It's OK. We'll be there for you.

Most of my punk music heroes came from the suburbs of Chicago - North Shore, Northwest, some south, southwest - ZBs were like Kevin Bacon in “Footloose” without all the stupid dance sequences, but a huge likelihood of being lynched by KKK adjacent rednecks. True punks.

Anyway, these guys killed at that show, so I bought the record. I talk a lot about the Chicago scene, but ZBs were churning out crisp, top-shelf hard core punk in the heart of Indiana in the early ‘80s.

He encouraged me to go backstage and say hi to the band, but as much as I dig their music, I don’t think they would have appreciated me wandering in.

Lead singer of The Crombies, Mike Park, also plays the bagpipes and we were both in the Chicago Stockyard Kilty Band for a while. I got there early to see Mike’s set, and he found me later and gave me his backstage pass.

Maybe I posted this before and forgot, but it didn’t occur to me that Warren Zevon and R.E.M. were listening to The Georgia Satellites who were all over MTV a few years before they recorded this album.

Celebrities, they’re just like us.

Well, WZ’s manager decided to drop the sessions as an album, without consulting Berry, Buck and Mills, and it caused a rift between them and WZ. Guessing that’s why they got zero mention at the Rock ‘n’ Roll HOF induction.

Imagine R.E.M. coming out with Waddy Wachtel. That would’ve been a show.

I went down the rabbit hole, and it’s cool and a little bittersweet. These recordings were made around the time that WZ brought the boys from R.E.M. in to record his “Sentimental Hygiene” album. Purportedly, taped during drunken late-night sessions, they weren’t intended for release.

Solid list. 🗞️

"It may not be the oldest profession, but it's the best." Ed Hutcheson

The Dickies cover of the Saturday morning cartoon “Gigantor” starts strong. Lineup includes: Government Issue, T.S.O.L., GBH, Naked Raygun, Misfits, Necros, Agent Orange and “Golden Boys,” a ripper by Vagina Dentata (which included Pat Smear, co-founder of The Germs and Foo Fighters).

“Rankers Chant” on side 2 sounds like low-intensity Strummer strumming reggae, railing on class warfare. British accents and the music style doesn’t exactly scream Chicago’s NW ‘burbs but, fight the fight in front of you, right? Pic is the band at Graceland. 🎼🎼

Some people need practical advice. ~ George Carlin

Four tracks were recorded exclusively for this comp by Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet from Toronto, Iowa Beef Experience from Iowa City, Live Skull from NYC, and Stikky from Calif.