If you know any people who consider themselves major
punk experts but are unfamiliar with
Verbal Abuse, they shouldn't feel too bad.
Verbal Abuse isn't a huge name in the
punk world, but they made some noteworthy contributions to the Bay Area
punk scene of the '80s. Although
Verbal Abuse was formed in Texas, they moved to San Francisco in 1981 and became part of the same scene that boasted
Fear and
the Dead Kennedys -- and they were perfect for that scene because they were such an angry, combustible, in-your-face band. This
Beer City CD has no problem capturing
Verbal Abuse's vitality. The first half of the disc is a reissue of their
Just an American Band album, which was recorded in 1983 and originally released on LP by the
BitzCore label; the second half focuses on a December 1984 gig at
the Ritz in New York, where they opened for
the Ramones. And whether
Verbal Abuse is on-stage or in the studio, they never pretend to be the least bit subtle, not musically, not lyrically.
In 1983 and 1984,
punk was an idiom that thrived on rawness and gut-level emotion; it was
rock & roll at its most primal and basic -- and these hot-blooded, inspired performances are about as primal as it gets. It isn't hard to understand why the band was called
Verbal Abuse; songs like
"I Hate You," "Disintegration" and
"Leeches" rival
Black Flag when it comes to having antisocial lyrics. Although original material dominates the CD, there a few noteworthy covers -- including a live performance of
Black Sabbath's
"Paranoid" and an unlikely version of
Grand Funk's
"We're an American Band." Anyone who appreciates the early-'80s output of
Black Flag,
Fear or
the Circle Jerks is advised to give
Just an American Band a close listen. ~ Alex Henderson
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