EP 253: 1979

Mar 11, 2025

Killer episode this week on the pod. Check it out here, here, or here and check the playlist here or here.

1979 gave us one of the best hardcore punk singles of all time - Black Flag’s Nervous Breakdown 7”. A life in punk is a life of hearing bad Black Flag takes, but I hope we can all agree on how much this album rules. To the non-believers, forgive your friend who forced you to listen to Loose Nut and give this one another spin.

All the 185ers on this episode did the right thing and took a track from this 7”, so I tip my hat to them. Here were the picks:

Let’s get into my list…

Black Flag “Fix Me” Nervous Breakdown 7” SST Records

Did my plea to jam a 5 minute EP fall on deaf ears? That’s cool, I chose a 58 second song for all the short attention span heads out there. Perfect song. Riff twice. Verse/Chorus X 3. Out! Hardcore punk perfection. Ginn’s ‘79 right wrist is boss. Down strum or die.

Misfits “Where Eagles Dare” Night Of The Living Dead 7” Plan 9 Records

You’re 13. You hear a dude sing “I ain’t no goddamn son of a bitch.” Your life is never the same.

UK Subs “Stranglehold” Another Kind of Blues LP Gem/RCA

It’s pretty mind-blowing how mainstream first wave punk was in the UK, but goddamn…with songs like “Stranglehold” I guess it’s not too hard to understand. This is a perfect 2 minute punk jammer that probably sounds to me how The Beatles sound to normal folks.

Germs “Richie Dagger’s Crime” (GI) LP

If I was a good writer, I could probably describe this song but I’m not so I can’t. It’s as good as the first wave got, both lyrically and musically. When it hits that little one-string lead towards the end - goddamn. Suck me in and spit me out, devour me in haste.

Stiff Little Fingers “Alternative Ulster” Inflammable Material LP

You could accuse a lot of the first wave punk bands of being plastic and part of a trend, but you’d be a fool if you lobbed anything of the sort towards SLF. Formed during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, their environment oozed through their lyrics.

Inflammable material, planted in my head
It's a suspect device that's left two thousand dead
Their solutions are our problems
They put up the wall
On each side, time and prime us
Make sure we get fuck all
They play their games of power
They cut and mark the pack
They deal us to the bottom
But what do they put back?
Don't believe them
Don't believe them
Don't be bitten twice
You gotta suss, suss, suss, suss, suss, suss
Suss, suspect device

Clevo chose that one - respect. “Alternative Ulstere” is my favorite, though. The opening riff is gets you in the feels before the drums even kick, and damn…that pre-chorus. It’s one of those all time great punk songs that lives as an example that this music can stack up to anything.

Chris D. sounds like a dick. Slash Vol. 2 #5

The Damned “Love Song” Machine Gun Etiquette LP

The Damned put out the first punk single in 1976 but their 3rd record might be their best. After the opening 20 seconds we get a series of musical events that we’re all pretty familiar with: bass break into a drumroll into a (semi) fast part. The building blocks of hardcore are all here in ‘79. Fabulous song. Imagine getting to hear this one again for the first time.

The Dickies “Eve of Destruction” The Incredible Shrinking Dickies LP

A lot of the first wave LA punk bands put out a single or two and flamed out. The Dickies put out five singles in ‘78, then followed up in ‘79 with four more plus two LPs (!!). Da fuq? Side note: I saw them live this year and they still kick ass.

I didn’t know that “Eve Of A Destruction” was a cover until we were recording the episode and Bedge hipped me to the fact. When I was into EpiFat stuff in the mid ‘90s so many bands did punk covers of non-punk songs, often with disastrous results, but this is awesome. The Dickies slay here, stuffing this dark ass folk song with as much bubblegum as possible and making it their own. Shoutout Barry McGuire - this song rules.

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