Scum (album)
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| Studio album by Napalm Death | ||||
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Publication |
June 1987 |
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admission |
A-side: August 1986 |
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| Label (s) | Earache Records | |||
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Format (s) |
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Title (number) |
28 |
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A-side:
B-side:
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Napalm Death, Digby Pearson , Unseen Terror , Head of David |
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Studio (s) |
Rich Bitch Studio, Birmingham |
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Scum ( English for "scrap") is the debut album of the British grindcore band Napalm Death from 1987. It is considered one of the most important albums of this genre.
The recordings on the A-side and B-side of the record , between which there was about a year, took place in different line-ups. Drummer Mick Harris was the only musician to work on both sides. Due to the different line-ups, the music on both sides differs in singing and in the timbre of the electric guitars . While the songs on the A-side are based exclusively on hardcore punk and anarcho-punk , on the B-side there were elements typical of metal due to the lower tuned electric guitars and the vocals were more alienated.
The album sold more than 10,000 copies in the year of release and reached number 8 on the UK Indie Charts .
Recording and publication
prehistory
Daz Russell, promoter of The Mermaid club in Birmingham, had made Napalm Death the club's "house band". Due to the local popularity of the band, this arrangement secured him the number of visitors in order to generate enough income for the fees of foreign bands. Napalm Death therefore appeared in the opening act for all hardcore punk bands that Russell booked for the club since the end of 1984, including Anti-System , Sacrilege , Heresy , Concrete Sox and The Varukers . After recording the first demo Hatred Surge , founding member Miles Ratledge on drums was replaced by Mick Harris in November 1985 . His aim was to play faster than any other drummer. He named the percussion in Siege and Deep Wound as role models . The first live appearance with this line-up took place in January 1986 with Amebix and Instigators . The band improved their skills on the instruments through frequent rehearsals. In March 1986, From Enslavement to Obliteration, another demo was recorded at Flick Studios , in which the band combined the anarcho-punk of the first demo with riffs modeled on Celtic Frost and extremely fast drum passages.
Recording of the A-side
Napalm Death intended to record another demo in 1986 as no record label had shown interest in the band. Daz Russell offered them to release this as a single or split on his newly founded independent label Children of the Revolution. In the line-up of Nicholas Bullen ( growls , electric bass ), Justin Broadrick ( electric guitar ) and Mick Harris (drums), Napalm Death went to the Rich Bitch Studio in Birmingham. There the band recorded twelve pieces on an 8-track recorder . The recordings took place overnight on two days because the studio only cost five pounds an hour instead of the regular ten during that time . In addition to the band and the studio staff, around 20 friends were present during the recording. Among them were the bands Head of David and Unseen Terror , who were listed as producers on the record , and Damian Thompson of Sacrilege, who lent his effects pedal to Broadrick .
The pieces came from different phases of the band's development. Some of the songs were based on ideas from Justin Broadrick in 1983, and some were written by Broadrick and Ratledge for the 1985 demo Hatred Surge . The Kill , You Suffer and Death by Manipulation were included on the 1986 demo From Enslavement to Obliteration . For the recordings the songs were played faster than in the original versions, many riffs were borrowed from Chaos UK and Disorder . Russell had paid for the £ 80 studio fee, but Napalm Death decided not to give him the master tapes because he had never paid for them to appear on The Mermaid.
The demo was offered for release to various record labels. At Manic Ears Records it was supposed to appear as a split album with Atavistic, but the label owner Shane Dabinett withdrew his offer. Napalm Death also received a rejection from Pushead and its label Pusmort Records.
Line-up change
After the recordings there were tensions in the band. Nicholas Bullen attributed this to the fact that every member of the band wanted to take on the leadership role in the band. In September 1986 Jim Whiteley took over bass, Nicholas Bullen subsequently only appeared as a singer. Bullen justified this step with his decreasing interest in napalm death and in music in general. After a concert in Leeds with Sacrilege, guitarist Broadrick left the band because he had received an offer to start as a drummer with Head of David. In addition, this band was more successful than Napalm Death at the time and had already released an album on Blast First, the label of Sonic Youth . Broadrick was initially replaced by the later Benediction bassist Frank Healy, before 16-year-old Bill Steer took his place. A little later Nicholas Bullen left Napalm Death and Lee Dorrian became the new singer . With the new line-up, the band's music became more “ metallic ” without the musicians wanting to neglect their anarcho-punk attitude.
At the end of 1986 he first came into contact with Digby Pearson , who had just founded Earache Records . Although Broadrick was no longer a member of Napalm Death, he had sent the master tapes of the August 1986 recording to Pearson.
