All these cheapos at Skivborsen in Stockholm/Sweden: Zero Boys, F.U.’s, Hypnotics, Reagans Youth etc etc. And of course Wasted Youths Reagan’s In. All used LPs where like 25-35 swedish crowns. About 3-4 dollars. It was easy to be a poor little punk kid then. When the TV Eye // Drummer and I where on gigs we always ditched the pizzas cause they where too expensive and if we bought some yoghurt and bread we could save a couple of crowns to spend on records instead. Always counted how many records we could get if we didn’t buy this or that. Cheap bastards!
Ok, what about Wasted Youth? Maybe not as classic as many of the other early HC releases. But considering it’s released in 1981 it’s pretty darn good for being that early. The usual punk stuff gets a good treatment in the lyrics coupled with energy and simple but inspired hardcore. Fave track Fuck Authority. Fave lyrics Uni-High Beefrag.
Country: USA
Year: 1981
Label: Ici Sanoblast
Format: 12″
Songs:
Reagan’s In.mp3Â
Problem Child.mp3
Teenage Nark.mp3
Uni-High Beefrag.mp3
Born Deprived.mp3
Fuck Authority.mp3
You’re A Jerk.mp3
We Were On Heroin.mp3
Punk For A Day.mp3
Flush The Bouncer.mp3
Wasted Youth were a fun band to see. Scrannys father was at a few of their gigs…he totally supported what they were doing. My wife is actually in the picture on the back of the record…pretty funny shit! Lyrically, stupid, but musically incredible. Thanks.
GRRRREAT ! Best track is “teenage narc”…
Good record. I love how they used that Art without Pusheads permission.
I agree, great playing on a stupid record. Lucky Lehrer’s brother Chet on guitar, right, with a whiplash lick on Reagan’s In. Since I like it for having stupid lyrics, I like You’re a Jerk best.
A little comedy I remember was once seeing the singer, Danny?, I think, playing pinball at the Starwood, when some moron walks up to him and stands there, singing his goofy Uni-High Beef Rag song at him, proving that he knows the words, I guess. Danny just ignored him, at least that was cool. Made me bust a gut.
Damn,
this is so much better then I remembered it to be. I have to pick up a copy of it again, and that as soon as possible!
Sounds a lot like Keith Morris vocal wise, but that’s perfectly fine by me.
GREAT FUKIN’ RECORD!!!!!
Am I the only one to play this record B side first? I think it’s cos I have the repress on Medusa & they have side one starting with “Fuck Authority.” I couldn’t get used to the LP not finishing with “Born Deprived.”
Pretty much the same as the DRI “Dirty Rotten” LP always starting with I Don’t Need Society” rather than “Sad To Be” for me. Someone taped it for me like that & when I got the LP that’s the way I always play it.
Anyhoo, I think this is a great record & incredibly fast for 1981. Pity they sucked the big one after this.
As simple and stupid as this may be: It’s exactly the kind of music that I never get tired of in the long run. Just don’t overdo it, Pawnk! Your Hardcore Doctor.
PS: What always puzzles me are those band photos. I mean, I used to think these guys were OLD. :-)
I made a Wasted Youth t-shirt with a marker pen (the one my mother used to write my name on clothes when I was an infant) when I was about 15.
When I put the shirt on, the logo was in the wrong spot, but I wore it anyway.
This record may not be THE best, but it is the epitome, the sythesis, the most archetipical early L.A. hardcore record you can get. If someone made a fake band for a movie set in the L.A. punk scene of 1981 they should try and make it like this.
That said, everything else they did was pretty horrible. That second LP is as bad as american 80’s punk can get without going new wave or metal or whatever. Yuck.
The non-Slash guitar player in Velvet Revolver used to play for them, by the way and sometimes uses this fact in interviews as a credibility move.
I sure do miss the Starwood…it was the greatest club to see bands in. Thanks for reminding me Fred. Now, how’s about Mad Society???
This record was recently booted with a slew of demos and live tracks at the end. I’ve got it, it’s actually pretty solid stuff.
I liked them better when they were the Runns (sp?)
