Experimental rock
Experimental rock is a subgenre of rock music which pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with some of the genre's distinguishing characteristics being improvisational performances, avant-garde influences, odd instrumentation, opaque lyrics, unorthodox structures and rhythms, an underlying rejection of commercial aspirations. From its inception, rock music was experimental, but it was not until the late 1960s that rock artists began creating extended and complex compositions through advancements in multitrack recording. In 1967, the genre was as commercially viable as pop music, but by 1970, most of its leading players had incapacitated themselves in some form. In Germany, the krautrock subgenre merged elements of improvisation and psychedelic rock with avant-garde and contemporary classical pieces. In the 1970s, significant musical crossbreeding took place in tandem with the developments of punk and new wave, DIY experimentation, electronic music.
Funk, jazz-rock, fusion rhythms became integrated into experimental rock music. The first wave of 1980s experimental rock groups had few direct precedents for their sound. In the decade, avant-rock pursued a psychedelic aesthetic that differed from the self-consciousness and vigilance of earlier post-punk. During the 1990s, a loose movement known as post-rock became the dominant form of experimental rock; as of the 2010s, the term "experimental rock" has fallen to indiscriminate use, with many modern rock bands being categorized under prefixes such as "post-", "kraut-", "psych-", "noise-". Although experimentation had always existed in rock music, it was not until the late 1960s that new openings were created from the aesthetic intersecting with the social. In 1966, the boundaries between pop music and the avant-garde began to blur as rock albums were conceived and executed as distinct, extended statements. Self-taught rock musicians in the middle and late 1960s drew from the work of composers such as John Cage, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luciano Berio.
Academic Bill Martin writes: "in the case of imitative painters, what came out was always derivative, whereas in the case of rock music, the result could be quite original, because assimilation and imitation are integral parts of the language of rock." Martin says that the advancing technology of multitrack recording and mixing boards were more influential to experimental rock than electronic instruments such as the synthesizer, allowing the Beatles and the Beach Boys to become the first crop of non-classically trained musicians to create extended and complex compositions. Drawing from the influence of George Martin, the Beatles' producer, the Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, music producers after the mid 1960s began to view the recording studio as an instrument used to aid the process of composition; when the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds was released to a four-month chart stay in the British top 10, many British groups responded to the album by making more experimental use of recording studio techniques.
In the late 1960s, groups such as the Mothers of Invention, the Velvet Underground, the Fugs, the Beatles, the Jimi Hendrix Experience began incorporating elements such as avant-garde music, sound collage, poetry in their work. Historian David Simonelli writes that, further to the Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows", the band's February 1967 double A-side single, pairing "Strawberry Fields Forever" with "Penny Lane", "establish the Beatles as the most avant-garde composers of the postwar era". Aside from the Beatles, author Doyle Greene identifies Frank Zappa, the Velvet Underground, Plastic Ono Band, Captain Beefheart, Pink Floyd, the Soft Machine and Nico as "pioneers of avant-rock". In addition, The Quietus' Ben Graham described duos the Silver Apples and Suicide as antecedents of avant-rock. In the opinion of Stuart Rosenberg, the first "noteworthy" experimental rock group was the Mothers of Invention led by composer Frank Zappa, who professor Kelly Fisher Lowe claims "set the tone" for experimental rock with the way he incorporated "countertextural aspects... calling attention to the recordedness of the album."
This would be reflected in other contemporary experimental rock LPs, such as the Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and Smile, the Who's The Who Sell Out and Tommy, the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band; the Velvet Underground were a "groundbreaking group in experimental rock", according to Rosenberg, "even further out of step with popular culture than the early recordings of the Mothers of Invention." The band were playing experimental rock in 1965 before other significant countercultural rock scenes had developed, pioneering avant-rock through their integration of minimalist rock and avant-garde ideas. The Beatles' album Sgt. Pepper's inspired a new consideration for experimental rock as commercially viable music. Once the group released their December 1967 film Magical Mystery Tour, author Barry Faulk writes, "pop music and experimental rock were synonymous, the Beatles stood at the apex of a progressive movement in musical capitalism"; as progressive rock developed, experimental rock acquired notoriety alongside art rock.
