WHO KILLED SOCIETY: Self-titled: LP

Jul 25, 2018

This is a long-lost LP from a short-lived band that’s being lauded as “Montana’s First Punk Band.” Having no real knowledge of punk from Big Sky Country, I have no reason to dispute it. After having been kicked out of Just Ducky where he played with Steve Albini, the guitarist/front dude went on to form Who Killed Society and wrote sort of a fuck you letter to mainstream rock of the early ‘80s. I know that these days Steve Albini will engineer/produce/et cetera any band’s record who can foot the bill, but this record here is one of the earliest that he’d ever worked on (having been recorded in 1981, two years before Big Black started). The music is incredibly despondent and noisy. It reminds me a lot of that Bauhaus-y post punk sound, but with a shit-ton of Hüsker Dü and Replacements thrown in. While it’s easily a day’s drive from Montana to Minneapolis and it’s not likely these guys were inspired by anything more than a desire to be loud and different, Who Killed Society would have fit right in on a bill with The ‘Mats, and maybe Mission Of Burma. Lots of distorted, busy guitar work over low register vocals, and a bang-up rhythm section. – Kayla Greet (Ten Club)

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