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Jason Pettigrew is the Editor-in-Chief of Alternative Press. His favorite noises in life are the first minute of "Cables (Live)" by Big Black, the Arp 2600 synt...more »

04.10.08

Sick of it All, Blood, Sweat and No Tears

1989 | Label: In Effect / Relativity / TuneCore

Blood, Sweat And No Tears is Sick Of It All's enduring document, doubling as both album title and personal philosophy. The longest-running band in the history of New York City hardcore, SOIA remain a polarizing musical force. Singer Lou Kohler embodied the classic city-street tough archetype, and the band brought a mighty noise fueled by Armand Majidi's powerhouse drumming and the guitar attack of Pete Koller. Tracks like "Clobberin 'Time" and "G.I. Joe Headstomp" did saddle the band with some fans who shined to them with a hoodlum gang mentality. But SOIA played a larger role in helping blur the dividing line between metal and punk, both sonically (applying metal signifiers like power chords and solos) and socially (helping to erase each scene's prejudices of each other, ie, "punk dudes can't play for shit" and "metal guys are lame and boring"). SOIA's 1991 tour with Argentinian metalheads Sepultura and Sacred Reich has been cited as a significant event in the melding of the counter-cultural tribes. Not surprisingly, BSANT remains an essential document of those times.

POWERHOUSE!!!

This is an absolute fucking classic, S O I A have stayed true to their hardcore roots to this day. But this baby started it all. The Kohler Bros. Still churn out album after album of pure power. I listen to the first few riffs of Its Clobberin' Time - I want to put my head thru a wall, hell yeah!!

boil your blood

In the late eighties the NYHC music scene had already started adding more metal and other goodies to it's mix. Unlike today's light weight decaffinated corporate radio punk/H.C./Metal "artists"-Sick of it all got it right. Ultra distorted guitar, punchy bass, massive drumming, from the gut grab you by the neck vocals; still fresh for 2008. On occasion I can still be seen, my mini-van rocking, my kids plugging their ears for fear of premature tinitus, hardcore blaring; I am sixteen years old again. Sooo EMO.