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Tonight: Circle Jerks
Tonight the Circle Jerks are playing at El Corazón (7:30 pm, $23). The Circle Jerks! If this were 26 years ago, when they released their first and best album, Group Sex, this would be unbearably exciting news, but, alas, it is not. And, be forewarned that they are opening for Pennywise. Ugh. Regardless, in honor of tonight, here is some Circle Jerks trivia:
In 1979, Keith Morris left his job as vocalist for Black Flag, a band he started with Greg Ginn, and started up the Circle Jerks. To repeat, their first album, Group Sex, is great (fuck you, whoever stole my copy) and should be immediately purchased.
Particularly awesome songs on the album are “Live Fast, Die Young” and “Deny Everything” (which clocks in at 28 seconds). A particularly crappy song is the title track. Two songs on the album, “Wasted” and “Don’t Care,” are songs that Morris wrote with Black Flag, and that he took with him to the Circle Jerks, without crediting his Black Flag (former) buddies.
So what did Black Flag do about this? They got pissed. Then they took the song “Don’t Care” and rewrote the lyrics, turning it into “You Bet We’ve Got Something Personal Against You!”—opening with the line, “We know you stole our song”—which they added to their Jealous Again LP. Burn.
Speaking of Black Flag:
The comp The First Four Years, which chronicles Black Flag’s first four years, is a terrific album. There’s no Henry Rollins on this disc—instead it features the vocals of Morris, his replacement, Chavo Pederast, and Pederast’s replacement, Dez Cadena. That’s right: three singers, four years. (Morris and Pederast are my personal favorite Black Flag vocalists.) Here you get such classics as “Nervous Breakdown,” “Jealous Again,” “No Values,” the aforementioned “You Bet We’ve Got Something Personal Against You!” and Morris’s Black Flag version of “Wasted.” Before my Group Sex CD was stolen, I used to listen to these two short albums one right after the other—for all the drama between these two bands, they really do complement each other nicely.
Comments
$23. TWENTY THREE FUCKING DOLLARS? bullshit.
Hey wait ... it's tonight? Duh. Um, wish I had $23 to spare ... instead, I will be weightlifting whilst watching my shitty bootleg VHS of "Decline (part one)."
"Gimmee a beer!"
Some trivia: I interviewed Circle Jerks for Creem magazine in 1986. I wish I could remember a word I wrote, but I do recall the band members were hell-raising mofos. Zander Schloss was playing bass for CJ then; he later went on to do all kinds of session work with various Cali musicians, including Beck.
Indeed $23—I also found that to be quite disturbing. (Oh, and Mr. Estey, it was last night.)
I AM SO CONFUSED! Thanks for the clarification. Cursed time and its confoundedness!
Anyways, Mr. Segal, did not realize you had been scribing that long ... ah, Creem Magazine. I always feel a little tingle when I get an e-mail from Billy Altman (twice, now!).
I am going to put my two cents in and say that "Wild In the Streets" kicks ass. There, I said it. "Group Sex" is the best (it is a Black Flag covers album after all, ha ha!) but "WITS" is the first I heard so remains my favorite. I don't know anyone who agrees with me, but fuck it. I even have the Garland Jeffreys album the title track is the cover of (thank you, Jive Time! For one dollar!) xo
I will give you this much: "Wild in the Streets" is a great song. But... "Put a Little Love in Your Heart"?
oh god...I saw the Cirle Jerks play the Fargo Civic Center, of all places! in 1986. I got the impression at that time that I was catching the tail end of their career and I was only 15. I can't believe 20 years have passed. Harder still to believe that all these bands are still playing out, whether for reunion tours or just still hangin' on. Don't get me wrong...it was cool to see Scratch Acid after all these years, but frankly, I'd rather be excited by a new band that's coming along instead of constantly reliving the past.
I passed on the Circle Jerks.
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Dammit, missed 'em.
Morris and Pederast are my favorite Black Flag singers too. I would love to interview Ron Reyes ...
The "Black Flag Vs. Circle Jerks" song reaction is even more interesting than the "Clash City Showdown" hall of mirrors ruminations on The Clash Vs. PiL (Metal Box Vs. London Calling, Sandinista Vs. Flowers of Romance, etc.).