By 1970, most of the musicians, at the forefront of experimental rock had incapacitated themselves. From on, the ideas and work of British artist and former Roxy Music member Brian Eno—which suggested that ideas from the art world, including those of experimental music and the avant-garde, should be deployed in the context of experimental rock—were a key innovation throughout the decade. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Germany's "krautrock"
Post-punk
Post-punk is a broad type of rock music that emerged from the punk movement of the 1970s, in which artists departed from the simplicity and traditionalism of punk rock to adopt a variety of avant-garde sensibilities and diverse influences. Inspired by punk's energy and DIY ethic but determined to break from rock cliches, artists experimented with sources including electronic music and black styles like dub, free jazz, disco. Communities that produced independent record labels, visual art, multimedia performances and fanzines developed around these pioneering musical scenes, which coalesced in cities such as London, New York, Melbourne and San Francisco; the early post-punk vanguard was represented by groups such as Siouxsie and the Banshees, Public Image Ltd, the Pop Group, Cabaret Voltaire, Pere Ubu, Gang of Four, Joy Division, Talking Heads, Throbbing Gristle, the Slits, the Cure, the Fall, Au Pairs. The movement was related to the development of ancillary genres such as gothic rock, neo-psychedelia, no wave, industrial music.
By the mid-1980s, post-punk had dissipated while providing the impetus for the New Pop movement as well much subsequent alternative and independent music. Post-punk is a diverse genre. Called "new musick", the terms were first used by various writers in the late 1970s to describe groups moving beyond punk's garage rock template and into disparate areas. Sounds writer Jon Savage used "post-punk" in early 1978. NME writer Paul Morley stated that he had "possibly" invented the term himself. At the time, there was a feeling of renewed excitement regarding what the word would entail, with Sounds publishing numerous preemptive editorials on new musick. Towards the end of the decade, some journalists used "art punk" as a pejorative for garage rock-derived acts deemed too sophisticated and out of step with punk's dogma. Before the early 1980s, many groups now categorized as "post-punk" were subsumed under the broad umbrella of "new wave", with the terms being deployed interchangeably. "Post-punk" became differentiated from "new wave".
Nicholas Lezard described the term "post-punk" as "so multifarious that only the broadest use... is possible". Subsequent discourse has failed to clarify whether contemporary music journals and fanzines conventionally understood "post-punk" the way that it was discussed in years. Music historian Clinton Heylin places the "true starting-point for English post-punk" somewhere between August 1977 and May 1978, with the arrival of guitarist John McKay in Siouxsie and the Banshees in July 1977, Magazine's first album, Wire's new musical direction in 1978 and the formation of Public Image Ltd. Simon Reynolds' 2005 book Rip It Up and Start Again is referenced as post-punk doctrine, although he has stated that the book only covers aspects of post-punk that he had a personal inclination toward. Wilkinson characterized Reynolds' readings as "apparent revisionism and'rebranding'". Author/musician Alex Ogg criticized: "The problem is not with what Reynolds left out of Rip It Up... but, that too much was left in".
Ogg suggested that post-punk pertains to a set of artistic sensibilities and approaches rather than any unifying style, disputed the accuracy of the term's chronological prefix "post", as various groups labeled "post-punk" predate the punk rock movement. Reynolds defined the post-punk era as occurring between 1978 and 1984, he advocated that post-punk be conceived as "less a genre of music than a space of possibility", suggesting that "what unites all this activity is a set of open-ended imperatives: innovation. AllMusic employs "post-punk" to denote "a more adventurous and arty form of punk". Many post-punk artists were inspired by punk's DIY ethic and energy, but became disillusioned with the style and movement, feeling that it had fallen into a commercial formula, rock convention, self-parody, they repudiated its populist claims to accessibility and raw simplicity, instead of seeing an opportunity to break with musical tradition, subvert commonplaces and challenge audiences. Artists moved beyond punk's focus on the concerns of a white, working-class population and abandoned its continued reliance on established rock and roll tropes, such as three-chord progressions and Chuck Berry-based guitar riffs.
