Often touted as Germany's very first "hardcore" punk band, The Buttocks were ahead of their time. Forming in 1978, this is their second of two ep's. Their debut 1979 ep "Bonanza" is great but this ep is one of those rare magical moments when a band is captured at their peak. While still an active band, The Buttocks also appeared on the "In Die Zukunft" compilation LP in 1980 on the Konnekschen label as well as the famous "Kein Experimente vol.1" comp LP in 1983 on Weird System. Following their break-up in 1983, they had two posthumously-released collection LP's, "Fuckin' In The Buttocks" in 1985 and "Mehre Pogo Leute" in 1991, as well as appearances on the "Paranoia in der Strassenbahn" comp LP in 1990 and the "Nazis raus" comp LP in 1991, both on the Weird System label. Most recently, they were bootlegged on the KBD-style "Bloodstains Across Germany" LP. Their drummer Stephane went on to play for 80's German punk legends The Targets.

Charge are one of the great, unsung heroes of the early 80's London punk scene. This, their debut ep, released on the obscure Test Pressings label, is by far their best material. This ripper will have you pogoing off the walls. Their follow up ep "Destroy The Youth" on the Kamera Records label is much easier to find and almost as great. Their third ep "Fashion" saw the band moving to a more dancy, new-wavy sound often compared with other UK brit-pop/new wave bands of the time such as Theatre of Hate and Sex Gang Children. Unforutnately, the "Fashion" ep was a harbinger of things to come with the release of the band's only full-length album, "Perfection" in 1982. Their best material clearly behind them, they called it a day shortly thereafter.

We've featured lots of British, German, Swedish and Finnish punk but now it's wop hour! Why would an Italian band name themselves after the guitarist for the Dead Boys you ask? Um...well..anyway, this ep, the band's second, is a serious ripper. CCM debuted in 1981 with their raw and primitive "400 Fascists" ep, followed by their split LP with I Refuse It in 1984 and this ep the same year. Between 1983 and 1985 the band kept busy appearing on international cassette compilations on such labels as ROIR and Bad Compilation Tapes (whatever happened to Chrisxbct?) before finally delivering their one and only studio full length, "Into The Void". In my humble opinion, "Into the Void" was very much like Social Unrest's full-length material. Not comparable to their ep output but good in it's own more melodic way.

San Fracisco's ugliest, most hated band of the early 80's, don't let anyone tell you otherwise. Singer Bob Noxious was the bane of the early 80's scene. Disliked by all, including other bands, labels, fanzines and even his own band members. I first stumbled across the magic that is the Fuck Ups when I bought the "You'll Hate This Record" comp LP featuring the Fuck-Ups track "I Think You're Shit" in the late 80's. This LP was compiled by Mykel Board in 1983 and released on his own "Seidboard Enterprises" label. It was intended to compile the most disliked bands in the underground music world at the time and is famous for including rubber vomit on the front cover, making it virtually impossible to store in your record collection. Although my collection is infinitely larger now than it was when I discovered this album in 1988, it still sticks out like a sore thumb. Not surprisingly, the only other punk band on the album was GG Allin. The rest of the album was comprised of awful alt/noise bands including Board's own band, Art. FU82 was sadly the band's only recorded output. This pink/black sleeve is the 2nd printing, the first sleeve was on white paper. There's also an extremely limited pressing of this 7" featuring film strip images on the cover. Anyone know more about it?

Alright, here we inevitably go, back to the UK. We are Punk Core after all, known for our worship of all things UK82. Here we have another great band, very important though often overlooked in the history of early 80's UK punk. Rising from the British Midlands in the late 70's, (along with bands like GBH, The Varukers, Dead Wretched and even the Macc Lads) DFE made their presence known with the release of their first ep "Adverse Chorus" on their own Kite Records label in 1981, with the financial help of friend "Tattoo Tony" Lynx. The band were picked up by the Inferno label for the release of their awesome and slightly more polished "Death's A Career" ep in 1981 followed by the nearly-as-great "Eternity" ep the same year. DFE disappeared shortly thereafter, resurfacing briefly in 1990 with their "This Town" ep. Sadly, "This Town" lacked the piss, vinegar, youthful angst and lo-fi recording that made early 80's England such a special time and place for punk music. The band have since re-formed in the 2000's and have had their early material re-released on an almost painfully lo-fi collection CD entitled "Return of The Punk Monster" on Data Records, followed by their sorely over-due full length album "Barcode Generation" in 2003. Returning to true form and now stronger than ever, the band are gigging hard and making up for lost time.