Cro-Mags: The Age of Quarrel

Cro-Mags: The Age of Quarrel

1986

Brass City Boss Sounds Records
Format I Own it on: Vinyl

Track Listing: 1. We Gotta Know  2. World Peace  3. Show You No Mercy  4. Malfunction  5. Street Justice  6. Survival of the Streets  7. Seekers of the Truth  8. It's the Limit  9. Hard Times  10. By Myself   11. Don't Tread On Me  12. Face the Facts  13. Do Unto Others  14. Life of My Own  15. Signs of the Times


Sorry I haven't posted much lately, I was in Tucson over the weekend and I've also been going through a lot of...Y'know, what?! I don't have to explain myself to you! I'm a grown man! If I want  spend a week watching Planet of the Apes and reading Thundercats comics, I can, dammit!

Sorry to get so defensive...It must be this Cro-Mags record..It makes me want to lash out at people and scold my pets...I remember first hearing this band after taping the "We Gotta Know" video  from 120 Minutes waaaay back when...

I must have watched that videotape 10 krillion times...What I remember most about it was the bass-player constantly doing what I can only describe as a "full-body grimace"...

 A grimace that somehow started at the top of the head and extended all the way down the neck and chest region...And the music? It sounds a lot like that face! Tough, sinewy, heavily-tatted...Real grit and gravel shit! Tough-guy hardcore that occasionally slows down and congeals into street-metal...The kind of music that makes you wanna stab a bandmate or two...

"Hey! I was acquitted, Motherfucker!!"

God, maybe I shouldn't fuck with this guy...Anyway, I still think "We Gotta Know" is one of my all-time  favorite hardcore tracks...It's as good as it gets...Kicking off with an extended (relatively speaking) chunk of oppressive, asphalt-crunching, slowly churning metal, you just have to nod your head, appreciating the moment, dreading the moment when some Dio-voiced vocalist is going to ruin the whole thing...But then something happens...It suddenly revs up and we have a hardcore classic on our hands...The vocals are a taaad indistinct, but I think it might be a matter of other bands aping this style so much down the road... The "whole incredulous bark highlighted by cartoonish inflections and gang-chants" thing...Still, there's something transcendent about the song for some reason...Its universality forming a cosmic circle pit..I can't exactly put my finger on it, and it doesn't really happen again on the album, not that the rest of the album isn't great (it is) but in my mind, "We Gotta Know" is just such a fucking perfect hardcore song...It seems like if you're in a NYC/tough-bro/Sunday matinee/hardcore band this would be the ideal to strive for...

The remainder of the album seems to explore "We Gotta Know's" twin halves...Thrashing full-speed on  songs like "Street Justice" or slowing down to a crushing trawl on "Malfunction" or "Seekers of the Truth," coming back together every once in awhile ("Hard Times")... Still, I've never gotten over the feeling that the opening track is the reality-shattering main event and the remainder of the album is an extended denouement...Still, it's great stuff if you have a taste for it...But if you have a low tolerance for Mr. Tuffy shit and/or relentless hammering you might want to skip this...However, if the phrase "NYC Hardcore" means anything to you whatsoever, then this should be one of your first purchases, no doubt...Not many albums get the blood pumping like this one...Makes those long days at work go by a lot quicker...

Oh yea, this is totally unrelated, but remember earlier when I was talking about Thundercats comics? Well, after I finished reading reading the 80's Star Comics run, I moved onto the 2002 series and ran across an advertisement that blew my mind...

THE JVC TOWER OF POWER!! Good Christ! Look at that gaudy-ass thing! This is the type of stereo that will spit out any disc that isn't Limp Bizkit...I'm still not convinced that this doesn't turn into a giant robot...Anyway, I was so intrigued by this tribute to the x-treme era that I had to google it...Doing so, I ran across a couple of amazon reviews that made my year:

"THIS SYSTEM LOOKS LIKE A MILLION BUCKS. SHOW IT OFF, DONT HIDE IT IN A CABINET."

"Scoops, Vents, and Las Vegas Lighting.."

Oh my God! When I first read "Las Vegas Lighting" I seriously laughed so hard I was almost crying...I think this next reviewer cuts right to the heart of the matter, though...

"Trust me you hann't heard anything until you play Halo with this thing!"

Yes, that nails it...If you're going to hook up your Xbox to play Halo on a mini-stereo in 2002, then this stereo is the only logical choice...It's armor-plated, it's got too giant guns mounted on either side of the speaker and I think I see a couple of jet engines...Then I turned the page and ran into these clowns...

I think it's official...The early 2000's are now fucking hilarious...I probably wasn't equipped to laugh at this shit at the time due to some post-9/11 malaise or "red-alert fatigue" but I think I have the strength to do it now...HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!

Alright, let's listen to some music...Fire up your Tower of Power, cos here's  "All My Friends Crush You" by Neurotica...

No wait, I meant, here's "We Gotta Know" by Cro-Mags...Enjoy....