These artists instead defined punk as "an imperative to constant change", believing that "radical content demands radical form". Though the music varied between regions and artists, the post-punk movement has been characterized by its "conceptual assault" on rock conventions and rejection of aesthetics perceived of as traditionalist, hegemonic or rockist in favor of experimentation with production techniques and non-rock musical styles such as dub, electronic music, noise, free jazz, world music, the avant-garde; some previous musical styles served as touchstones for the movement, including particular brands of krautrock, art rock, art pop and other music from the 1960s. Artists once again approached the studio as an instrument, using new recording methods and pursuing novel sonic territories. Author Matthew Bannister wrote that post-punk artists rejected the high cultural references of 1960s rock artists like the Beatles and Bob Dylan as well as paradigms that defined "rock as progressive, as art, as'sterile' studio perfectionism... by adopting an avant-garde aesth
Mike Watt
Michael David Watt is an American bassist and songwriter. He is best known for co-founding and playing bass guitar for the rock bands Minutemen and Firehose, he is the frontman for the supergroup Big Walnuts Yonder, a member of the art rock group Banyan and involved with several other musical projects. From 2003 until 2013, he was the bass guitarist for The Stooges. CMJ New Music called Watt a "seminal post-punk bass player." Readers of NME voted Mike Watt one of the "40 Greatest Bassists Of All Time" and LA Weekly awarded him the number six spot in "The 20 Best Bassists of All Time."In November 2008, Watt received the Bass Player Magazine lifetime achievement award, presented by Flea. Watt was born in Virginia; when he was young, Watt's family moved to San Pedro, where he became good friends with D. Boon. Watt and Boon picked up guitar, respectively. Watt was a fan of T. Rex and Blue Öyster Cult, while Boon's exposure to rock music was limited to Creedence Clearwater Revival, another Watt favorite.
In 1978, Watt and Boon formed a band called The Reactionaries with drummer George Hurley and vocalist Martin Tamburovich. The band became Minutemen with another drummer named Frank Tonche, who only lasted two shows with the group. After signing with SST Records in 1980, Minutemen began touring releasing a number of albums along the way, their music was based on the speed and intensity of punk, but included elements of jazz and funk. Born with Osgood–Schlatter disease, Watt had surgeries on both knees in the early 1980s which limited touring in 1981. Watt wrote all of the music for What Makes a Man Start Fires? as he was laid up after one of his knee surgeries, living with his mother at the time and needed to keep himself occupied. In 1984, Watt met Black Flag bassist Kira Roessler during a Black Flag/Minutemen tour, they soon became romantically involved, subsequently began collaborating on songs, including material on Minutemen's final album 3-Way Tie. They formed a two-bass duo and have since recorded and released three records.
Minutemen ended tragically on December 22, 1985, when Boon was killed in an automobile crash while driving to Arizona with his girlfriend. Their fifth full-length album, 3-Way Tie had been scheduled for release at the time of the accident. In the documentary film We Jam Econo, Watt mentioned that the last time he saw Boon, he had received lyrics for 10 songs from critic and songwriter Richard Meltzer for a planned collaboration with Minutemen. Minutemen were planning to record a triple album with the working title 3 Dudes, 6 Sides, 3 Studio, 3 Live as way to counteract bootleggers. After Boon's death, Watt was profoundly depressed. Sonic Youth invited Watt to hang out with them in New York City in 1986. Watt cites this period as critical in inspiring his post-Minutemen career saying, "The first thing I did was Thurston asked me to play bass on Evol; that was man. Like,'What, you want me to play without D. Boon?'"Subsequently, Ed Crawford, a Minutemen fan who drove to San Pedro from Ohio, persuaded the Watt/Hurley rhythm section to continue playing music.
