Radical Rock Reactionaries

Way back in the mid-80's there was a great local alternative band called Animation
that borrowed from Echo and The Bunnymen, Lou reed and whatever was hip at the time. The town benefited from having a pretty decent local record shop called the Music Staff. Life was good. Animation's release Loud Day had everything; a great intro song with a stomping bass part promised you that the rest would be great and it was with suburban themes and a cover of The Velvet Underground. It didn't get any cooler. Ok maybe, I'm lying. Westfield High School in the 80's was not a normal place when I think about it. One of the school clubs was called the Young Leftist and another one The Radical Rock Reactionaries (RRR) that was found by the Margulis Brother's Oren (88) and Gil(86). They put on shows and is where I got my taste of original live music not just attendee but as a musician. i was part of the scene and where i got to know the Don, Jerry and Bob from the Whirling Dervishes (pictured) - i probably saw them play more times than I can count. The good thing it was great every time. One of the bands RRR got to play early on was Animation who originated black T-shirt as far as I was concerned. Other bands that made appearances for RRR were Hoboken's Tiny Lights, Das Damen (SST), the Whirling Dervishes of course, Spiral Jetty, The Unemployed (haha a one off band of mine) and Psychic Fair (WHS 86-88). There were probably others and maybe I'll remember them later but in the meantime here are some selects by said "local" bands that enriched my life and introduced me to whole other world of alternative music. Another band that was in a parallel music universe to Westfield was Skunk from Maplewood, NJ. Enjoy. More later.

MP3s:
Animation - What goes on (Velvet Underground cover)
Animation - Hide & Go Seek off of Loud Day(Vital Records)
Das Damen - Gray Isn't Black from Jupiter Eye(SST)
Tiny Light - Sweet Solutions from LP Prayer for the halcyon fear
Spiral Jetty - The Hour from Dogstar LP (Absolute a go go/Rough Trade)
Skunk - (There'll Be Other Girls) Hoss from Last American Virgin LP (Twin/Tone)
Skunk - Chezone and Trevor
Whirling Dervishes - Cop from the CD Strange & Wonderful
Whirling Dervishes - Your Little Finger from the CD Strange & Wonderful