"Few
hardcore punk bands nowadays, stripped of their name-drop references
for the clued-in, their politics, their adherence to fads, or their
fashion, would be memorable or even desirable. But there are a few bands
in the history of this music that come to mind as essentially
hardcore—louder, faster, and more in-your-face than any other "rock"
bands. Italy's Raw Power, from the demos era, and The Worst are the two
that I always return to in this category of pure hardcore (it's no
coincidence that the influence of the Stooges is apparent for both
bands, but that's another story).
This story, of The Worst, is not a happy one. During the band's life,
they were ripped off, scammed, ignored, and hated. The band
disintegrated into sordid drug addiction, spiteful in-fighting and
girlfriend-theft. Their early history would be unremarkable if their
music hadn't been so vigorously ignored by the conservative NYC punk
scene. Luckily, Stiv Bators took notice of singer Do-It, who made it so
Stiv wasn't the only guy nearly killing himself and others at punk gigs
in the City. Stiv called The Worst "new kid punk" because they were
obnoxious young kids from South Jersey playing punk rock faster and
louder than anyone else around; also, they weren't yet addicted to
heroin like nearly everyone else in the punk scene at the time. Neither
of these attributes impressed the punk rock elders. Legs McNeil of Punk
Magazine hated The Worst, but Terry Ork, who became their manager,
described them as Sabbath on speed. The band did, however, serve as
wide-eyed fans of punk rock heroes like Johnny Thunders, eager to fit
in—unfortunately, fitting in often meant copping for the stars.
One time, Sid was having a screaming fit due to withdrawal (as
always), and Ork sent The Worst's young roadie to the streets to grab
poor Vicious a fix. Unfortunately, the kid didn't know where to acquire
smack, so he bought a handful of tuinols from a nearby dealer. When the
kid came back and presented the downers to Sid—who was supposed to share
them with the room—the ex-Pistol swallowed them all. Within minutes,
Sid was out cold, nearly dead on the floor. Ork and Nancy were pissed at
Sid for not sharing. How many bands do you know who can say they almost
killed Sid Vicious?
Though the scene was populated by tough kids such as Harley Flanagan
who would go on to play in hardcore bands, when bands like Black Flag,
The Fix, and Bad Brains were beginning in other cities, New York had no
equivalent. The Stimulators may have been inspired to talk the loud and
fast talk by The Worst, but only the latter walked the loud and fast
walk.
In the early days, The Worst played with The Troggs (to whom they
donated their girlfriends) and DMZ from Boston. While their hometown
friends Shrapnel often played CBGB, The Worst tended to play at Max's
Kansas City. Before it was a given that hardcore bands would be a
clubowner's nightmare, The Worst were on their way to getting banned
from every venue in NYC. Do-It would run across the tables, turn over
the chairs, and jump into the laps of the people at the bar. Trezza says
Do-It would destroy anything “that got in the way of beating Iggy to
the grave.” The only other bands that had a chance of avoiding
embarrassment when they played with The Worst were the Misfits, Bad
Brains, The Mad, and when in town, GG Allin & the Jabbers. This
nihilism climaxed at a gig with The Undead at Max's. After that night,
The Worst couldn't get gigs anywhere. They were back to being a Jersey
cellar-dweller band, but they still hung out in the City (see “Going to
New York” for their take on it). Ork, along with Legs McNeil, suggested
they use the ironic moniker The Bad Guys to slip under the radar and
back into the clubs. Trezz is so embarrassed of the 45 that resulted,
that he didn't want me to mention it in this history, but it's worth
noting how the NY scene treated a real hardcore punk band: it made them
change to powerpop!
At a Suicide gig at CBGB, they met the band's roadie, a leather and
chains biker named Mark “The Mutha” Chesley who knew The Worst's
reputation. It's tough for me to figure out if The Mutha had started
with good intentions or if he was trying to run a scam from the
beginning, but either way, he was lucky to have some amazing bands on
his label more than they were lucky to be on it. The Bad Guys 45 had The
Mutha's help, but it was a dud and didn't say “Mutha Records” on it. In
contrast, I encourage the reader to count how many times the word
“Mutha” appears on The Worst 12". Ironic, indeed, because The Mutha's
racket was that he forced the bands to pay for their own records with
the assumption they'd make their money back in the end. This would've
worked if The Mutha hadn't been a con artist taking advantage of punk
rockers who didn't know better and if Mutha Records hadn't released
fundamentally unmarketable music. The Worst were lucky to have sold all
1000 copies of their 7" and 2500 copies of their 12", but any collector
will tell you that releases such as the infamous "Cutest Band in
Hardcore" 12" by Chronic Sick didn't sell very well at all.