Firehose was formed soon after. Following three releases on SST, Firehose was signed to Columbia Records by A&R man Jim Dunbar. Shortly after the release of 1993's Mr. Machinery Operator, the band decided to call. Watt and Kira married in 1987. However, both their friendship and Dos have remained intact. After working with Firehose, Watt began a solo career, his first album, Ball-Hog or Tugboat?, featured appearances from dozens of musicians, including Henry Rollins, Eddie Vedder, J Mascis, Carla Bozulich, Evan Dando, members of Sonic Youth, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Frank Black, Soul Asylum, Jane's Addiction, the Beastie Boys and the Screaming Trees. The album and its supporting tour were Watt's first taste of mainstream fame, when Vedder and Dave Grohl of Nirvana were part of his touring group. After Vedder returned to his Pearl Jam commitments and Grohl began working with his new band Foo Fighters, Watt formed his only four-piece touring group to date, The Crew Of The Flying Saucer, featuring guitarist Nels Cline and two drummers.
In 1996, Watt contributed bass lines to two songs on Porno for Good God's Urge. He subsequently ended up being the bassist for the tour, he made an appearance in an episode of Cartoon Network's Space Ghost Coast to Coast. In 1997, Watt released Contemplating the Engine Room, a punk rock song cycle using naval life as an extended metaphor for both Watt's family history and the Minutemen; the album, critically well received, features the trio of musicians Nels Cline on guitar, Stephen Hodges on drums, Watt as the only singer. Watt went on to play in such groups as Banyan and Hellride, a sometime live outfit that plays cover versions of Stooges songs, he played in The Wylde Ratttz with Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore and The Stooges' Ron Asheton, recording a song for the film Velvet Goldmine. Watt recorded a bass line to send to the Pennsylvania space-folk
A-side and B-side
The terms A-side and B-side refer to the two sides of 78, 45, 331⁄3 rpm phonograph records, or cassettes, whether singles, extended plays, or long-playing records. The A-side featured the recording that the artist, record producer, or the record company intended to receive the initial promotional effort and receive radio airplay to become a "hit" record; the B-side is a secondary recording that has a history of its own: some artists released B-sides that were considered as strong as the A-side and became hits in their own right. Others took the opposite approach: producer Phil Spector was in the habit of filling B-sides with on-the-spot instrumentals that no one would confuse with the A-side. With this practice, Spector was assured that airplay was focused on the side he wanted to be the hit side. Music recordings have moved away from records onto other formats such as CDs and digital downloads, which do not have "sides", but the terms are still used to describe the type of content, with B-side sometimes standing for "bonus" track.
The first sound recordings at the end of the 19th century were made on cylinder records, which had a single round surface capable of holding two minutes of sound. Early shellac disc records records only had recordings on one side of the disc, with a similar capacity. Double-sided recordings, with one selection on each side, were introduced in Europe by Columbia Records in 1908, by 1910 most record labels had adopted the format in both Europe and the United States. There were no record charts until the 1930s, radio stations did not play recorded music until the 1950s. In this time, A-sides and B-sides existed. In June 1948, Columbia Records introduced the modern 331⁄3 rpm long-playing microgroove vinyl record for commercial sales, its rival RCA Victor, responded the next year with the seven-inch 45 rpm vinylite record, which would replace the 78 for single record releases; the term "single" came into popular use with the advent of vinyl records in the early 1950s. At first, most record labels would randomly assign which song would be an A-side and which would be a B-side.
