Not as great as their first 7inch I Hate Music that Erich posted some days ago. But if this had been their only effort and not compared to their debute I think it would be much more talked about.
The title track is worthless crap. But the other two love songs are awesome Germish blasters coupled with over the top lyrics. Don’t know if the drugs have started to taking over The Mad but their instrumentation sounds sloopy(but in a good way) and loose here.
Screaming Mad George went on to the world of movies as a Special FX artist. The only effort I’ve seen from him is in the movie Society. And yes the FX material is just what you would expect from someone who name himself Screaming Mad George. Very very bizzare.
Country: USA
Year: 1980
Label: Disgusting
Format: 7″
Songs:
The Hell.mp3
Disgusting.mp3
Fried Egg
A very tasty choice! I think I will go on pretty soon and post the posthumous 12″ – haha. You can come up then with the 7″ that was released at the same time.
PS: The funny thing: Although I’ve had the “Fried Egg” 7″ for over two decades, I only realised NOW looking at your scans that the drawings on the labels are actually skeleton heads, haha. I would have sworn the labels showed scrambled eggs, hahaha. This is an interesting aesthetic phenomenon, when the picture of a object reveals more than the object itself. A semiotic dream, so to say.
I would’ve preferd scrambled eggs instead of skulls. skulls should’ve been banned from art a long time ago.
Up with the skulls oi oi oi
In with the pigs Oi!nk Oi!nk Oi!nk
I never understood the fascination with these guys. To my ear, they are very mediocre with the first ep being slightly better. The last two posts, in my opinion, really show when a band is worth the hype (Really Red) and when a band is not (The Mad).
P.S. – I LOVE the new policy of posting all the art. Thanks for all of your work!
i disagree. i think the mad are waaaay better than really red. i do like seeing the cover artwork and the labels on the vinyl.
excellent site!
timmy
Fuck, I love The Mad! I always thought Mad’s “I Hate Music” and Freeze’s “I Hate Tourists” would make the best 7″ ever.
To my ears the song “Fried Egg” is genius too, even though it’s longer than 2:36. I like the slow build up during the song but I guess it turns others off. Wow, I have never met anyone who thinks both Mad 7″s are just mediocre until I read one of the above postings. The song “I Hate Music” is so chaotic and crazy that it’s probably my favorite punk song of all time.
‘Cause a friend told me this was here, I figured I might as well finally say something:
I am simply amazed at the fascination with this stuff. I started the band w/ SMG, wrote or cowrote all the songs and thought it was pretty much a lot of crap. I hated the way the “music” wound up on vinyl.
So, to those who love it, what is it that is so captivating?
Really? huh….
Funny guy.
Y”know, Mr. Emperor of China, it was actually real people who made these old 45’s. Like Harley in the Stimulators was the son of the guitarist. THey led hard lives. A lot of people who were doing this stuff back then were street kids, fuck-ups. . .just regular folks and SO, like, regular folks, we actually can get on the web and write something. I really have been curious what people hate/love about the Mad that it still gets to people. Along with that whole period. You see, we were so much before Nirvana blew up, we had to live through the fucking reagan years. . .anyway, i’d like to chat w/ people ’cause after all this time I’m still a product of that period even tho’ i said I thought the band was shitty, I think that the intense angriness of the late 70’s punk scene in New York was the last gasp before this country went to sleep
Ahem, I’ll play nice. In fact, THANK YOU for putting this stuff up. I actually hadn’t heard these songs in a VERY long time.
The reason for the difference in music from this to the one before it is that we went from five members to four.
I had to laugh listening to Disgusting: it has my infatuation w/ the dead boys written all over it and George’s stealing from the Stooges.
But I thank you, ’cause I thought I sucked so badly and I rather enjoyed listening to the Hell, which I wrote and now it brings it back to me: we played that MUCH faster live and those riffs and I was no shredder! I am surprised to hear how pop is sounded, actually.
By following the link above you’ll also get to hear the first 7″.
Silent Until Now: I guess to answer your question, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. To my ears, most Mad songs are so great. Almost everyday I ask myself why so many people love overproduced, overplayed, mainstream, mediocre rock garbage made by “professional” musicians that has no soul or intensity to it. And why more people do not like like The Mad or other raw punk. I’ve been listening to punk for 20 years and for me no other music can match the intensity, honesty or is as heartfelt. And, wow, if you think The Mad sounded bad on vinyl compared to your live sound I would have loved to see you all live, must have been quite a show! From some pictures I’ve seen, Screaming Mad George got pretty bloody and crazy on stage with all the props and whatnot.
Oh, forgot to answer Silent Until Now’s question about what is so captivating about The Mad. Well, the most intense thing on each song is George’s crazy vocals. Plus the guitar playing is top notch for my tastes- loud and driving and it goes along perfectly with his singing. The drums were kind of in the background on the “I Hate Music” 7″ but tinny and loud on the “Fried Egg” EP and sounds great to me. The breaks in songs like “I Hate Music” and “The Hell” are great too. “I Hate Music” is my favorite Mad song because it sounds like chaos captured on vinyl, with the wailing sax and screaming and guitar bashing and all thrown together all at once. Plus people not into punk would consider the song noise so the title is great to me too. Overall, it’s got a good beat and you can dance to it. I give it a 10. Hope that helps.
Hey Tony, I’ve asked myself the same question about peoples’ taste forever.
Yeah, the vinyl is definately not as intense as the live music was. No one knew what to make of us, tho’, for the most part. Our small core fan base were mostly guys who started Metal bands. When we played at CBGB’s people who used to go Great Gildersleeves a block away (where the hair band metal scene was starting) would come over.
