Friday, January 13, 2012

V/A - American Youth Report

This was one of my favorite compilations way back when. Originally released in 1982, 'American Youth Report' features several classic bands like Bad Religion, Channel 3, Descendents and T.S.O.L. as well as other great L.A. area bands. I love the quote from the back cover:

1981? Simple enough..... Britian gave us New Romantic white/electro/disco/funk and America gave us... what? Hardcore.
While art bands continued to take their orders from the U.K., aggressive muscleheads from around the country formed bands, started labels and bull-dozed an anti-authority network that is digging its way into every suburban high school in the U.S. Punk-thrash is now faster, louder and even more American than ever.
Surprise. Today's Hardcore is the most dominant, the most obvious scene in the American music underground. Hardcore is intense, honest American music; burning red, white and blue images confronting specific American problems.
Things are bad. America is falling apart; the economy is collapsing; Reagan is a puppet of the rich and the Pentagon is going to blow life as we know it into gragments. We must react. American culture desperately needs to confront American problems.
Of course, any strongly defined movement is going to be guilty of bigotry, and Hardcore is no exception. Bands are either Hardcore or they suck. How depressing. Gang mentality is no substitute for independence.
I like Hardcore. I like the rush and I like the attitude. Fuck Authority. I hate war and I hate big business and I'm glad that other people feel the same way. Isn't it great that not all teenagers are sucking bongs on the way to play Pac-Man at some sick zoo of a shopping mall? RISE ABOVE.
BRUCE PAVITT


American Youth Report

6 comments:

  1. Any chance of a re-up on mediafire for this one?
    My viny copy is beyond playable these days.
    Thanks!

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  2. It's re-upped, along with all the posts after it. Still slowly working on previous posts

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  3. Thanks Dr. D. - been looking for this for a long time!

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  4. Hey, this might be a weird request, but is there any way you could upload some close-ups of the insert that came with this record? I found some decent sized pics online, but none of them are large enough to be able to read everything on each band. Would be cool to know what they say

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    Replies
    1. sorry Frank, but my inserts were lost to the sands of time.

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