Earls
- Fritz Ericson
- Joe Gittleman
- Mike Lucantonio
- Bill Manley
- Tony Nichols
- Josh Pappe
- Chuck Stilphen
- Glen Stilphen
- King of Bands
- Preschool
- The Taang Years
- Sold Out 7"
- Drunk and Disorderly 10"
- P.M.R.C. Sucks 12"
- Skate to Hell 7"
- I81B4U
- Back & Gacked