NIHILISTICS- s/t 7″EP (Visionary Records, USA, 1982)
I guess they never really read Nietzsche (like all Punk, Metal et al bands refering to nihilism actually have emo-lyrics), but what the hell. Something for the whole family here: Idiosyncratic, hateful, idiotic – I love it! N.Y.’s NIHILISTICS were, along with say the MISFITS, one of the few Punk bands who put a lot of energy into what would be called corporate identity today. Remember the photos on the back of the essential first LP? Of course, you might say, we also remember NIHILISTICS for shamelessly stealing other people’s art and then, there are the german nihilists in “The big Lebowski”. Granted. But this first 7″ by the fellas sure remains impressive (and the first LP is even better!). I find it so great when the bass player just keeps playing a different song, the drummer beats the 4/4 shit outta his kit, the guitarist’s eyes are fixed to the neck of his instrument and the singer goes ape. Fantastic, this is art to me. Good bad music!
After Death.mp3
You’re to blame.mp3
No Friends.mp3
Love and Kisses.mp3
Kill yourself.mp3
Peter - KBD Records wrote:
Out of control yet in control genius music. And the lyrics! Wow! You’re To Blame feels like it could’ve been written by Rob Noxious.
“i’ll not handle responsability even if it’s mine”
Posted on 22-Oct-07 at 12:14 pm | Permalink
Mike wrote:
To me these are the definitive versions of these songs. They did a much better job on them here than on the 12″. I love this 7″!
Now why, even after it’s been pointed out to you that Murder is in fact a Nihilistics song, do you still insist that they stole it?
Posted on 22-Oct-07 at 7:16 pm | Permalink
Eddie wrote:
Great EP but their LP is legendary! I bought the LP when it came out in ‘83 and it had a booklet that contained an interview with the band, gig reviews, and a bio on the band. It also had politicized, dark sentiments on society. I assumed it was written by the singer. I loaned the record to a friend of mine but held on to the booklet and his fucking dog scratched it up. He gave me his Agnostic Front EP and Cause For Alarm Ep as compensation. As for the booklet, I lost it when I moved back to L.A. from Seattle in ‘93.
Posted on 22-Oct-07 at 7:25 pm | Permalink
Eddie wrote:
I remember in the interview the bass player said he worked in a cemetary and the singer said he worked in a hospital morgue. They said they chose those jobs because they hate being around people. No wonder they had such dark, intelligible insights!
Posted on 22-Oct-07 at 7:28 pm | Permalink
gamma693 wrote:
I love this record, and the LP. I was a bit late checking them out, finally doing so after hearing RUPTURE’s version of “Love and Kisses”. Everything else I heard of theirs was awful.
Posted on 22-Oct-07 at 8:35 pm | Permalink
nitsche wrote:
and you believed the stories eddie huh? I went to school with the singer. he was a perfectly normal funny bloke with girl problems. that’s it. haha.
Posted on 22-Oct-07 at 11:42 pm | Permalink
Admin wrote:
Hateing being around people and playing in a band – makes sense, somehow.
Mike: The Nihilistics clearly stole from Suspense. No question.
Posted on 23-Oct-07 at 12:02 am | Permalink
Markus wrote:
The BEATLES stole “She loves you” from me (my dad wrote it in 1941).
Great wreckchord! Thank you for posting this. I think I’ll have to buy me the reissued LP.
Posted on 23-Oct-07 at 4:58 am | Permalink
adamski wrote:
One nasty little piece of vinyl! Got the 13th anniversary re-issue & it blew me away then. Took me forever to get the LP (also the re-ish) & I haven’t listened to that for a while. Time to break that out! Can’t get anymore anti-positive youth if they tried.
Posted on 23-Oct-07 at 10:41 am | Permalink
malfeitor wrote:
That intro tune on the LP is one of the most ridiculously awesome things I’ve heard.
Posted on 23-Oct-07 at 3:11 pm | Permalink
mrpoopy wrote:
Anyone know if the reissue of the LP came with the booklet as well? I’d buy it just to have that booklet again–that interview was hilarious. Another Nihilistics rip-off: the song “Pal O’ Mine” from the 1st LP sounds like Genocide’s “Gonna Fight” on the MIA / Genocide split LP from 1982. Surprised those guys aren’t emailing you death threats for posting this for free.