WHen I said I thought it all sucked, it’s because I felt I was a lousy guitarist at the time, probably ’cause of all the crap about being a female guitarist and therefore having to be better to not be considered lousy. I didn’t want that job! And ’cause I wanted the music to be HARDER, LOUDER MORE INTENSE and so SMG and I were almost constantly at loggerheads.
I’m glad you enjoy it. I gotta say that even to this day, really heavy music (which the Mad did not do) scares the crap outta most people. I played one song at a local club a few years back and half of the people left and stood outside saying “We won’t come back until you get that woman off stage.” I gotta say that made me happy, but I was amazed that most folks still can’t take really raw in your face music.
I’m rambling; excuse me. I haven’t talked about this shit in years AND I type fast. And since I’m a “two bit has been” noone much has been interested in what my opinion was/is. So, after all these years, this junk is spilling out.
I would like to do a interview with you – would you be interested?
Count me in on wanting to do an interview. Ok Erich you was the first man out since I had to do some babysitting ;).
Babysitting isn’t punk. Oi oi oi.
isn’t it interesting how it went from “funny guy” to “I wanna do an interview w/ you”. What do you guys wanna know?
Yeah since Erich insulted you I’ll do the interview first. How can I reach you?
You first need to proof you are who you’re claiming to be.
How would I actually go about proving whom “I’m claiming to be?” I find this rather funny. It is true that on the web people inpersonate others. But wouldn’t one do this w/ someone who’s actually famous? Why pick a very obscure guitarist?
Of course, some people claim to be men when they’re women and other minor lies.
Perhaps I shouldn’t have opened this can of worms!
One last thing: who are you guys?
Did anything ever happen with those interviews?
rhcp_kick_arse@yahoo.com
I HATE MUSIC rocks my butthole.
THE MAD – I HATE MUSIC
THE BEST FUCKIN SONG ON MY FAVE NYHC COMP “NY THRASH”
TOTAL CONTROLLED CHAOS
I WAS SITTING HERE LISTENING TO ALL THE OLD 7″S AND DECIDED TO LOOK UP THE MAD ON THE NET – FOUND THIS SITE. GOOD SHIT.
Since I’ve decided to come out the proverbial closet, here’s my two cents about the song “Disgusting”. Very early song from when the band was still called DISGUSTING.
To my ears, and I’m the guitarist and writer of this song, mind you, it’s totally derivative. Sounds like a combo of the Stooges and the Dead Boys. Total ripoff.
However, it is fun. I remember helping George find the right words for the lyrics. He didn’t know what crabs were, for instance.
julie(n) did you write the lyrics for the he’ll? I’ve read high andlowon the net . Any
oops i didn’t realize i wrote the same sentiment earlier!
how about putting up the Fried Egg mp3? I have no memory of what that “worthless crap” sounded like!
this is great stuff, even here in the uk, im reading with great interest is this a mid life crisis at 43 or is it once a punk always a punk i think the guitar is brill and the hole sound mad!
its still great stuff
http://bp3.blogger.com/_-LvJQKf6B5U/RhsU4G2-TzI/AAAAAAAAAMA/754qOITa45k/s1600-h/R-823964-1162513567.jpeg
Hey Julie, the Mad was one of the best bands i ever saw…your guitar work was great.
gee, iq32, how many bands have you actually seen? but seriously, thank you, rob and iq. IQ32, I don’t happen to know you by any chance?
Dear Mr. Silentuntilnow, I was most impressed with your erudite choice of words, your articulate elucidations, and the fact that we’re both “products”, as it were, of that seminal era o/t early late 70’s punk rock years. As a matterly factually, I ended up perusing this site bekawz I wannid ta do a search for Screaming Mad George’s first legendary 7″ e.p. Ya see, I wuzz slated to be the original singer for The Mad when they were still known as Disgusting. I opted for an art student life of drugged stupor instead. Yes, art student; George, his then girlfriend, Julien Hechtlinger (later w/t Cramps for one Lp), and I all met at NYC’s School of Visual Arts. So, one can still see his amaaaaaazingly surrealistic special effects at http://smgfx.com Way to go, Screaming Mad George!
Why, goodness gracious! Julie(n)! I jus’ noticed thatcha posted here! And although my response here’a just a tad belated, contact me on VampireFreaks as “SidheMale” if ya like. How’re ya doin’? Ye gadz! It’d be good to shoot the breeze about the good ol’ days.
Thanks for stopping by Anadae. Any recordings left from when you where singing? The first 7″ by The Mad has also been posted here. Just do a search.
Many will surely have heard “Disgusting” on Killed By Death#2. “The Hell” is another classic song that many undoubtedly know from New York Thrash. Fried Egg is a strange little ditty that can be found on 7inchpunk for those who are curious to hear what it sounds like. Watch out for the link on this site though. There is an unexpected gay sex scene that pops up that features other things popping up in people’s mouths. You gotta love that fried egg drawing on the cover. Who would have ever thought that fried eggs could be so traumatizing?
“Fried Egg is a strange little ditty that can be found on 7inchpunk for those who are curious to hear what it sounds like.” or just wait for a repost of this 7″ :). 7inchgaypoop is obsolete.
Is it too late to weigh in with my coupla cents worth?
I caught the Mad opening for Von Lmo (remember him?) one night at Max’s Kansas City — this was shortly before the FRIED EGG disc came out — and was so captivated by Julien, not to mention her guitar playing, that I completely missed George disembowling himself on stage. Not once, but TWICE. :)
I think there was a poster of the band standing next to a weird column or something as well as the fold-over lyric/cartoon sleeve, but don’t take my word for it. Maybe Julie(n) can weigh in…
Got a spare copy of this one up on ebay right now, in case anyone needs a copy.
Sreamin mad george also does special fx in the reanimator trilogy,some nightmare on elm street and some return of the living dead i think
He did special fx on “From Beyond”, “Society” and “Space Balls”, too.