“Problem Child” continues to be my favorite track after 20 years of being familiar with this record- the bass intro in it is so great. A friend of mine let me borrow this in high school and I proceeded to dub it onto a Maxell cassette on the worst stereo ever that created a lot of hiss. I finally found a cassette reissue of this about 15 years ago at some 2nd hand store, but I’ve always longed for some rips straight from the original vinyl so thanks for posting it. Er, but as a whole, the entire LP never really grabbed me and I always thought some of the songs sounded kinda flat and generic. But maybe that’s just me. For me, there are soooo many other L.A. punk records that help define SoCal punk and HC in a much more powerful manner- TSOL “Superficial Love” 12″, Social Distortion “Mommy’s Little Monster” LP, etc, etc.– check the list of my Top 250 Songs on my blog for more examples if you are so inclined. But this “Reagan’s In” LP has very cool early Pushead art on the front and such a great photo on the back. I remember seeing that picture in high school for the first time and thinking “Whoa! Punk shows look completely nuts!” Singer Danny is in a totally classic picture with blood running down his face that was used for the cover of the mediocre “American Hardcore” book. Jay Thurston– very funny that your wife is in the back cover photo!
I may be going crazy, but I thought I remembered hearing a record by these guys that had more reggae influence. I’m not sure if it was a whole LP–it might have been a few Wasted Youth songs on a compilation–but I can’t find any reference online to them doing anything between this record and some late 80’s metalcore stuff. Does anyone out there know what I’m talking about?
hey chris you r talking shit dude!!!
wat thurston sez:Lyrically, stupid
kamon dude cos ur fricken old doesnt mean u cant relate the lyrics
dont be stupid dude! think twice
Found it for $20 in NY a week ago. Feels good to own as we Moderåtter says.
To own or not to own. That’s the meaning of life.
The lyrics are incredible you guys don’t like em’? Very odd since they kick so much ass. Some of the best lyrics I have ever heard, not silly at all, jerks. This is as good as anything else including the Beatles or something
you like this type of stuff, I’m always adding shit just like this at
http://www.youtube.com/user/philochs
So come there NOW and subscribe, no punk would regret it. There will be Wasted Youth, Sin 34, circle one, 45 Grave, Germs, The Faction, Zero Boys, Necros. FEAR, CH3, the vandals, Circle Jerks, The Cheifs, Symbol Six and so on
“Reagan’s in we’re gone for good”..great lyrics! How about those great lyrics about Stephanie and Victoria??? I was wrong Philochs, they did have great lyrics!! Sorry.
Dude thats my friend in the pic on the back of the album. He’s the one in mid air doin a flip off a speaker. His name is rick paladino, he smokes a bnch of weed and hes got a big beer belly (probably from all the mickeys he drinks) but has the same face still. and his son totally looks like how he looked in the picture. Its funny he lives in a total black neighborhood on the outskirts of denver but hates niggers
So I’m sure he voted Obama too.
Ian “Icon” Hover, man of ROCK BOTTOM AND THE SPYS, DEEP SIX, also on the NO CRISIS 12″e.p., man behind ICI/SANOBLAST Rec´s ,who took his life sometime in 2001- RIP!
There is no kind of a memorial site for him, or is there one someone knows of ?
The best song on this LP is “We Were On Heroin” in case you guys are still trying to figure that out.
i like reagan’s in, the best
So many people saying it was stupid. Read the lyrics to most of the punk/garage / hardcore stuff and you’ll see that at least one of the songs lyrics are stupid. Both musically and lyrically great! This is teenage music so obviously that is going to be the vibe through lyrics.
Damn it, you are right! Fucking great lyrics!!!
yea i saw these guy’s they we’re great !! always sold out always a riot , no shit !!
Not always a riot, but there were a few.
great album. get your’s today: http://cgi.ebay.com/WASTED-YOUTH-reagans-in-LP-circle-one-ill-repute_W0QQitemZ230362245654QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMusic_on_Vinyl?hash=item35a2a8ea16
Anyone checked into this “Fan Club” released version?
been wanting to her wasted youth for some time now. thanks for this peter. great post on one of the top three blogs ever.
Fucking love this record. One of my biggest musical influences. In 2007, my band just started and was trying to think of a name and Joe Snow of Incas Records suggested “Loud Youth”. Now, being a humongous Wasted Youth fan, I thought FUCK YEAH! Haha.
Anyways, solid fucking record. Completely awesome. Not one bit of it that I don’t like. So fucking good.
Wish I could say the same about your band.
One of my favorite punk records ever….I met pushead at a skateboard event in 2001 and he said the original artwork was of charles manson with the swastika and it was given to lucky lehrer but lucky passed it along to chet and they changed it into reagan…not sure but i think i recall pushead saying another artist did the change while keeping pushead’s name on it…
Im just in shock when I look at these guys 35 years ago and realize that white people once lived in or around LA — this is one of the classics….
And when I look at pictures of indians some 200 years ago I’m in shock that they once used to live in or around in the North America.
One of the best records in the whole world ^^