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What’s up Sorry Staters?
Sorry to all you readers that I skipped writing one of these last week. I usually try to bust some writing out on Thursday morning before the weekend and prior to Daniel sending out the newsletter on Monday. I remember showing up to the store last week and just feeling too busy and too overwhelmed to write anything down. But I’m back baby!
I’m sure you all have been noticing our updates about Sorry State’s 10th anniversary weekend. As I’m writing this, this coming weekend is the last few days of September, which means the fest is only 3 weeks away? Aaaagggh crazy! Make sure you get your tickets NOW. I think weekend passes are almost sold out. It’s gonna be wild. Can’t wait to see everybody and RAGE like barnyard animals.
Speaking of the Anniversary Weekend, one aspect that I’m not sure if I drilled into everyone’s brains properly so far is that we are planning on doing a HUGE drop of used records during that weekend. Lots of rare and original punk and hardcore. A few of these records we acquired years ago, and we’ve had them set aside in anticipation for the big event. But just the other day, we bought a collection from this local dude who had a bunch of cool punk stuff. In his collection, he mostly had a bunch of 80s UK punk stuff, like some Oi! and stuff on No Future. But he also had a bunch of classic LA punk stuff, most notably stuff on Posh Boy.
For whatever reason, as I was pricing this dude’s records, I was digging through his boxes and decided to throw on one of those Rodney On The ROQ compilations. I had never really checked out these comps too in depth before. But in this box, he had ROTR volumes 1, 2, and 3, and I was surprised at how captivating I found them and how much I enjoyed listening to these records. I sat there and listened to all 3 records all the way through. Rodney Bingenheimer seems to be a rather eccentric character. I know that in Los Angeles he was quite the socialite. And because of that, I guess I always associate him with sort of more the 70s glam era, when all the cool celebrities bedazzled in glitter and feathered boas would be binging blow all night at night clubs on the Sunset Strip. So the fact that Rodney was a huge factor in ushering in and championing the emerging LA punk and hardcore scene is so puzzling and interesting to me. On his radio show, Rodney’s personality seemed so gentle and mild-mannered. I’m sure for him to have the Germs on the air was pretty terrifying haha. But hey, he made it happen!
What’s so cool about these comps is that they feel like a real snapshot of what was going on in the LA music scene in general. These compilations were released on the Posh Boy label in conjunction with Flipside Magazine. Each record comes with a fanzine that’s basically like a truncated version of an issue of Flipside and contains interviews and information for each band featured on the comp. With each Rodney On The ROQ compilation, I’m pretty sure Rodney was heavily involved with the curation of songs and liner notes. The format and sequencing of all the bands has a pattern that must be totally intentional. Side A is always loaded with killer early 80s LA hardcore bands like Black Flag, Agent Orange, Adolescents, Shattered Faith, etc. Then the B-side on each volume is much more new wavey stuff and silly novelty songs. Like Volume 2 has the classic new wave hit by Gleaming Spires, “Are You Ready for The Sex Girls?” Which, when this song came on, I just giggled because I remembered first hearing that song on soundtracks for movies like Revenge of The Nerds and stuff like that. Both the 2nd and 3rd edition’s B-sides are front-loaded with tracks by the band Unit 3 With Venus, a new wave band with a pre-teenage girl lead singer. Clearly, this band must have been one of Rodney’s favorites. I mean “Pajama Party” is a rager, for sure. The juxtaposition between the A-side and the B-side makes for a really fun listen. You get all worked up raging to Channel 3 and Ill Repute, and then flip the record over and cool down with some David Hines doing “Land of 1,000 Dances.”
For all the lighthearted innocence perceived from these comps, there is also an underlying element of kinda greasy sexuality. I mean, each record basically has pinup style 60s beehive schoolgirls lookin’ saucy while jamming the hot new tunes. I’m sure it’s all in good fun, just a bit cheeky. One really cool thing I was trippin’ on when reading the fanzines is the interaction between the new wave bands and the hardcore bands. The Bangles are featured on Volume 3, and in the interview, Rodney asks them if they were scared of the “hardcores” being mean. I guess he was referring to a show where The Bangles opened up for Social Distortion. Susanna Hoffs says something like, “We were really nervous they were gonna spit on us, but they were really nice! The guys from Wasted Youth were like tugging on my dress and were drooling over Debbie’s skin-tight pants, but they seemed really cool.” Horny hardcore boys, what can I tell ya?
Welp, I’ll leave ya with that haha. As always, thanks for reading.
‘Til next week,
-Jeff