Mystic Records Part 10 (1990-end)
Before I get into it, check my want list here and get in touch if you have any of these. I posted a full discography here.
Well friends, we made it to the end. Let’s slog through the final year of Mystic’s initial run before they became simply a repress, bootleg, and pay-to-play label the following century. Of course in the real world, 1990 was a killer year for punk and hardcore. It had some killer LPs - Against The Grain, Feel The Darkness, Remain Sedate, etc. and some all-time 7”s - What Holds Us Apart, A Light In The Darkness, In Contrast of Sin, No Spiritual Surrender…oh yea, and the apex of hardcore - the Burn 7”. And don’t forget all the sick 7” comps: Forever, Murders Among Us, Only The Strong, and Rebuilding.
Yeah yeah…Repeater, Perfection of Desire and the Quicksand 7” came out in 1990 too if you’re into that sort of thing.
Agression The Best Of Mystic Records, 1990
I really like how these black and white records look that Philco designed (but where’s the insert?!?). The Sacred Order, Ill Repute, and White Flag records from ‘89 all looked killer and so does this Agression record from 1990 and a couple others pictured below. This record itself is a mishmash of songs from the S/T Mystic LP and their live albums - def not the best stuff but not the worst either. I guess A Collection of Songs That Came Out After The Album That Made You Love Agression didn’t have the same ring as The Best Of.
Dehumanizers Go Hollywood Mystic Records, 1990
The Dehumanizers were a Seattle punk band a few years back and were on Mystic’s We Got Party compilation, but now they’re a shitty metal band. I dunno how to describe it so you should just check a song out to save me the time. There are a handful of variations of this record but I think they were all promos and it never came out officially. Who knows/cares.
Flower Leperds The Original Group Mystic Records, 1990
A couple of unreleased tracks and comp songs are on side-A and side-B is their 1985 Mystic 7”.
Instigators Live in Berlin Mystic Records, 1990
The Instigators and White Flag both have so many shitty records on Mystic that I can’t remember which band is which and I hate them both now.
Rat Pack S/T Mystic Records, 1990
Sometimes I like this record and sometimes I think it’s trash. I can’t decide if it’s a shitty version of the 2nd Dead Boys LP (which was a shitty version of the first Dead Boys LP) or a shitty version of LA Guns or something. Cool layout though - shoutout Philco! This was the final LP of original music that Mystic put out for two decades.
Dum Dum Boys Do It 7” Super Seven Records, 1990
First song is decent, mid-tempo tuneful punk. Side-B is really hard to get through. Why TF do I have a test press?
This record has the weirdest kick drum mic’ing ever.
Rednecks In Pain The Tribal Dance Sequence Of The Yippin' Moo 7” Super Seven Records, 1990
This Nashville band’s much anticipated follow up to their 1988 7” titled Your Greasy Granny Got Holes In Her Panties. Kill me.
Here are a couple tracks from it (I’m not going to rip the whole thing):
V/A Opry Outcasts - The Nashville Compilation Super Seven Records, 1990
Oh you needed another track by Rednecks in Pain? Doug’s got you…here’s the Opry Outcasts comp from 1990. The ol’ necks are back with three other Nashville bands who also blow.
Above is the final ad that Doug ran in Maximumrocknroll (MRR #92, January 1991).
1992 and Beyond
*Doug hibernated in 1991 but in 1992 he released the CD version of NOFX’s “E” For Everything cassette from 1989, now titled MAXIMUM ROCKNROLL.
There are now tons of versions of this record and it’s been in and out of print ever since. In the year 2000, he pressed it onto 12” for the first time and it’s been pressed again as recently as 2023.
NOFX MAXIMUMROCKNROLL LP Mystic Records, 1992
There was also a Government Issue CD that came out the same year. These were the first two CDs that Mystic put out.
Government Issue Best of Government Issue Live “The Mystic Years” Mystic Records, 1992
That does it for Mystic until 1999 when they did an Ill Repute CD. In the 2000s, Doug would put out rehash CDs of Dr. Know, RKL, Agression, and Scared Straight. He would also do CD releases of old comps like the Mystic Samplers and Nardcore, or just create new comps like It Ain’t My War or Punk Rock! 20 Classic Punk Bands From The World of Mystic that were just a mishmash of old songs.
