The Big Apple Rotten to the Core

Infobox Album
Name = The Big Apple Rotten to the Core
Type = compilation
Artist = Various Artists


Released = 1982
Recorded =
Genre = hardcore punk
Length =
Label = S.I.N.
Producer = Bob Sallese
Reviews =

"The Big Apple Rotten to the Core" is a hardcore punk compilation album, released in 1982. It was the second release on the S.I.N. Records label and produced by Bob Sallese. "Big Apple" was the first hardcore punk compilation from New York City and distributed internationally. It included six bands regularly found at A7, a Lower East Side after-hours dive bar that gave the new hardcore bands a forum. The bands were Ism (Queens, NYC), The Mob (Queens, NYC), Butch Lust & The Hypocrites (Brooklyn & Manhattan, NYC), Squirm (Brookyln, NYC), Killer Instinct (Queens & Manhattan, NYC), and The Headlickers (Nassau County).

Cover photos and PR were provided by Scott Eisner, one of the first writers to use the expression "hardcore punk" in a review of The Mob. ["Newsbeat", September 21, 1981.]

The bands

=Ism=

Ism's "John Hinckley Jr. (What Has Jodie Foster Done To You?)" and "Moon The Moonies," both of which were featured on the album, were put into regular rotation on WLIR and were the first hardcore songs to receive commercial airplay in the New York metropolitan area.

The popularity of the album prompted WLIR to start a weekly broadcast called "Midnight Riot" which featured the other bands on the album as well as many other local hardcore bands. It also prompted the station to put other hardcore songs into regular rotation such as Black Flag's "TV Party."

"John Hinckley Jr. (What Has Jodie Foster Done to You?)" was nominated for two weeks straight for the station's [http://www.wlir.fm/screamers.htm "Screamer of the Week"] award.

Butch Lust & The Hypocrites

Lenny Steel of the legendary punk group Pure Hell appeared on the album with Butch Lust & The Hypocrites.

The Mob

The Mob went on to influence many of the later hardcore bands that wanted to move away from the early punk rock influences and create faster thrash sounds.

The Headlickers

The Headlickers, a popular group that played A7, were the only band that didn't reside in one of New York City's five boroughs, but instead came out of Nassau County.

Killer Instinct

Killer Instinct was the creation of guitarist/composer Jet Suicide. The name for the band was chosen by Jet's father Big Hank. Jet teamed up with Bobby Skull, a skilled hardcore beat-keeping drummer from Brooklyn. Jet Suicide wanted to break the all-male hardcore scene rules by using girls, searching high and low for the best female bass player and vocalist he could find. After going through about hundred or so wannabes he located a country girl named Carolyn for his vocalist, and Kitty Hawk for bassist. In order for a band like this to work, to break the almighty male-controlled Hardcore rules, it would have to be tight and powerful. Jet first had to teach, train and drill Kit how to play the bass so she could play tightly with Bobby Skull, and then teach Carol how to sing and deliver her lines, sometimes line by line.

Soon, after plenty of Jet's drilling, Killer Instinct was ready to play its first gig at A7. After a period of confusion and skepticism, Killer Instinct won over the audience. They were soon followed by other hardcore bands with girls. Killer Instinct became more popular and its fan base grew larger.

The band began to disintegrate under the pressure of popularity. The egos of various members clashed. Band members began to resent Jet Suicide, calling him "little Hitler" for demanding long, difficult drills and for yelling repeatedly at everyone. Bobby Skull began to show up to gigs so drunk he could barely stay on the drum stool, and his drumming suffered; at one point he passed out in the middle of a set. Jet was furious and demanded that Skull shape up or leave the band. In response, the other members got rid of Jet and brought on another female guitarist in his place, calling the project XKI. After a few gigs, this band fell apart and the members went their separate ways.

quirm

Squirm's song "Fuck You Brooke Shields" received some commercial airplay (with bleeps inserted throughout the song).

The album's reception

"Big Apple" was the first NYC comp made available to college and alternative radio stations nationwide. It quickly gained notoriety. However, despite its success, the album seemed to be jinxed with bad luck:

*The demand for the record's second pressing could not be met because the pressing plant would not release the masters and was bootlegging them in other parts of the country. The owner of the plant was eventually busted by the FBI for bootlegging Beatles albums.
*Ace In The Hole of Butch Lust & The Hypocrites died in a tragic car accident.
*Scott Eisner jumped off the Throgs Neck Bridge linking Queens to The Bronx.
*Squirm's Igor Jakusko, who used to room with Cheetah Chrome, hanged himself.
*Jism of Ism ended up spending five years in a New York State prison after a somewhat controversial arrest.

A followup album, "The Big Apple Rotten To The Core, Vol. 2", was released five years later on the Raw Power label. Omer Travers (infamous for breaking into Yoko Ono's apartment and leaving love notes) appeared on this album with a song produced by Jism & Sallese. Travers & Jism were later invited onto The Howard Stern Show to promote the album.

The beatles came from mars and landed as aliens.jkthe beatles let out a album called the "When Aliens Came to earth.