Recording of the B-side
In March 1987, Napalm Death signed an agreement with Digby Pearson. He bought the band's master tapes from the 1986 recordings and booked the Rich Bitch Studio to record the B-side. Mick Harris had written 16 songs, which he completed and rehearsed with Bill Steer at two rehearsals in his parents' house in Liverpool . Two songs on the B-side are by Bill Steer, Jim Whiteley was involved in arranging some of the tracks . In Whiteley's opinion, Harris' songs were clearly influenced by Repulsion's 1985 demo (then called Genocide). Harris had written it on a guitar even though he said he couldn't play the guitar. He only tuned the A and E strings and removed the remaining strings so that he could play the chords in barre fingering without additional fingering. In order not to forget the results, he wrote them down on scraps of paper and recorded them with a simple cassette recorder . Jim Whiteley wrote the lyrics and singer Lee Dorrian added the vocal passages to the musical framework of the pieces on the evening before the recording. There was only one band rehearsal lasting around three hours immediately before the start of the studio stay in May 1987.
The recordings took place under the direction of sound engineer Mike Ivory. Also in attendance were Digby Pearson and Unseen Terror, who are listed as producers on the record. As with the recordings on the A-side, the recordings on the B-side took place overnight for cost reasons. For singer Lee Dorrian in particular, the recordings were difficult because it was his first time in a recording studio. So Mick Harris had to give him signs when Dorrian was to start singing. The band was not satisfied with the first mix because both the snare and the bass drum could hardly be heard. Pearson arranged a final studio appointment, from 4 a.m. to 8 a.m., so the recordings could be mixed again.
publication
Digby Pearson didn't want to release a mini album or split as Napalm Death's debut, but a full album. However, he did not believe that the new line-up, which had not existed for long, could write enough pieces for an album in a reasonable time, so he decided to use the as yet unused recordings from August 1986 as the A-side. Expectations for the commercial success of the album were not very high, as Napalm Death was more of a marginal phenomenon in UK hardcore . Because of this, the budget for production was very low, recording and mastering only cost £ 200 in total. Pearson put nearly all of his previous earnings and £ 2,000 in savings into recording, making and promoting the album. It was the third release for his label, and if it failed it could have meant the bankruptcy of the label. In June 1987 the album was released in a first edition of 2000 pieces.
Music, lyrics and track list
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The music on the album combines growling with guitar riffs typical for hardcore punk , a heavily distorted bass sound and very fast drumming, which is only interrupted by a few slower sections. This mixture is considered to be the musical definition of grindcore. The 28 songs on the album have a total playing time of around 33 minutes and do not reveal any uniform song structure, melodies are only available in fragments. The only exception to this is Siege of Power , which is the longest track on the album and follows the classic change between verse and chorus . The singing is alienated to the point of incomprehensibility, so that the texts have to be read in the enclosed text sheet. Some listeners could therefore not perceive them as sung text, but as another musical instrument. While the songs on the A side are based exclusively on hardcore punk and anarcho punk, the recordings on the B side with the lower-pitched guitars incorporate a typical element of metal. Another major difference between the two sides of the record is the vocals, which are made by Lee Dorrian on the B-side and are even more alienated than on the A-side, where Nicholas Bullen was the singer.
The lyrics are simple left-wing messages that deal with various topics such as corruption and racism , environmental protection (Point of No Return) , capitalism and greed (Success?) And social problems. With Multinational Corporations and Instinct of Survival , the exploitation of humans by large international corporations is addressed:
Instinct of Survival
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Advertise the product you make, |
Promote your product, |
In other texts, Napalm Death criticizes the political leaders in Great Britain. The text of CS (Conservative Shithead) consists of a series of character traits such as arrogance and ignorance to characterize conservative politicians. However, the political and socially critical statements are thwarted by the singing, which is alienated to the point of being incomprehensible, and can hardly be understood even with a text sheet due to the high speed .
Cover design
The record cover was designed by Jeff Walker , later bassist for the Carcass group . He was friends with the musicians from Napalm Death. After Bullen left, Mick Harris asked him if he would like to design a band logo and album cover for Napalm Death. Harris had specific ideas about the cover design, on the basis of which Walker designed the cover. He used elements he had seen on flyers from bands that Harris had named as musical role models. The skulls shown in the lower area come from record covers by the bands Siege and Dead Kennedys , while the wings of the human skeleton in the background came from Celtic Frost . The logos of well-known corporations such as IBM , Coca-Cola and McDonald’s embedded in the skulls were a specification by Harris. The skulls are said to represent heads that the Khmer Rouge cut off their victims. The design with its "relentless depiction of political brutality" was the template for the record covers of the following releases by other Grindcore bands such as Terrorizer or Brutal Truth .
