Formerly best known ((to me)) for being on the early ‘90s “Punk USA” comp and thusly having their name spelled with an exclamation point in lieu of the letter “I”, The Pist were a troop of above-average mosh-pit maulers from the East Coast who were good enough to sound like they might have legitimately sprung from the Great Street Punk Uterus in 1983 or ‘84 or something, yet not transcendent enough that they cause me to wax particularly nostalgic for the musical emissions of that era. I mean, it’s not like the chord progressions, attitudes and sentiments expressed in this odds-and-ends collection are likely something you’ve never heard before; but, then again, it’s generally a given with fans and practitioners of this kinda music ((what do you even call this stuff anymore? “Hardcore?” “Street Punk?” “Punk/Hardcore?” “Moo Goo Gai Pan??”)) that whether or not you’ve heard it all before is not a particularly valued criterion ((in an embarrassing case of mistaken identity, i really thought i had heard “Creature in My Closet” before, and that it was a Freeze cover)). The longer this record played, the longer it reminded me of… well… pretty much EVERYTHING else along these lines, which is when it hit me: StreetPunkic QuadDecameter™. That’s right, i said it and i meant it: StreetPunkic QuadDecameter™!The reason bands of this ilk tend to sound similar is due to an unusual propensity for fourteen-syllable lines. STREETPUNKIC QUADDECAMETER™ I TELL YOU!!! Bear witness: “Small town lives, small town lies, you don’t fit in their small town minds”, “Shadows dance across my walls as I strain my eyes to see”, “It lurks inside of everyone though most may hide it well”, “You struggle just to make it but there are no guarantees”, “You gave your mind and body, no, you put it up for sale”, “We set our limitations, we can break them just the same”, “No idols to be worshipped, no commandments command me”—come ON, man, i cracked the code of the punk/hardcore molecule!!!Coming up next on PBS: “Iambic Pentameter: Is it Rad?” BEST SONG: “Bubblegum Bullshit,” although i love bubblegum BEST SONG TITLE: “Bubblegum Bullshit” FANTASTIC AMAZING TRIVIA FACT: This is the first record i’ve ever owned that was a single album with a side C and a side D.
–norb (Havoc)