In 2010, 2011, and 2012 Mystic put records for a band called Burning Sons out of Milwaukee, WI but I’d guess that the band put out the records themselves and slapped the Mystic logo on them with Doug’s approval. They may have been helping Doug out with distribution or something at the time because one of the dudes had a record store in Milwaukee.
At some point, a real gem of a person named Candace convinced Doug that she knew the internet and got a piece of the company. A lot of Mystic Records are now up on streaming now although some are mislabeled. You want to listen to Plug In Jesus by Dr. Know? It’s on there, it’s just labeled as Nardcore Hardcore (DA FUQ?) And good luck with the comps on Spotify.
You can check out the Mystic Records Discogs page and see that bands are still putting out records on the label. I’d guess mostly just to brag to their friends they’re on a label that put out NOFX back in the day. Sad.
So what’s the legacy of Mystic? The common consensus is probably that it was a C-tier label that ripped off bands and put out bad recordings with shitty layouts. If that’s what you believe, there’s plenty of evidence to back your theory. To me though, they put out some of my favorite albums of all time: What Happens Next, Plug In Jesus, Keep Laughing, Second Coming, and the Nardcore comp. Does the False Confession 7” come out if not for Mystic? Do I ever hear of America’s Hardcore? Who was going to put out the Nardcore comp in 1984 other than Doug?
His style was definitely quantity over quality. He was old school in that way. Born into the record business, he knew that most things weren’t going hit so you just keep cranking them out until something does. Unfortunately for him, the punk ceiling was just lower and an ‘80s hardcore hit was kind of an oxymoron.
The whole Mystic punk thing from 1982-1985 was just planets aligning. In the early ‘80s, a Chinese restaurant named Cathay De Grande started doing punk shows 100 yards from Mystic and Doug was open minded enough that he could deal with young punks partying in his studio. The two fed each other. That combination created a whole layer of hardcore bands in Southern California who weren’t getting booked on the giant Goldenvoice shows or looked at by labels under the Relativity umbrella. Bands who may have never been on vinyl otherwise ended up on We Got Power or Party Animal (for better or worse). I do think there’s a line you can trace from gigs at the Cathay to the second generation of hardcore that would sprout up in ‘85/’86. Uniform Choice played there in ‘84. Justice League (future Chain of Strength dudes) played there and appeared on Party Animal. The Infest dudes attended gigs there.
When the Cathay closed and Doug moved to San Diego County, it was really over for Mystic. There was no new fresh blood pouring through the doors. He wasn’t harnessing a scene anymore, he was just putting out 7”s that had no real purpose or cohesive idea. Hardcore punk domestically in the late ‘80s (outside of straight edge and NYHC) was in a weird space anyway and Doug didn’t really have the ear to filter the good stuff out from the bad, so you get all those crappy Super Seven 7”s in that period that are just repackaged demo tapes of bands from other states. They were slapped together often without any inserts or info, but there was always the Mystic catalog on the inside. Quantify over quality personified.
The repackaging and rereleasing of stuff from the old days didn’t do Mystic any favors either. “Best Ofs” and “Greatest Hits” of songs that weren’t, pointless live albums, and those terrible Portland or DC comps - ugh. I really think that when people talk about Mystic in a negative light it’s due to ‘86-’90, not ‘83-’85. Regardless of how you feel about Doug Moody, he really did take a chance on a ton of bands and did “launch” some, as he’d like to say. Whatever money made probably ended up getting lost by putting out Rednecks in Pain or buying me drinks…
Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in.
So I thought that our journey had finally wrapped up, but I just got the Mystic Records book so there will be one more installment of this series where I dig into that with y’all.
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- ZN
I didn’t know about that Burning Sons of Milwaukee. But that dude Dan from the band that ran Rushmor records was a big proponent of Annihilation Time and we used to hang at his shop when we’re in the area. He was really cool to us. I never picked up that he was big Mystic freak. Random.