YDI- A Place in the Sun 7″EP (Bloodbubble Records, USA, 1983)
I never understood the Mussolini reference of YDI (“why die”). The record title quotes a famous sentence of Italy’s fascist dictator Benisso Mussolini, he coined when Italy’s army attacked Aethiopia in 1935 in order to turn it into a colony. That event was satyrically portrayed by german artist and communist John Heartfield in one of his political photomontages. Heartfield was one of the first artists to make use of the photomontage technique and employed it heavily as part of the fight against nationalsocialism. His motto was: Use photography as weapon. It’s a shame, I think, the YDI cover doesn’t name the artist anywhere. They just say “Thanks especially to Mussolini for the title” in the thankslist. How come?
But anyway, this is one helluva brutal record. It’s actually one of the hardest hitting earlier HC records I can think of. They basically have one riff they’re shredding – but it sure does monstrously! YDI came from Philadelphia. After this EP, they released one LP called “Black Dust” which was famous for its incredibly cheesy pictures of band members and very, I mean VERY bad bad bad metal music. You know, I have more than just a soft spot for Meddl, but seriously, that LP is one disgrace.
Yesterday, a copy of this sold for 305$ on Ebay. I think it has to do with the groups short live clip in “American Hardcore”.
25 $ of donations for the annual costs (hosting and registration) are still receivable. I supply the music, knowledge and time and you the basic costs. In return, you’ll allow yourself and thousands more to make use of this collection of great and hard to find music. Even though this blog is being read globally (that’s why I’m mangling english), the vast majority of donations come from one country, by the way. Thank y’all for the support! And, since I’m feeling a bit hippiesque at this very moment (must be YDI) – getting comments with additional info or just some insight in how others react to the music you love is probably the reason why people put so much work into blogs, especially people of age who would rather start drinking a glass of their own piss every morning than going on shows or discussing music with post-pubertarian little fuckers with baseball hats and chains around their necks. Oops, what had started out in a hippie tone ended on a punk note. Grrreat.
Not Shit.mp3
1983.mp3
Friends.mp3
Mad at the World.mp3
Out for Blood.mp3
Categorized.mp3
Another Day.mp3
Get up & fight / Zombie Youth.mp3
Why die?.mp3
paul wrote:
LOL youre not in love with the kids are you.
great 7″! heard so much about it. it’s very HARSH!!!
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Posted on 23-Aug-07 at 10:32 am | Permalink
OTTO wrote:
Consider myself lucky to have seen these guys live in their heyday… a force of fucking nature. It’s hard to really remember how unbelievably wild it was to see a band like this in 1982/3. It was so harsh, so new, so cool… and that’s why I’m still visiting sites like this at age 42.
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Posted on 23-Aug-07 at 2:42 pm | Permalink
Joe Stumble wrote:
YEAHHHHH!
This is some classic shit, man. I would love to hear the metal album though! I got some YDI over on last days too including some video.
http://www.lastdaysofmanonearth.com/blog/?p=143
Between this, Ruin, McRad and FOD, Philly had some serious mojo going on in 82-83!
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Posted on 23-Aug-07 at 3:27 pm | Permalink
Tony wrote:
This is one of my favorite HC records of all time– so intense, so brutal and so unique sounding. “Categorized” is my favorite track, even though it’s so short. A more intense demo version of “Zombie Youth” was on the great “All For One, One For All” comp CD that GTA put out back in ‘95. I have not heard the YDI reissue CD on Parts Unknown, but maybe that demo is on there too(?). The clip of YDI in that damn American Hardcore movie did not do them justice.
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Posted on 23-Aug-07 at 3:29 pm | Permalink
Eddie wrote:
One of my buddies in ‘83 had this EP and it blew me away. YDI never made it to L.A. cuz I would have been there if they did. I always considered YDI as good as Negative Approach, Necros, and The Fix.
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Posted on 23-Aug-07 at 8:28 pm | Permalink
Sean wrote:
Very fond of this band Erich…I even like a coupel tracks off of the LP.
But yeah, fun record…I don’t know how to sum it up any better. I was actually thinking about the song that mentioned jetpacks just this morning! And why lyrics like that don’t stand out more often or are even remembered!