Posted on 23-Oct-07 at 7:18 pm | Permalink
Admin wrote:
Well, if they don’t want this here, they only need to send a mail and I take it down. A death threat would be nice though.
Gotta compare the two songs mentioned; thanks for the hint, Mr. Poopy! This could become a real Punk Watergate here!
Posted on 23-Oct-07 at 11:41 pm | Permalink
adamski wrote:
Hey MrPoopy!
I have the re-ish of the LP & I can confirm that the booklet is included!
Posted on 24-Oct-07 at 10:50 am | Permalink
laurent wrote:
the vinyl reissue from 2002 by Mad At The World Records came with the complete booklet.
Posted on 24-Oct-07 at 11:36 am | Permalink
Eddie wrote:
I find that impossible that the booklet is reissued with the LP.
Posted on 24-Oct-07 at 12:43 pm | Permalink
Admin wrote:
Haha, same here, Eddie. Why do these fucking reissues have all the stuff that actually came with the original presses? What is the sense in buying originals then. Man.
Posted on 24-Oct-07 at 12:51 pm | Permalink
mrpoopy wrote:
I thought Visionary was the Nihilistics label–someone else reissued LP #1? I guess these guys still play out and are still as inept at their instruments as they are on this 7″–which is to their credit!
Posted on 24-Oct-07 at 2:49 pm | Permalink
wedge wrote:
GREATEST RECORD EVER MADE!!! i love how they got the goat to make noise perfectly at the beginning of “no friends”. Ron Rancid once told me how/why that “noise” is their, but i prefer to say its a goat. he also once bought 2 Born Against eps off me on eBay, but i promised i wouldnt tell anybody so i couldnt tarnish his image…
Posted on 31-Oct-07 at 4:48 pm | Permalink
lord auch wrote:
man, i always thought that this came out in 1979 the guy who posted this at 7 inch punk also typed 1979 release year what gives? by the way the visionary records guys still owe me a nihilistics tee from way back what a bunch of shit talkers those guys!
Posted on 31-Oct-07 at 11:26 pm | Permalink
not guilty wrote:
Classic record, classic band. I love the shit they talk on the WNYU interview they did- “put down your stupid skateboard, prop up a mirror and curse n throw rocks at yourselves you dorks!”
Posted on 23-Jun-08 at 9:51 pm | Permalink
Chris T. wrote:
I was the original guitarist. Mike (the bassist) and I formed the band in my mother’s basement in the summer of 1980. I know this is impossible to prove but it was also me that came up with the name The Nihilistics. It was from a book about Existentialism I stole from a Salvation Army (I was so broke I stole from a goddamn Salvation Army).
Mike and I use to hang a cheap crap microphone from the basement ceiling, plug it into one of those Panasonic cassette recorders and bang away on songs like “Grandmas Are Made For Kicking”. We met Ron at a club called Legz in Valley Stream, Long Island. Then we spent probably half a year going through drummers, one worst than the next. Until we found Troy.
The Nihilistics are still around, still playing. Ron kept things going. Last time I saw them (summer of 2006) in Asbury Park, NJ, Troy was back in the band, which surprised the shit out of me. I haven’t spoken with Mike in years.
About this EP: it was recorded at the Bad Brains studio on Avenue A (or was it Ave. B?). There was a ton of pot-smoking going on during the recording but not by us. We drank beer and smoked cheap cigars. The session took less than 3 hours and probably cost $200. One of the Dead Boys was present while we were recording. I think it was Jeff Magnum. The picture on the back cover was shot down the street from where I lived, at a house that had just about burned down months before. Mike’s girlfriend Sandy took the picture and designed the logo.
Man, I wish I had written this stuff down at the time, kept a journal. The details leave you as time rolls on. I was glad to be part of the whole NYC scene but The Nihilistics never considered themselves hardcore, just punk. And we got a lot of shit for being from Long Island, which everyone who lived in Queens, Brooklyn, etc. considered to be some golden land full of in-ground swimming pools and shit. I came from a blue collar background and like so many other rock fans listening to The Who, Zeppelin, Queen, etc. I was pushed into another reality by The Sex Pistols.
