Massappeal

Nobody Likes A Thinker

Written by: PP on 13/02/2007 17:14:10

Sydney-based hardcore act Massappeal haven't recorded new music in over a decade now, though they reformed to play sporadic liveshows in 2002. Backtracking all the way to the late 80s, this was the band that was largely overlooked at the time, but is now recognized as one of the absolute cornerstones of the Australian punk/hardcore scene - this is where it all began down under. "Nobody Likes A Thinker" is the name of the mini-LP they released back then, now considered as their most classic release to date. This release is a reissue of that original recording, with seventeen bonus tracks comprised of rare compilation recordings, "Young Dumb And Naive" demo tape, and a couple of live tracks from their Canberra Inn show on December 1st 1987.

Though the entire Pacific Ocean separated Massappeal and the back then young and unknown Fat Mike fronted NOFX, it is remarkable how similar EPs like "So What If We're On Mystic" or "The P.M.R.C. Can Suck On This" are to Massappeals mini LP, and as such provides us a means of understanding how the hardcore scene was evolving towards an almost precisely same sound even on the opposite sides of the globe. The later fans of NOFX may find it surprising to realize NOFX (or Massappeal for that matter) barely had any sense for their quirky punk rock melody back in the 80s - it was all about writing songs as loud and fast as possible, disregarding instrumental abilities as a whole. "Rat In A Hole", the most classic track from Massappeal, is just that - sheer distorted noise delivered to you at great speeds, horribly bad production and equally bad vocal work. At the same time, however, one can only admire the DIY sound of the recordings, even if they have sounded largely irrelevant and outdated already during early 90s, but yet the decision not to remaster especially the annoyingly echoing live tracks is a questionable one to say the least. It's only barely possible to recognize which song is being played on the live recordings, but to be fair, the difference between the demo material and the real recordings of the mini-LP is miniscule as well, the reason being lack of recording equipment and technology at such an early age before the technological revolution of early to mid 90s.

This leads one to ponder what good is "Nobody Likes A Thinker" in today's modern music industry, as it sounds so awfully outdated? Strictly stylistically or musically speaking, not much to be honest. But the few punk rock enthusiasts who long to absorb the lengthy history of punk rock and are interested in taking a look at one of the final punk hardcore recordings before Bad Religion's more melodic approach changed the scene upside down around the world, this 24 track recording provides an excellent measure of not only the early part of Massappeal's career, but also an extract of punk rock history in Australia as well as elsewhere in the world.

5

Download: Rat In A Hole, Deadheads
For the fans of: mid-80s NOFX
Listen: Myspace

Release date 29.01.2007
Relapse
Provided by Target ApS

Related Items | How we score?
Comments
comments powered by Disqus

Legal

© Copyright MMXXIV Rockfreaks.net.