Various Artists - Fat Music For Fat People
Feb. 2nd, 2009 05:16 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
joshthevegan
I was having a conversation with a guy at the bar the other day about music, mostly stuff that the mainstream totally ignored. During this conversation we marvelled about how easy it is today to get into unknown bands. Today, all it takes is a quick search for their Myspace page where you can sample a bunch of songs, or you can go on YouTube and search for live performances by the band, etc. You never need leave your seat, and you could sample 50 bands for the cost of keeping your internet access active. As recently as 10 years ago, this was very much not the case.
When I was coming of age (yeah, yeah, I know this is already starting to sound like one of those "when I was YOUR age. . ." rants, but bear with me), there was three ways to get into new music.
1) Go to a show, and see the music. Now, considering that I was into punk mostly in my younger days, this was a great option. Shows were generally less than $10, and you would get like 5 bands. You show up to see one, and maybe you really dig one of the other bands. Now you have two bands that you will go see every time they hit town. Yes, this requires you to leave the comforts of your living room to hang out in a smoky dive owned by some questionable weirdo in a strange part of town, but that is part of the experience!
2) You read a zine, and let them guide you towards stuff you might like. This kind of ties into the first one, since Barnes & Nobles was usually low on F.O.E. or Abysmal Popcorn while I was growing up, so you had to go to a show to get one, but the artists contained within obviously would include more than the ones you were there to see that evening. Zines were almost exclusively free, and lovingly made by a fan of the music, and not some cold, corporate career writer who is only listening to the bands for a paycheck.
or 3) You buy a comp CD. Now, this was always my favorite. The compilation CD is the perfect medium for all parties involved. The record label gets to promote a bunch of bands all at once, showcasing all the talent they have. You may buy it for the Bobbykork song, but after listening to it, you realize that you should pick up that Mr. Yuk 7" that has been sitting in the bin at the record store all month.
It's good for the bands because since mainstream radio wouldn't play their music, and the local college stations are usually uneven. One DJ will play cool, indie music that people should check out, and the next guy could be doing polka for two hours. (There was literally a slot like this on one of the stations I listened to growing up. A two hour local punk show, followed by polka. Bizarre.) The comp CD allows the artist to get one or two songs to a broader audience, and hopefully garner some interest.
Lastly, it's good for the consumer because a lot of times bands will put unreleased material on the comps, you get to check out all kinds of new music, and they were usually less than $10. You couldn't lose!
One of my favorite series of comps to come out was the ones for Fat Mike (of NOFX)'s record label, Fat Wreck Chords. For some reason, he just had a knack for scaring up great talent, especially in the earliest years of the label's existence.
The first one is called "Fat Music For Fat People" (which is a take on the album "Bad Music For Bad People" by The Cramps) and it is packed with great stuff from front to back. Out of the gates you get a very young Propagandhi singing "Anti-Manifesto," a great song about thinking for yourself, and not taking any one band's word as gospel. The listener is also treated with Tilt (a female vocalist led Berkley aggro-pop punk band) with a demo version of "Weave & Unravel." They had just parted ways with the notoriously band un-friendly Lookout! Records, and were working on material for what would become "'Til It Kills."
"Skin Deep" by Guns 'N Wankers (a short-lived band that existed during a hiatus by British punk band Snuff) became a bit of an underground hit, and is still regarded as a great song by the punk community to this day.
Other bands that make appearances include Good Riddance (a New Jersey based hardcore outfit with a vegan lead singer, a personal favorite), Rancid (with a track from their E.P. they recorded for Fat to support the new label), and, of course NOFX. The NOFX track is lifted from their "The Longest Line" E.P., which was one of the first releases by Fat, and it is entitled, "Kill All The White Man." It is a hillarious anti-racist track, and a crowd favorite at their shows for years and years.
It kinda saddens me to watch comp CDs become a thing of the past, some of the great series of comps (Fat Wreck Chords, Epitaph's "Punk-O-Rama" series) have stopped coming out. I'm sure this is because we are in a faster, different world from the times when I was first getting into music, and I can certainly appreciate it (how else could I have a totally free venue to rant about music on?) but I do miss those days.
Fat Music For Fat People - 8 out of 10.
Let's see what I dug up today. . .Guns 'N Wankers performing "Skin Deep" in (most likely) 1994, Lagwagon tearing through "Mr. Coffee" at the Warped Tour in 2006, Good Riddance rocking "United Cigar" in Montreal in the late '90's, and NOFX's "Kill All The White Man" from their DVD release, "Ten Years Of Fucking Up."
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Date: 2009-02-19 11:07 pm (UTC)did you ever have the Compliation cd with Infested on it?
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Date: 2009-02-19 11:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-19 11:48 pm (UTC)it starts out: "if there was a god i'm sure he would be hated"
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Date: 2009-02-19 11:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-21 06:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-21 07:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-02-21 07:44 pm (UTC)