CITIZINE REVIEWS

Dangerhouse: Vol. 1
Compilation 1977-1980
(Frontier Records, 1991)

by Thom White

Much has been written about the history of punk rock in the last few years. In the late 1990s, with the genre indisputably in existence for more than 25 years, a first stab at punk history was issued.

To commemorate the turning of the century, an assortment of documentaries and segments appeared on television which tried to sum up what the 1900s were all about. Rock 'n' Roll, an important American invention of the past century, and his bastard son, Punk Rock, were addressed in the context of the entire history of popular music in America and Britain.

Rock 'n' Roll distinguished itself with a heavy backbeat, cranked-up tempo, and obvious blues influence in form and instrumentation. Punk rock would appear decades later with many of these same attributes.

Mass media generally describes punk rock as a style that sprang from early 1970s music by the Stooges, MC5, Captain Beefheart, and the New York Dolls. These were bands that possessed attention-grabbing lead singers and raw, overamplified electric guitar. They were known for playing live, using traditional rock 'n' roll instruments, and refusing the advances in electronic sound and dubbing that so many were profiting from, in favor of increased volume and harshness.

Though it is difficult to pinpoint when "punk" began, its existence could no longer be denied by 1975-76 with first Ramones album in America, and the un-welcome explosion of Malcolm McLaren's Sex Pistols across the pond.

The Pistols' exploits and fashion exploitation are with good reason highlighted in traditional punk history. Along with a new sound for rock 'n' rollers, British punk brought to the fore a fashion of dyed, odd-ball hairstyles, second-hand clothing stitched together with safety pins, and exaggerated makeup.

What is known today as the New York punk scene is also given a great deal of attention by rock historians, partially for geographic reasons (anything that happens in New York is somehow most important), but primarily because this blooming mid-1970s NYC music scene based at a club called CBGB's gave to the world the first American punk rock outfit, the Ramones. Great punk rock lore about CBGB's ensued in the latter 1970s when the record industry let loose a hype campaign for New York bands like Talking Heads, Blondie, and Television, in which these groups were foisted onto mainstream TV and radio as examples of how punk had "matured" into a sort of electronic keyboard rock, or "New Wave."

Most punk rock documentaries, after dealing with the successes of these stalwarts of the New York scene, and the sudden collapse of the Sex Pistols, make a great and miraculous leap forward to the 1990s and describe the rise of post-punk. American (and English) punk rock during 1978-90 is glossed over, as if, between the breakup of the Sex Pistols and Bad Religion's reformation in the late 1980s, nothing of note occurred.

But Frontier Records' Dangerhouse: Volume 1 (1991) enlightens anyone interested to know about excellent American punk music put out by the Los Angeles label Dangerhouse Records from 1977 to 1980. In close association with Slash magazine, Dangerhouse helped define the LA punk scene for a brief period and put out singles by some of the most important California punk acts of the time.

The compilation begins with the Randoms' "Let's Get Rid of New York," a track from Dangerhouse's first record. This song displays for all to see the energizing invention of punk rock drums. Daddy Rock 'n' Roll's steady uptempo backbeat had now been accelerated to a bouncy one-two-one-two march for late-70s kids on speed, as Pat "Rand" Garrett sings how, "Fashion, man, is really passion!"

Another early release on this record is the Dils' minute-long frontal assault, "Class War." All the Dils' songs contained what Dangerhouse Records co-founder David Brown described as the brothers Kinman's "frenzied Maoist message." The beat to "Class War" is all "Okie shuffle" though with Pat Garrett providing powerful momentum on drums. Garrett left the band later when the Dils moved to San Francisco in search of greater success.

Dangerhouse's top seller, the Avengers' "We Are the One" is one of the collection's best. Their dreamy hard-rockin' idealism, and oh-so-catchy chorus rejecting outdated post-World War II name-calling, made this song a big hit. One month after Dangerhouse released this single, the Avengers opened for the Sex Pistols at Winterland in San Francisco, and according to observers, rocked the house in style before a crowd of 5,000. The Avengers were not fascists, communists, capitalists, or, thank God, Christians; they were something else, a new generation.

Another important track, with a song and style much emulated, is the Weirdos' "Solitary Confinement." The Ramones may have been first to build a "wall of distortion", but the Weirdos' blaring "wall" of overdubbed, powered up fuzz guitars is much thicker. Released in early 1978, this Weirdos track pre-dates Orange County punk imitators (Adolescents, etc.) who would be releasing records with this guitar tone years later. According to David Brown, the Weirdos were "visually overwhelming" live but never made it as big as they may have deserved.

The Weirdos' "all power chords" punk formula would be copied for generations to come, but what makes this Dangerhouse record such a fascinating listen are the rock stylings flaunted throughout that would later be discarded from "punk" style in the 1980s: the "delightful Englishman" Howard Werth's fancy pants pop music; Black Randy's dark rant on LAPD coppers; and Alice and the Bags' "Survive", a song released the same year as "I Will Survive," but ten times better.

"Survive" begins with an odd sneaking guitar, that scales a steep ridge toward an interlude, building ever higher until suddenly the Bags are playing exciting punk music, with snarling Alice at the fore. David Brown commented that the Bags, "understood the art of arranging." The masterful tempo changes on this track make it easy for the listener to appeciate that art.

The crown jewel of this compilation is the final track, an early version of X's classic "Los Angeles." No band from the original LA punk scene became more popular than X, and no group had more ingratiating stage names than these: John Doe on bass, Exene on vocals, D.J. Bonebrake with the stick beat, and along for the ride, with shining silver guitar and sparkling smile, rockabilly guitar strummer Billy Zoom.

This recording of "Los Angeles" has no false start like the album version released a year later, but cuts straight to the rock. Zoom's guitar bounces about to the drums and John Doe's soothing croon immediately enters with "She … had to leave …" Exene answers his call with an imperfect girl shout of, "Los Angeles!" From there, the duo's vocals play off one another while Zoom's guitar stylings from a bygone era combine for a sound that's unmistakeably X. This approach to music was beyond any formula; X's was a sound with soul.

A Brief History of Dangerhouse Records

Dangerhouse Records Prime Resource

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