Posted by Soup
Denver, Colorado's Bum Kon (named for Korean mass murderer, Woo Bum Kon, according to the press release) are probably one of the best teenage punk bands of the 80's that you've never heard of. With only a 5-song single, “Drunken Sex Sucks” (which the press release notes fetches about $150 on eBay, these days) under their belt, they could have easily disappeared into obscurity without anyone having noticed. Members went on to play in bands like Soak, Duh, and Hank IV, and Bum Kon was just kind of quietly forgotten.
Thankfully, during the recording session for “Drunken Sex Sucks,” the band recorded twenty more songs that never saw release. Until now. Smooch Records and MAXIMUMROCKNROLL records co-released a CD compilation of these tracks entitled, appropriately, Drunken Sex Sucks. And I'm glad they did. Overall, these recordings have a kind of Circle Jerks style to them. Fast, fun, not terribly serious, but hardly playing like a Descendents album, with a very “teenage” worldview. This is basically a really, really good 80's hardcore album.
The opening track, “Giving In” almost sounds like a simplified Dead Kennedys song, with a surf rock guitar riff providing the backbone. Track 2, “Drunken Sex Sucks,” on the other hand, is more of a straight-up hardcore thing. “Nancy Reagan Fashion Show” is a fast, fun, thrashy thing that sounds kind of like something the Circle Jerks would have done. “Slow Death” is a slower song (as the name implies, I guess). Most of the song is a repetitive hardcore thing with the singer repeating what sounds like “Slow death, I wanna die.” Other highlights include “This is Art,” a really short song with clean guitars and lyrics about graffiti art, “The Draft,” with its infectious melodic chorus that kind of reminds me of The Dead Kennedys' “Well Paid Scientist,” “Reagan Sucks” with its two-step chorus broken up by fast, thrashy verses (this one reminds me a lot of the Circle Jerks' “Beverly Hills” in some places), and “Locked Away” with its wailing guitar leads. The casual homophobia of “Gay Rodeo” is unfortunate, and was probably more tolerated in hardcore in the 80's than it would be now, and honestly, it might alienate some hardcore kids, but it's here nonetheless. At least it's a cool track, musically with a sort of cowpunk style that, ironically, kind of reminds me of something Pansy Division would do.
There are 32 tracks here and the whole thing clocks in at as many minutes. There are alternate versions of a few of the songs at the end. And every one of them sounds like it should be a hardcore classic, even if they do seem to kind of wear their influences on their sleeve. They have enough of their own identity for this to be a really solid document of a really solid band. Fans of west coast hardcore will definitely find a lot to like here. More info can be found on Smooch Records' website.
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