Hellacopters — Grande Rock

Raw, loud, fast, naked rock and roll power! I will never tire of it, or The Hellacopters. I just read that after a tour of Europe for their new album Head Off they are calling it quits. So sad. We end the week with another great one, Grande Rock, released in 1999 by Sub Pop. I got this record from Olsson’s in Old Town Alexandria, VA. Yes, it is vinyl. Olsson’s was cool enough to maintain a small vinyl section, but I think I had them special order this. My favorites are “Dogday Mornings” and “Venus in Force.” I brought this home and started playing it right away. Mere seconds after the needle hit the groove my daughter Paris, who was five years old at the time, exclaimed “I know that’s rock and roll!” I raise ’em right.

Tad — Ritual Device / Daisy

Tad -- Ritual Device / Daisy

• Artist: Tad
• Title: Ritual Device / Daisy
• Year: 1988?
• Format: Vinyl 7 in.
• Rating (1-10): 6
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 1988? – At our store RIP Records in Norfolk, VA
• Keeper: Maybe

Tad, Tad, Tad. Do I like your clear vinyl single of “Ritual Device” and “Daisy”? I guess so. I liked it more than I expected, or remembered. It’s very uh… Sub-Pop circa 1988, which is not a bad thing. There was a time I just couldn’t get enough of this stuff. I don’t think I’ll play it ever again though. Maybe you need a new home. It’s not you, Tad, it’s me.

Tad — God’s Balls

Tad -- God

• Artist: Tad
• Title: God’s Balls
• Year: 1989
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 6
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 1989 – Bought it for myself at our store RIP Records in Norfolk, VA.
• Keeper: Maybe

The eagle has landed! And he brought our stuff with him. The movers unloaded all our boxes yesterday and we spent our first night in our haunted house. The cable guys even hooked us up and I’m logging this on my own rig. That said, it’s still like a camping trip around here. We’re borrowing a mini fridge and using a cooler, no washer and dryer hook up, etc. On the bright side, this morning I received a killer poster from my good friend Keith that uses a zillion figural images to depict one of my heroes, Mies van Der Rohe. We can use that to cover up some of this crumbling plaster. This house is gonna need its own category.

Anyhow… I was pretty excited to get this Tad record, “God’s Balls”, when it first came out. I still really like a few songs, especially “Behemoth”, but overall I found myself getting a little bored. Maybe I just need to listen to it a few more times.

Tad / Pussy Galore — Damaged I / Damaged II

• Artist: Tad / Pussy Galore
• Title: Damaged I / Damaged II
• Year: 1989
• Format: Vinyl 7 in.
• Rating (1-10): 6
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 1989 – Bought it for myself at our store RIP Records in Norfolk, VA.
• Keeper: Maybe

This is a combo 7 inch with Tad on one side and Pussy Galore on the other. I suppose I could’ve filed it under P, or Various, but I have it under T just because. In our actual record collection that is. Both songs are Black Flag covers, “Damaged I” and “Damaged II”, which were both on Black Flag’s break-out album uh… “Damaged.”

I guess that original record made a big impact on folks for trendy indie artists to be recording covers from it only eight years later, in 1989. Another 16 or so years later and that seems a little strange. I bought the original Black Flag “Damaged” album in 1981. I loved it then as an angsty teenager, but it’s not the kind of thing you want to play often. Same goes for this 45. It’s kind of fun to have two cultish bands doing covers of a cultish band on a 45, limited edition of 2500, but I doubt I’ll ever play it again. And in the late 1980s no record label was cooler than Sub Pop. So cool in fact that even though my brother and I owned a record store we had to get this one just like everyone else, by joining the Sub Pop Singles Club.

Various — Sub Pop 200

Various -- Sub Pop 200

• Artist: Various
• Title: Sub Pop 200
• Year: 1988
• Format: Vinyl 12 in.
• Rating (1-10): 7
• Owner: Tracy
• Acquired: 1988 – Bought it directly from Sub Pop when we had our store, RIP Records in Norfolk, VA.
• Keeper: Yes

The track list below probably tells you everything you really need to know about this collection. Everyone from pre-David Grohl Nirvana to my heroes Soundgarden have recordings included on this three disk box set. It was packaged in a completely plain black box that included a 16 page insert filled with great band photography by Charles Peterson and the usual slick, streamline Sub Pop graphic design. In the early years those things defined Sub Pop almost as much as the music. The vinyl edition was limited to 5000. You can still buy the CD, but that’s crap.

“Remember, if it isn’t Sub Pop, it probably sucks.”

Side A

• “Sex God Missy” – Tad
• “Is It Day I’m Seeing?” – The Fluid
• “Spank Thru” – Nirvana
• “Come Out Tonight” – Steven J. Bernstein

Side B

• “The Rose” – Mudhoney
• “Got No Chains” – The Walkabouts
• “Dead Is Dead” – Terry Lee Hale

Side C

• “Sub Pop Rock City” – Soundgarden
• “Hangin’ Tree” – Green River
• “Swallow My Pride” – Fastbacks

Side D

• “The Outback” – Blood Circus
• “Zoo” – Swallow
• “Underground” – Chemistry Set

Side E

• “Gonna Find A Cave” – Girl Trouble
• “Split” – The Nights And Days
• “Big Cigar” – Cat Butt

Side F

• “Pajama Party In A Haunted Hive” – Beat Happening
• “Love Or Confusion” – Screaming Trees
• “Untitled” – Steve Fisk
• “You Lost It” – The Thrown Ups