The original line-up of The Nihilistics ran from 1980 to 1984 when I left the band. I couldn’t stand the direction the music was going in, too heavy metal and schlocky for my taste. I moved to NJ shortly after and ended up playing in Missing Foundation. A few other bands followed, then I pretty much hung up the guitar and got into radio at WFMU. Now I’m a co-host on the trucking channel on Sirius Satellite Radio.
Enough about me. Thanks to everyone for the kind comments here.
Posted on 14-Aug-08 at 8:08 pm | Permalink
Admin wrote:
Can’t thank thank you enough Chris! The story about stealing a book on existentialism from the salvation army is priceless alone. I had no idea you were in Missing Foundation. Saw MF live in Switzerland or Germany once, ca. 1989 and was very impressed. Very intense show, the non-metal way of the musical apocalypse. Cheers Chris!
Posted on 15-Aug-08 at 12:07 am | Permalink
pauls mary wrote:
is chris a born again christian or purging his soul?
sounds like self promotion and bs to me?
hey nitsche where is that fucked up singer ronnie from?
that guy went to school and got girls?
what girl would be with him?
didnt the bass player die?
man i gotta tell ya i love that band.
then now forever.
i love the fuck guns and roses cd.
reading these post make it all the better.
is chris the admin person here or are they lovers?
mary.
heheheheheheh
Posted on 09-Sep-08 at 9:45 am | Permalink
Admin wrote:
“Pauls Mary” = the same guy who just left a comment in “Great Punk Rock Scams”. Must be a Nihilistics member, haha.
Posted on 09-Sep-08 at 9:53 am | Permalink
Slugg wrote:
I just saw the Nihihlistics and the Freeze at the Knitting Factory. Freeze was great, Nihilistics over the top and totally insane for guys of that age. I’m 44 and remember seeing both bands a few times in the 80’s at cb’s. They got to be in thier 50’s?. Kung Foo were great as well. But to me te Nihilistics sound great, have the same message, are political-social-demented and in a way are a parody of themselves. Kinda like Elvis before he died.
Posted on 10-Sep-08 at 8:26 am | Permalink
ignatz wrote:
this is a way cool thing about the nihilistics.
im just gettin into them
http://altpress.com/askthatguy/56.htm
Posted on 23-Sep-08 at 2:30 pm | Permalink
Bob wrote:
yer just gittin into dem. dey gunna get into u. i bee a fan 4 yeers.
greetist punc band eva.
Posted on 21-Oct-08 at 12:12 pm | Permalink
ronnie rancid the ni wrote:
this is ronnie rancid, im going to kil you all because i am ronnie rancid and garbage and a homo and a dead corpse fucker and cant get girls and i want to die and i play in the nihilistics and i was a drug dealer and i was a prostitute and i drive a hearse and i beat people up and i am a mental patient and i take drugs to keep my mind straight and i hate myself and i fucked my momma and i jerk off all the time and people blow me all the time and i smell girls assses and i have sex with childrens and i an i and i am me and i am ronnie rancid and i make losts off money from my band and i cant get a erection and i hate the world and i smell and i make sex movies and i smell and i have rotten teeth and i fuck the band guys in the assses and i am a washed up punk star and i am hated by everyone and i am a pedofile and i am a looser and i am very old am in shit books and i am a whore and i drive a big hearse and i have a big car and i am stupid and i have mental issues and i take mental issue drugs and i pop pills and i drink to much and i have a loud mouth and i steal songs and i have heapers and i have cock warts and i have vd and i have a big shiveled dick and i smell bad at shows and i have a movie made about me and i act in shit movies and i am aa faggot and i beat myself up and i have no friends and people hate me and i have no job and i spit on people and i lift wieghts because i am a fat fucker and i rape dead people and i shit myslef and piss myself and i have alzheimers disease and aids and i pay women for sexual relations and i will die soon and i hope he does.
Posted on 02-Mar-09 at 12:35 pm | Permalink
Admin wrote:
That’s quite impressive, really.
Posted on 02-Mar-09 at 1:06 pm | Permalink