I Turned Into A Martian

The Undead
12 Hits From Hell Uncovered
2007

You know that The Undead is early Misfits guitarist Bobby Steele's long-running project. The Misfits famously lambasted Steele on a widely circulated bootleg by changing the lyrics to "I Turned Into A Martian" to "Bobby Steele's an asshole/fucking cunt," and "Bobby Steele, The Undead suck/they fucking suck!" etc. I wonder if The Misfits had become the biggest band on the planet (like, say, Metallica), would Bobby Steele be super bitter and bring them up in every single interview and still refer to them as "my old band" like 30 years later (like, say Dave Mustaine). But I digress.

The Undead were never that good, but they weren't that bad either. Steele named a live album Live Slayer, which is pretty funny. You gotta give him credit for that, right? But he also always felt it necessary to remind everyone that he was in The Misfits, which is why, I guess, in 2007 he yanked out a full-album cover of The Misits' never-released 12 Hits From Hell album, the only full-length of theirs that he appeared on. It's not very good, but that should not stop you from listening to it. I mean, honestly, if I didn't listen to things just because they kind of sucked, I'd only have like 4 albums on my hard drive.

12 Hits From Hell Uncovered

Big Green Monsters

Various
Make The Collector Nerd Sweat
1989

Here's a classic late-80s punk comp for your ears. This is the shit that was going around when I was first getting into punk rock, and to this day few sounds bring back the nostalgic feeling of being in 8th grade like Jeff Ott's voice over some gnarly Crimpshrine rockout.

But anyway, you know these bands. Mr. T Experience, Crimpshrine, Samiam, Jawbreaker, and The Offspring are household names (in my household anyway). Oh and nevermind the crap they did in the mid-90s, the Offspring song here smokes. The Lookouts featured Larry Livermore from Lookout Records (smart move naming your label after your band, btw), and also Tre Cool on drums. Plaid Retina could'a been contenders. They started out as a sort of crossover thrash band but evolved into great third-tier punk rock. It's a shame they never busted through to the big leagues. Their song here, "Freebird", is actually CCR's "Fortunate Son."

Oh and "Speed" is hands down the best song Samiam ever recorded. Hot shit right there.

The others are bands lost to the sands of punk rock time, but all in all this is a fucking great comp and you're a big dumb twag if you don't download it.

Make The Collector Nerd Sweat

Back in the Real World

Xentrix
Shattered Existence
1989


If you ask me, there are 3 reasons why Xentrix never got popular:

1. Their most well-known song is a cover of "Ghostbusters".
2. They're from England (go ahead and name 1 really good English thrash band).
3. Their name is Xentrix. I mean come on.

Anyway, while not consistently great, they can be very good at times, delivering workhorse thrash that sounds not unlike a more generic version of the bay area stuff (Exodus, Testament, and of course Metallica). Solid production too, which is kind of rare for these third-tier thrash bands.

This is their debut. I really think you're gonna like it.

Shattered Existence

Over the Edge

Alice 'n Chains
demo
1987

Here's a fun little relic of the hair metal era. This pre-grunge-fame version of Alice in Chains featured Layne Stayley and some other dudes. At some point this band folded, Stayley met up with Jerry Cantrell, who was playing in a hair metal band called Diamond Lie at the time. Through a series of events, Stayley joined Diamond Lie, who then changed their name to Alice in Chains. A coupl'a years later they got famous. THE END.

Well not really obv.

Anyway, this demo blows, but "Over the Edge" is pretty rockin'. I wish Diamond Lie had recorded a demo before changing their name, cause I'd love to hear the full AiC lineup doing hair metal. I'd probably like it better than their regular records. Anyway.

Alice 'n Chains demo