Under this random system, many artists had so-called "double-sided hits", where both songs on a record made one of the national sales charts, or would be featured on jukeboxes in public places. As time wore on, the convention for assigning songs to sides of the record changed. By the early sixties, the song on the A-side was the song that the record company wanted radio stations to play, as 45 rpm single records dominated the market in terms of cash sales, it was not until 1968, for example, that the total production of albums on a unit basis surpassed that of singles in the United Kingdom. In the late 1960s, stereo versions of pop and rock songs began to appear on 45s; the majority of the 45s were played on AM radio stations, which were not equipped for stereo broadcast at the time, so stereo was not a priority. However, the FM rock stations did not like to play monaural content, so the record companies adopted a protocol for DJ versions with the mono version of the song on one side, stereo version of the same song on the other.
By the early 1970s, double-sided hits had become rare. Album sales had increased, B-sides had become the side of the record where non-album, non-radio-friendly, instrumental versions or inferior recordings were placed. In order to further ensure that radio stations played the side that the record companies had chosen, it was common for the promotional copies of a single to have the "plug side" on both sides of the disc. With the decline of 45 rpm vinyl records, after the introduction of cassette and compact disc singles in the late 1980s, the A-side/B-side differentiation became much less meaningful. At first, cassette singles would have one song on each side of the cassette, matching the arrangement of vinyl records, but cassette maxi-singles, containing more than two songs, became more popular. Cassette singles were phased out beginning in the late 1990s, the A-side/B-side dichotomy became extinct, as the remaining dominant medium, the compact disc, lacked an equivalent physical distinction.
However, the term "B-side" is still used to refer to the "bonus" tracks or "coupling" tracks on a CD single. With the advent of downloading music via the Internet, sales of CD singles and other physical media have declined, the term "B-side" is now less used. Songs that were not part of an artist's collection of albums are made available through the same downloadable catalogs as tracks from their albums, are referred to as "unreleased", "bonus", "non-album", "rare", "outtakes" or "exclusive" tracks, the latter in the case of a song being available from a certain provider of music. B-side songs may be released on the same record as a single to provide extra "value for money". There are several types of material released in this way, including a different version, or, in a concept record, a song that does not fit into the story lin
American Grafishy
American Grafishy is the third studio album by San Francisco-based punk rock band Flipper, released January 12, 1993 by Warner Bros. Records; the album title is a pun on coming-of-age film American Graffiti. All tracks written by Flipper. Bruce Loose – lead and backing vocals Ted Falconi – guitar, illustration John Dougherty – bass, backing vocals Steve DePace – drums, backing vocals Flipper – producer, art direction Rick Rubin – execution producer Garry Creiman – associated producer, engineer Peter Marrino – associated producer Larry Brewer – engineer Barrle Goshko – art direction, design Tami Herrick-Needham – design Jay Blakesberg – photography
Minutemen (band)
Minutemen were an American punk rock band formed in San Pedro, California in 1980. Composed of guitarist/vocalist D. Boon, bassist/vocalist Mike Watt, drummer George Hurley, Minutemen recorded four albums and eight EPs before Boon's death in an automobile accident in 1985, they were noted in the California punk community for a philosophy of "jamming econo"—a sense of thriftiness reflected in their touring and presentation—while their eclectic and experimental attitude was instrumental in pioneering alternative rock and post-hardcore. Minutemen began when D. Boon and Mike Watt met at age 13. Watt was walking through a park in their hometown of San Pedro, California when Boon, playing a game of "army" with other boys, fell out of a tree right next to him and found that his friends, one named Eskimo, must have ditched him. Both boys shared a passion for music. At first, Watt did not know the difference between standard guitars; the pair started playing music together covering songs from artists they admired.
