ZOUNDS- Can’t cheat Karma & 2 7"EP (Crass Records, UK, 1980)
I lived in some sort of a commune once. I was the oldest. There was a young couple. She was just being sensitive and sentimental, while her boyfriend was a total Punk. He wore a grim face day in day out and whenever he felt troubled, he locked himself in his room and played Conflict’s “Ungovernable Force” LP up and down. His parents lived nearby. They were teachers and had a nice house. Then there was the athletic guy. Same social background. But he was just the super nice type, always worried about how women feel in his muscular presence and such. He studied History at the university, for which I envied him so much, but then tripped to South America where he learned that becoming an organic farmer would be the better way to lead a righteous life. He had a girl at the time, she drove a bike and was extremely dumb. When he fucked her the first couple times in a long, hard and sweaty row, an other guy who lived there, asked him the following day why on earth he beat his carpet in the middle of the night.
That guy who knew (and knows) so little about the pleasures of woman liberation by means of flesh pounding, used to spend hours in his room in the attic, playing ZOUNDS “Curse of” LP. This got on my nerves heavily. I hated the ZOUNDS. So whenever he spun it, I picked on him saying “did you listen to that puberty punk again?”. He normally just grinned at me, but it was obvious that the band meant a lot to him and he didn’t find it fair, how I treated him and his new found musical love. But you know, I’m not the kind of guy, or I wasn’t, who could let go of my power games, so it continued again and again.
After many a woman being liberated in that house, after hours and hours of anarchy in wild (Conflict) and whiney (Zounds) fashion, after countless successfull attempts of myself to virtually clean the living room off young people discussing the evils of the world, by just playing DRI, Confuse or Stark Raving Mad at 200 watts, we all parted ways. Except for the ZOUNDS guy and me. We’ve become a weird couple over the past 15 years, biking and hiking 3 times a week, shooting short movie clips of us robbing through the forests while sniffing “sperm mushrooms” (there are these really stinky mushrooms here, big and slimey and black – they produce a pretty unpleasant sperm stench) or pretending to be Charles Darwin and Theodor W. Adorno discussing about the pros and contras of “nordic walking”. We are not anarchists anymore, but we both love ZOUNDS now. I realized that it’s easier to enjoy a band’s music when you let go of all the political nonsense you or others built around. It’s only Rock’n’ Roll but I need it.
This is, by the way (haha), what the ZOUNDS have to say about recording their first 7″:
“Crass made us use a session drummer. It made us feel like the Beatles. It also made us feel like frauds.
We didn’t mind too much though because at least they were bringing out a Zounds record. I wrote Can’t Cheat Karma in my head walking down the Cowley Road in Oxford. But it was Steve Burch, Zounds original guitarist and co-founder of the band, who came up with that way of playing the killer riff. No one could ever play it as well as Steve, but Lawrence gave it a go and it was a brave attempt.
I (Steve Lake) wrote War after spending a weekend in Shepherds Bush listening to Bob Marley’s great song of the same name.”
Anonymous wrote:
too bad you’re switching so quickly. meal, hardcore, grindcore, emo rock. you should give your blog more of a concept!
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Posted on 08-Dec-06 at 3:23 am | Permalink
gamma693 wrote:
The instrumentation reminds me a bit of Dead Milkmen on the first track.
Great story, even if it had little to do with the band.
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Posted on 08-Dec-06 at 5:37 am | Permalink
Anonymous wrote:
Great music (theres a Zounds disco CD available!) – but the story was even better. Hahaha you really should consider making a film of these stories. I can virtually SEE it!
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Posted on 08-Dec-06 at 5:59 am | Permalink
Erich wrote:
I’m ready for the porn part.
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Posted on 08-Dec-06 at 7:16 am | Permalink
Senap wrote:
Thanx a bunch for this post, Erich!!
This single is still – after 25 years – kicking (cr)ASS. Absolutely brilliant!!
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Posted on 08-Dec-06 at 10:41 am | Permalink
SwePete wrote:
Now you have heard this! Move to the next step. The Demystification 7″.
Brilliant!!
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Posted on 09-Dec-06 at 4:41 pm | Permalink
Swenap wrote:
And after you’ve got to that level. Skip the Dancing 7″ and La Vache Qui Rit EP and go for the More Trouble Coming Every Day 7″.