In 1981, the Circle Jerks toured the US and The Worst realized at
that point that what they'd been hearing about—“hardcore” punk —was
exactly what they'd been playing all along. At this time, bands started
to spring up all around the country, including in New Jersey. The Worst,
of course, had been around for years and had done their time as the
young kids of the NY punk scene. Soon, suburban hardcore bands, complete
with new leather jackets, pretty girlfriends, and shiny amps were
telling The Worst what punk was all about. The Worst's response was
truly punk: they said FUCK YOU by playing louder, faster, harder, and
meaner than anyone else. This message is loud and clear on the 7".
The Worst “Time Zone” 7" suffers from Chesley's dilletantish
production. Ironically, the production is marred in a way similar to
that of the first Raw Power LP, “You Are the Victim”—drums too strong,
guitars too thin. But The Worst’s songwriting and speed is remarkable.
Do-It's sleazy vocals combined with Sudz's insistently driving, but not
repetitive, drumming seem to define exactly what the fusion of hardcore
and punk means. In fact, I think the drumming was some of the fastest in
the world at the time (and unlike, say, Canada's Neos, The Worst
actually wrote songs). The sex, drugs, and Armageddon lyrics and
guitar-central music leave no question that these fucked-up kids were
enthralled with rock ‘n’ roll and that they saw hardcore punk as the
only possible way to express this urgent, rebellious need to rock. With
the guitars front and center, as they should've been, I don't doubt that
this 7" would now be as highly regarded as anything on Touch and Go
from the same era—especially considering that unlike any of those dudes
from Michigan, these Jersey boys had a real Detroit influence (see
“Futur”).
Unfortunately for the band, as much as they liked to say “Fuck you,”
they liked to get high even more. Public Disturbance brought The Worst's
violent antics home to Long Branch, NJ's Brighton Bar, where many a
bottle behind the bar got smashed during their gigs. The younger Chronic
Sick were too punk for their own good; I doubt Bobby the K's amazing
songwriting kept them from getting their asses kicked every time they
played live. Fatal Rage, led by the inimitable Jacko, were also a
high-energy, no-restraints hardcore band. These four bands made up the
core of the South Jersey hardcore scene, and they were so good that no
one else mattered.
Not many hardcore bands have been able to follow a 7" with a 12" that
is better than the 7". The Worst were somehow able to streamline their
songs—to make them even more purely hardcore—without becoming generic or
simple. And the blazing, powerful, crisp production speaks for itself.
Trezz says he didn't let The Mutha near the controls, and in doing so,
he produced a record that should be used by all bands as a guideline for
what good production sounds like.
By ‘84, hardcore in the US had largely killed itself. Trezz and the
others had, for a while, been more interested in hanging out, getting
high, and seeing bands like the Heartbreakers than in cultivating the
hardcore scene. When the band recorded what was to be the third record,
they had severed ties with Mutha. Alternative Tentacles supposedly
showed some interest, but this “heroin hardcore” record, as Trezz
describes it, has never been released until now. It's not as great as
“Expect the Worst” and it doesn't have Do-It singing (Trezz sings
instead), but considering how awful most early '80s hardcore bands
became, I think it's pretty damn good.
In an era of low-quality bootlegs, including one in ‘01 of “Expect
the Worst,” I’m glad to see the band receive a proper reissue with this
CD. Though many people involved in the South Jersey hardcore scene back
then might like to forget those years, I think it would be a shame if
The Worst remained just an obscure band from the ‘burbs. As the history
of New York punk rock is repeated over and over again in increasingly
mainstream venues, true punk rockers should take pride in the absence of
The Worst from these false memories. They were too loud, fast, and mean
back then, and these recordings show that the intensity hasn’t
decreased with the passage of time. Loud and fast! Turn it up!