In the summer of 1973 Watt and Boon formed the Bright Orange Band, with Boon's brother Joe on drums. In 1976 they discovered punk; the next year, the two joined. Following Starstruck's disbandment and Watt met drummer George Hurley and formed The Reactionaries with vocalist Martin Tamburovich. After the Reactionaries disbanded and Watt formed Minutemen in January 1980. Watt has said. In the documentary We Jam Econo, Watt states that the name was a play on "minute". After a month with no drummer, during which Boon and Watt wrote their first songs, the band rehearsed and played a couple of early gigs with local welder Frank Tonche on drums; the group had wanted George Hurley to join, but he had joined a hardcore punk band called Hey Taxi! with Michael Ely and Spider Taylor after the Reactionaries disbanded. Tonche quit the group, citing a dislike of the audience the band drew, Hurley took over as drummer in June 1980, their first live gig was as an opening band for Black Flag. Greg Ginn of Black Flag and SST Records produced Minutemen's first 7" EP, Paranoid Time, which solidified their eclectic style.
Like most punk bands at the time, the band sold the EP at their shows and at a few local record stores. It became a minor hit with the hardcore scene, they settled on their music style on their first LP, The Punch Line, toured around America promoting the album. Their third EP and fourth overall release was Bean-Spill, their second LP, What Makes a Man Start Fires?, gained attention from the alternative and underground press. They continued touring extensively; this tour strengthened their place as one of the most well-known acts in the hardcore scene. In 1983 they released their third LP, Buzz or Howl Under the Influence of Heat. Minutemen's anti-rockist eclecticism was best exemplified on 1984's double album Double Nickels on the Dime. Though still somewhat obscure to mainstream audiences, Double Nickels has been cited as one of the more innovative and enduring albums of the 1980s American rock underground. On Double Nickels, they co-wrote some songs with other musicians, notably Henry Rollins, Chuck Dukowski, Joe Baiza.
In 1985 they released Project: Mersh. Though the album sounded more mainstream, it sold poorly compared to Double Nickels due to the negative reaction to such a commercial album from within the underground community, they continued touring, by the time of their final album, 3-Way Tie, they decided to take a small break. They played their last tour with R. E. M.. Their final concert was in Charlotte, North Carolina on December 13, 1985. On December 22, 1985, Boon was killed in a van accident. Watt fell into a deep depression after his friend's death, but was convinced to continue performing by Sonic Youth; this put an end to the band's plans to record a half studio/half live triple album with the working title 3 Dudes, 6 Sides, Half Studio, Half Live. The live tracks were to be based on the ballots that they handed out and as a way to counteract bootlegging. A year however and Hurley compiled various live recordings, based on the ballots, released as Ballot Result. In addition, Richard Meltzer had sent Watt lyrics for ten songs for an album on which he was going to collaborate.
This project titled Spielgusher, was completed and released in January 2012 on clenchedwrench. Following Boon's death and Hurley intended to quit music altogether, but encouraged by Minutemen fan Ed Crawford, they formed Firehose in 1986 and have both formed solo projects since Minutemen disbanded. Watt has created four acclaimed solo albums, recorded four with now-former-wife Kira Roessler as the duo Dos, recorded three others as part of the punk jazz jam band Banyan with Stephen Perkins, Nels Cline, Money Mark Nishita, contributed on "Providence" off Sonic Youth's album Daydream Nation and "In the Kingdom No. 19" and "Bubblegum" off EVOL, toured as a member of Porno for Pyros in 1996 and J Mascis and the Fog in 2000 and 2001, became
Negative Trend
Negative Trend was an early San Francisco punk rock band, active between 1977 and 1979. Before they disbanded, the band released one self-titled EP in September 1978; the former members of Negative Trend would go on to start a number of other notable western US punk bands. Soon after the breakup of Negative Trend, bassist Will Shatter and early drummer Steve DePace went on to be founding members of Flipper, while guitarist Craig Gray and drummer Tim Mooney were among the founding members of the Toiling Midgets. Former vocalists Rozz Rezabek and Rik L Rik went on to become notable punk singers in their own right. Grand Mal was a short-lived band which formed in July 1977, its first lineup consisted of Don Vinil on vocals, Craig Gray on guitar, V. Vale on bass, Todd Robertson on drums. Due to his magazine commitments, Vale left the band and Will Shatter replaced him, despite having no previous musical experience; the quartet played only three gigs, sharing bills with bands such as the Avengers, the Dils, the Dead Boys.