Also pretty fuckin’ brillinat!
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Posted on 09-Dec-06 at 11:23 pm | Permalink
Anonymous wrote:
or just try it all on the CURSE OF THE ZOUNDS album… = >
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Posted on 10-Dec-06 at 3:40 am | Permalink
An nommy nuss wrote:
If you’re a lazy sod. yes. That is why all good music-blogs put out entire CD’s with ALL the songs every band ever make so no one will remember those awful vinyl things called records.
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Posted on 10-Dec-06 at 3:51 am | Permalink
Peter - KBDRecords wrote:
One of the best on Crass Records. I’ve got to keep this and Honey Bane. I can listen to this over and over again. Total classic.
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Posted on 10-Dec-06 at 2:32 pm | Permalink
Senap wrote:
I totally agree with you Peter.
That’s why one of your next posts have to be miss Honey Bane! (Please)
1-2-3-4.. I’ve got an ego…..
Coolest opening of a song since Hard Lovin’ Man on the first Roxy album. Sort of..
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Posted on 10-Dec-06 at 3:49 pm | Permalink
Lucca - Firenze wrote:
“Puberty Rock”: That really hit the nail on its head. Too soft, not BAD enough. The story was great though HAHAHA.
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Posted on 12-Dec-06 at 1:31 am | Permalink
Anonymous wrote:
“too bad you’re switching so quickly. meal, hardcore, grindcore, emo rock. you should give your blog more of a concept! “
BUUUUH BUUUHH! What a stupid comment! Ha! Bah!
Seriously though , it was a good post there. I like the text and that old single is a classic.
Cheerio!
ps. Got any Confuse? Anything else than the Nuclear… Flexi (which is at Plutocrat blog btw)? ds
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Posted on 14-Dec-06 at 7:49 am | Permalink
znort wrote:
hi I just.. came here from a friend blog… this stuff is funny reminds me of my punk days in ‘82-85.. used to listen to these crass bands then switched to us hardcore punk you know, minor threat, ssd, black flag, ssd and all the hundreds.. I don’t get it.. are you talking about stuff that happened a long time ago or what ?
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Posted on 15-Dec-06 at 5:38 am | Permalink
znort wrote:
oh.. and I think rudimentari peni lp was a very intense record and so good.. also bullshit detector, conflict, crass..
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Posted on 15-Dec-06 at 5:40 am | Permalink
Erich wrote:
might post the two CONFUSE 7″s one day or the tracks from the japanese title 8″ comp. Killer stuff.
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Posted on 15-Dec-06 at 2:37 pm | Permalink
Nagiants40 wrote:
OUCH erich..right on my stomach… I JUST LOVE THIS BAND..!! I sell my 7-inches 5 years ago..and find again because of you..
THANKS FOREVER..
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Posted on 19-Dec-06 at 9:19 am | Permalink
TZP wrote:
wow,this site is so fuckin cool! thanks so much. i’ve been trying to remember who did “war” – for months now. the song’s been stuck in my head. i actually have the 7″ but have been too lazy to go through all my singles to find out which one it was. good thing – wouldn’t have found it until i hit the Zs!
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Posted on 25-Feb-07 at 3:00 am | Permalink
Erich wrote:
Yer welcome!
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Posted on 25-Feb-07 at 4:01 am | Permalink
Today is the Day I Make My Own Top 10 Best Punk Band List « Our Hell wrote:
[...] van broke down and they were brought back to Dial House. They later released their first EP, Can’t Cheat Karma, on Crass [...]
Posted on 28-May-08 at 9:25 pm | Permalink
veganerflo wrote:
as regards the first comment – *yawn* lame and boring people can’t handle eclecticism. this blog is just SO great and exciting, i love it to bits. and, oh, i agree with you on katharina wagner…. rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!
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Posted on 01-Sep-08 at 1:09 pm | Permalink
Admin wrote:
Dieses RRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR kann ich nur wärmstes bestätigen.
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Posted on 01-Sep-08 at 1:39 pm | Permalink
Anarkist_Attak wrote:
1st press is a stapled fold out sleeve by the way,……
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Posted on 10-Mar-10 at 3:40 pm | Permalink