Commercial win
Earache Records was able to ensure the nationwide distribution of its publications through a contract with Revolver Records , so that the first edition sold within a few weeks. At the same time Napalm Death denied the first tour in the band's history together with Ripcord . Radio host John Peel provided the decisive impetus for Scum's commercial success by playing pieces from the album on his broadcast on BBC Radio 1 and by inviting the band to a peel session . On September 13, 1987 Napalm Death recorded twelve tracks with a total playing time of 5 min 40 s, which were first broadcast in Peel's broadcast on September 22, 1987. The broadcast of the program brought the album national attention, so that Earache Records had another edition pressed, which sold well and Napalm Death brought it to number 8 on the UK Indie Charts. Within a few weeks of the first peel session, around 10,000 units of the album are said to have been sold in Great Britain .
Reception and meaning
While the reactions to the album after its release were initially indecisive, this changed after the Peel Sessions were broadcast in September 1987. After that, both Napalm Death and the album were noticed by a wider public. According to a study by Dietmar Elflein from 2006, Scum is one of the ten extreme metal albums most frequently mentioned in literature sources and best lists of music magazines . Natalie J. Purcell attributes the album to a pioneering role for European Grindcore, and for Ian Christe Scum marks the "climax of a ten year competition for the fastest and hardest sound, and neither speed nor hardness could experience an increase from here". For him it was the “most radical debut since Metallica 's' Kill 'Em All ' - an unbridled, completely new sound attack full of dense, booming cacophonies ”. The album is considered the “central release of Grindcore” and represents both musically and lyrically "The objectification of the extremization discourse" within the British punk scene. Scum was also included in the reference work 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . Manish Agarwal wrote: "[T] he groundbreaking debut Scum demonstrated deep political convictions." Approximately one second long, You Suffer is listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the shortest piece of music ever recorded.
Re-releases
The album was released in various formats over the next 20 years. In 1988 an LP and CD version were released, which contained both Scum and the follow-up album From Enslavement to Obliteration . In 1998 Scum was released on CD with no other bonus songs. A Picture LP was released in 2006, followed by a DualDisc in 2007 , which contained a 45-minute documentary on the DVD side with the title The Scum Story . On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the release, a version was released in 2012 that, in addition to the regular album, contained the first mix as a bonus.
literature
- Kory Grow: Slaves to the Grind . The Making of Napalm Death's 'Scum'. In: Albert Mudrian (Ed.): Precious Metal . Decibel presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces. Da Capo Press, 2009, ISBN 978-0-306-81806-6 , pp. 56-72 .
- Jan Jaedike: The perfect frenzy: 25 years of “Scum” . In: Rock Hard . No. 300 , May 2012, p. 20th f .
- Ian Glasper: Trapped in a Scene - UK Hardcore 1985-1989 . Cherry Red Books, 2009, ISBN 978-1-901447-61-3 .
- Albert Mudrian: Choosing Death. The incredible story of Death Metal & Grindcore . IP Verlag Jeske and Mader, 2006, ISBN 978-3-931624-35-4 .
Web links
- Scum at Allmusic (English)
- Scum at Earache Records (English)
Footnotes
- ^ Mudrian: Choosing Death . P. 103.
- ^ Ian Glasper: Trapped in a Scene . P. 13.
- ^ Ian Glasper: Trapped in a Scene . P. 15.
- ↑ a b c d e Ian Glasper: Trapped in a Scene . P. 16.
- ↑ a b c Mudrian: Choosing Death . P. 33.
- ↑ Jan Jaedike: The perfect frenzy: 25 years of “Scum” . In: Rock Hard . No. 300 , May 2012, p. 20th f .
- ↑ Kory Grow: Slaves to the Grind . The Making of Napalm Death's 'Scum'. In: Albert Mudrian (Ed.): Precious Metal . Decibel presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces. Da Capo Press, 2009. , p. 62.
- ↑ a b Liner Notes for the Scum record , Earache Records, 1987.
- ↑ a b Kory Grow: Slaves to the Grind . The Making of Napalm Death's 'Scum'. In: Albert Mudrian (Ed.): Precious Metal . Decibel presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces. Da Capo Press, 2009. , p. 63.
- ↑ Kory Grow: Slaves to the Grind . The Making of Napalm Death's 'Scum'. In: Albert Mudrian (Ed.): Precious Metal . Decibel presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces. Da Capo Press, 2009. , p. 59.
- ↑ Kory Grow: Slaves to the Grind . The Making of Napalm Death's 'Scum'. In: Albert Mudrian (Ed.): Precious Metal . Decibel presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces. Da Capo Press, 2009. , p. 61.