During their last show at the Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco, California on November 7, 1977, Rozz Rezabek stepped in as the band's new vocalist, after jumping on stage, not allowing Vinil to continue performing. Vinil left the band to start the Offs, Grand Mal became Negative Trend. On December 14, 1977, the band played their first show under the name Negative Trend at the Mabuhay Gardens. Rozz Rezabek was now the singer of the band, the rest of the lineup remained the same. During a show with the Avengers at Iguana Studios, during which Sandy Pearlman was in attendance, Rezabek broke his arm while performing on stage after tripping over a microphone cord. Rezabek was notorious for his electrifying performances, oftentimes jumping onto tables and throwing drinks onto the floor. On January 14, 1978, after playing six shows in the southern United States, the Sex Pistols played their final show at Winterland Arena in San Francisco, California; the day before the show, someone spray painted the walls of Winterland with the words "Negative Trend".
Before the Sex Pistols went on, Malcolm McLaren demanded that Bill Graham, who set up the show, allow Negative Trend to go on before the Sex Pistols. Before the show had started, McLaren asked Howie Klein who the worst band in San Francisco was, Klein responded saying that it was Negative Trend. McLaren told Graham. Graham agreed to let Negative Trend go on after the Sex Pistols. However, by the time the Sex Pistols left the stage and Negative Trend got set up, there was nobody left in attendance, so Negative Trend never got to play. In March 1978, Rezabek quit the band, Shatter and Gray decided to find a new drummer, as Robertson had failed to show up to a few shows. Mikal Waters would end up replacing Rezabek after the band auditioned a few singers at Iguana Studios, Steve DePace would replace Robertson on drums; this new version of Negative Trend played their first gig on June 1, 1978. It was this version of Negative Trend; the eponymous 7" EP was produced by Debbie Dub. While the record is much more famous now and the band had a hard time giving the record away when it was produced.
The record was released in September 1978 by the label Heavy Manners. Side one of the record included the tracks "Mercenaries" and "Meathouse", while side two had the tracks "Black and Red" and "How Ya Feelin"; the record has been re-released two times, once in December 1983 by Subterranean Records, again in April 2006 by 2.13.61 In November 1978, Negative Trend needed to find another singer to replace Waters. Gray and Shatter heard that the band F-Word had broken up, decided to recruit former F-Word singer Rik L Rik for Negative Trend. Gray and Shatter asked drummer Tim Mooney of the band The Sleepers, to take over for DePace. Shortly after the formation of this version of Negative Trend, the band went to Los Angeles to record five demos for Posh Boy Records. However, the only tracks released under the name Negative Trend from the recordings with Posh Boy Records were "Mercenaries" and "I Got Power" on the Tooth and Nail Compilation LP, released by Upsetter Records in 1979. However, all five of the tracks recorded by Negative Trend for Posh Boy Records were released under the name Rik L Rik on the compilation album Beach Blvd.
After only a few gigs with the third version of Negative Trend, Shatter quit the band and was replaced by 16-year-old Jonathan Henrickson. After traveling to Austin, Texas to play two shows, Rik decided leave band; the final three Negative Trend shows had guest singers. The final Negative Trend show took place on April 27, 1979 at Mills College in Oakland, California with The Queer and Dead Kennedys. Ricky Williams did most of the singing at this final show. Mooney and Gray would go on to form the band Toiling Midgets. In July 2008, DePace put together a version of Negative Trend with himself on drums, Gray on guitar, Paul Hood on bass, Paul Casteel singing. Rezabek was not asked to perform with the reformed version of the band. After the first gig, Tom Mallon took over Hood's position as bass player. After the second gig, DePace was forced to stop playing due to his commitments with the band Flipper. Tony Sales replaced DePace on drums; the band went on to play a few more shows before splitting up in 2010.
Craig Gray – guitar Will Shatter – bass.