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Posted on 23-Aug-07 at 8:38 pm | Permalink
sledge wrote:
great 7″. the only philly hardcore band that matters. (out of how many, maybe 5?) the production of this is nuts, reminds me of the rebel truth 7″ for some reason. this record is so fierce that the bass doesn’t even line up with the guitar half the time. (that’s not a bad thing) i had the disprivledge of seeing them a few months back, what a let down. they played maybe 3 songs off of this record at about 1/2 the speed. oh yeah, jackal was wearing a freddy kruger glove half the time too.
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Posted on 24-Aug-07 at 5:58 am | Permalink
Peter - KBD Records wrote:
Priceless.
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Posted on 25-Aug-07 at 3:47 am | Permalink
John Y? wrote:
Good info on the cover,which was why i bought it-mine came with a sticker,so that $300 copy was incomplete!
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Posted on 09-Sep-07 at 9:45 am | Permalink
Admin wrote:
Yepp, John – mine came with the famous sticker too (you used to see this on many geetars in the 80s).
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Posted on 09-Sep-07 at 9:58 am | Permalink
Hendrik wrote:
Sounds way better than the rip I’ve had. Thank you very much.
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Posted on 08-Dec-07 at 6:09 am | Permalink
drow wrote:
thats a sick 7″ ” i’d kill my family” for that….
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Posted on 28-Dec-07 at 1:31 pm | Permalink
Tom wrote:
Damn good stuff there sir. Thank you
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Posted on 29-Jan-08 at 5:31 am | Permalink
zeus wrote:
when i played bass for death skull we did a show with Ydi at the crypt on walnut st. we would go to lip likins for soul food and then girard ave for wet leaky donuts at mike Kingnigers friend long van my”s home.with spike, keel, ike, ken and hanging on 45th street
Ydi did a show that was famous in phila when mike from Ydi wacked big Jack from Scab Cadilack right in the back of the skulll w/ a wrench that mike used to carry in his back pocket in case of riots when jack got out of the hospital mike said sorry jack i thought you were someone else although ydi was cut down in thier prime they have an amazing story if you ever get a chance to talk to the guys theres years of knowledge and shows the played that you wouldn’t believe the one that stands out is on halloween in the early 80s opening for samhain in NY. city mike dated a girl named susie who later dated glenn danzig and wrote pony girl for her small world aint it theres more of that kind of shit in thier history
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Posted on 17-Mar-08 at 1:23 pm | Permalink
Greg anderson wrote:
I got a chance to hear the full-length Lp at my pal Tos’ house in Amsterdam and I remember it being good! May have been Tos’ (GOD, Beaver) killer hash talking!
I owe this site money! Where do I pay (so much fucking cool shit!)
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Posted on 24-Nov-08 at 7:21 pm | Permalink
Admin wrote:
Good to see you here, Greg. There’s no need to pay money – just put me on the Southern Lord promo list and I’ll review your new releases regularly. If you want, you can send me the complete backcatalogue too
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Posted on 25-Nov-08 at 1:24 am | Permalink
seAoxen wrote:
This stuff is pretty cool but the LP is so much better (powerful, interesting, wild & weird with a really killer sound). I don’t understand why you give it such a bagging & maybe you should have another listen – you might be suprised by how fucking great it actually is.
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Posted on 23-Dec-08 at 6:10 am | Permalink
SkesiaSer wrote:
Nothing seems to be easier than seeing someone whom you can help but not helping.
I suggest we start giving it a try. Give love to the ones that need it.
God will appreciate it.
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Posted on 21-Jan-09 at 7:33 pm | Permalink
dbmountain@hotmail.c wrote:
does anybody know any of the lyrics? please email me
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Posted on 30-Mar-09 at 10:58 pm | Permalink
not guilty wrote:
As much as it pains me to admit it, the LP is nearly as great as the 7″.
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Posted on 22-Sep-09 at 10:56 am | Permalink
Ruin - Fiat Lux | Last Days of Man On Earth wrote:
[...] and what was really annoying about this was that Philly had some amazing hardcore bands like YDI, FOD, McRad and Ruin. So you got this criminally under-rated band in this under-rated town. [...]
Posted on 11-Feb-10 at 3:32 pm | Permalink