Some People Deserve to Suffer - Stick Men with Ray Guns

Vincent Albarano, a new and occasional Warchild contributor, disussses one of his favorite punk records while revelaing his distaste for black metal and irriation with hipsters.

This one's been out for a few years now, so this is gonna be in retrospect. Since you clearly haven't heard about this band (unless you have read the Pitchfork review-- that was great, wasn't it?), here's the basics: Stick Men with Ray Guns were a hardcore band from Dallas in the '80s. They were infamous for the antics of their frontman, Bobby Soxx, who looked like Buddy Holly on speed, and would assault, piss on, and antagonize his fans and both his bandmates and others on the bill. They only released a few cuts on compilations during their heyday (Bobby had the 1980 "Learn to Hate in the 80s" backed with the "Scavenger of Death" single with Teenage Queers), so this 2002   retrospective is made up of those few studio cuts and a number of live songs.

First off: even though most of the songs are live, the sound quality is pretty good, considering the shit-fi standards most other hardcore live releases have when unleashed after thirty years. Granted, it would still have any audiophile scoffing, but fuck those uptight pricks.

Second: Stick Men with Ray Guns may have been part of the hardcore scene in the'80s, but they didn't offer any one-two thrash and bash; they were much closer to Flipper in sound, with loud, noisy, droning numbers. The guitar screeches and snarls; the bass rumbles; the drums mostly thump out a sort of tribal thud that serves the songs' rhythms perfectly. Bobby's vocal range is surprisingly wide: he can go from a low growl to a shrill whine, or even a gruff bark. I may have said wide range, but this is in a punk context, people. All these elements were key to the band's sound: a post-hardcore/proto-noise rock conglomeration of scathing noise competing with the rhythm section's brutal low-end thud. The sound is harsh and blistering, even on the studio numbers, but it only seems to add to the band's nihilistic qualities.

The perfect complement to such a harsh, uncompromising sound was Bobby's lyrics, which ran the gamut of punk rock's favorite topics. His main targets were Christianity, such as in the classic "Christian Rat Attack", which was given extra hipster cred when Thurston Moore and Richard Hell covered it later (see, I'm working with you people). Others took on Hardcore's raison d'etre: Ronald Reagan ("Nazi Cowboys (on Welfare)"). Some choose to focus on juvenile subjects ("Pee Pee in the Disco Mommy (I Gotta)"). The best lyrics are those that focus on the blackest corners of misanthropy possible. These include the blistering "Kill the Innocent" and a re-working of Bobby's "Scavenger of Death", which is transformed from a raging three-chord punker to a massive, crushing wall of noise. Such devotion to nihilism, misanthropy and random violence could quickly draw comparisons to shitty black metal, but let me set it straight: I am not overweight, lonely and depressed, nor do I have acne--heavy metal offers me nothing. Also, Bobby and co. were Texan punks with a bad attitude, not "Viking warriors" who thought burning down churches was cool. Despite some rudimentary themes and elements, their crushing lyrics alone set Stick Men ahead of the punk curve.

For a band in a scene famous for playing bad music really fast, Stick Men came up with some surprising musical variety: there are elements of straight-up Rock & Roll ("Satan Baby"), frantic Rockabilly ("Baby Now!"), and even shuffling Country ("Nazi Cowboys (on Welfare)"). All of this provides solid evidence that the band should be revered more than a number of other hardcore bands, but hey, MDC played faster. Due to the limited availability of Stick Men material, most of the band's reputation rests on stories about Bobby's antics, and that was certainly a great part of their appeal (at least as far as I can tell, I wasn't there; I have no idea what I'm saying. Don't listen to me.) So even with this CD being out of print currently, we now have much easier access to the band's legacy--Soxx stories included. It's worth the effort of tracking down a download link, as this one still hold some shocks and surprises. And those Bobby Soxx stories are worth tracking down too.