- ^ Ian Glasper: Trapped in a Scene . P. 17.
- ^ Ian Glasper: Trapped in a Scene . P. 18.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Ian Glasper: Trapped in a Scene . P. 19.
- ↑ Kory Grow: Slaves to the Grind . The Making of Napalm Death's 'Scum'. In: Albert Mudrian (Ed.): Precious Metal . Decibel presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces. Da Capo Press, 2009. , p. 66.
- ^ Mudrian: Choosing Death . P. 35.
- ↑ Kory Grow: Slaves to the Grind . The Making of Napalm Death's 'Scum'. In: Albert Mudrian (Ed.): Precious Metal . Decibel presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces. Da Capo Press, 2009. , p. 67.
- ^ Ian Glasper: Trapped in a Scene . P. 20.
- ↑ Kory Grow: Slaves to the Grind . The Making of Napalm Death's 'Scum'. In: Albert Mudrian (Ed.): Precious Metal . Decibel presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces. Da Capo Press, 2009. , p. 69.
- ^ A b Ian Glasper: Trapped in a Scene - UK Hardcore 1985-1989 . Cherry Red Books, 2009, ISBN 978-1-901447-61-3 . , P. 501.
- ↑ a b Mudrian: Choosing Death . P. 104.
- ↑ Kory Grow: Slaves to the Grind . The Making of Napalm Death's 'Scum'. In: Albert Mudrian (Ed.): Precious Metal . Decibel presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces. Da Capo Press, 2009. , p. 56.
- ^ Michelle Phillipov: Death Metal and Music Criticism: Analysis at the Limits . Lexington Books, 2012, ISBN 978-0-7391-6461-7 , pp. 83 .
- ^ Piero Scaruffi : A History of Rock Music 1951-2000 . iUniverse, 2003, ISBN 978-0-595-29565-4 , pp. 277 .
- ↑ a b c d e Manish Agarwal: Napalm Death: Scum (1987) . In: Robert Dimery (Ed.): 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die . Octopus, 2011, ISBN 978-1-84403-714-8 , pp. 578 .
- ↑ a b Michelle Phillipov: Death Metal and Music Criticism: Analysis at the Limits . P. 81.
- ↑ Jens Groh: Napalm Death / Scum. RockTimes, December 12, 2010, accessed July 27, 2012 .
- ^ Napalm Death - Where to Start With. Kerrang! , archived from the original on May 30, 2012 ; accessed on January 6, 2016 .
- ^ Michelle Phillipov: Death Metal and Music Criticism: Analysis at the Limits . P. 80
- ↑ a b Kory Grow: Slaves to the Grind . The Making of Napalm Death's 'Scum'. In: Albert Mudrian (Ed.): Precious Metal . Decibel presents the Stories Behind 25 Extreme Metal Masterpieces. Da Capo Press, 2009. , p. 72.
- ^ A b Gerd Bayer: Heavy Metal Music in Britain . Ashgate Publishing, Farnham (Surrey) 2009, ISBN 978-0-7546-6423-9 , pp. 59 .
- ↑ Ken Garner: The Peel Sessions . BBC Books, 2007, ISBN 978-1-84607-326-7 , pp. 128 .
- ↑ Ken Garner: The Peel Sessions . P. 313.
- ↑ a b Mudrian: Choosing Death . P. 108.
- ^ Ian Glasper: Trapped in a Scene . P. 509.
- ↑ Dietmar Elflein: "Always the same classics" - Heavy Metal and the traditional current . In: Dietrich Helms, Thomas Phleps (Ed.): No Time for Losers. Charts, lists and other canonicalizations in popular music . transcript, Bielefeld 2008, ISBN 978-3-89942-983-1 , p. 140 .
- ^ Natalie J. Purcell: Death Metal Music. The Passion and Politics of a Subculture . McFarland, 2003, ISBN 978-0-7864-1585-4 , pp. 21 .
- ↑ Ian Christe : Hell Noise - The Complete, Relentless, Unique History of Heavy Metal . Hannibal Verlag, Höfen 2004, ISBN 3-85445-241-1 , p. 198 f . (Original title: Sound of the Beast .).
- ↑ Andreas Salmhofer: Grindcore - an "extreme" mutation of Heavy Metal? In: Rolf F. Nohr, Herbert Schwaab (Ed.): Metal Matters. Heavy metal as culture and world . LIT Verlag, Münster 2011, ISBN 978-3-643-11086-2 , p. 207, 210 .
- ↑ Sam McPheeters: Extreme Extremes. (No longer available online.) Orange County, March 9, 2006, archived from the original on September 29, 2012 ; accessed on September 13, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
