I Ain't In A Slump, I Just Ain't Hitting

Of all the Boston Crew-type HC bands that went metal back in the '80s (which was pretty much all of 'em), I think that Jerry's Kids ended up making the best "post-XClaim!-era" record with "Kill Kill Kill", which in some ways has a sound that isn't all that separated from "Is This My World?" --- sure, some of the lyrics are dumber, and there's a bigger "metal" sound to the drums and guitars, but the songwriting in general tends to fall back onto straight hardcore thrash and a few of the songs on "Kill Kill Kill" wouldn't have sounded at all out of place if they'd been recorded back when "Is This My World"?" was being made. The F.U.'s, on the other hand, not only changed their name (to Straw Dogs) but changed their sound entirely, and "We Are Not Amused" is pretty much a straight-up commercial metal/hard rock record with barely a trace of punk to be found at all, other than Sox' vocals of course. It's not a great record all the way through -- the quality level really drops off after the top four or five songs -- but the guitars pack way more of a punch than any of the rock slough released by SSD or DYS (for instance), and it also has some of the best drumming I've ever heard on a hard rock record. I say that there's not much punk involved, but I suppose it takes a punk to take pot shots at all the phony "sign of the devil" Mötley Crüe crap and hit the target as dead-on as "Carnival In Hell" does. I'm not exactly sure what the slags against John Sex Bomb and the Anthrax Club on the thank you list/lyric sheet are all about, but I'm guessing it probably has something to do with a show that the F.U.'s tried to play at the old Stamford Anthrax years ago. At least, I think I read about it in a book somewhere.

Straw Dogs -

"Carnival In Hell"

"The Hunger"

"In Deep"

"Trigger Finger"