MASSAPPEAL: Nobody Likes a Thinker

Released: 1986

The mid-80s was a turbulent time on the Sydney music scene. Thrash metal was just beginning to take a hold on the consciousness of the metalheads and in the chaos of the punk scene things were also changing. American-style hardcore was about to have an impact on how punk looked and sounded, and a bunch of surfers and skaters with blond tips and Metallica t-shirts was bringing it on. Massappeal entered the maelstrom with a sound the punks and skins adored but a look they hated, but, like the Hard Ons they just didn't care. Like them, they were just some dudes who could barely play their instruments, making music they loved. But unlike the Punchbowl trio, Massappeal had no pop sensibilities at all. And while Sydney's metal freaks would come to love Massappeal as much as the punks, there's nothing metal whatsoever about "Nobody Likes a Thinker".

This is furious thrashing punk energy at its most primal, a grinding, noisy swirl of out-of-tune guitars and indecipherable, shouted vocals. "Can't Forget" has a tiny element of groove, but that's about it. The seven tracks represented here are raw, full-blown early hardcore without pretensions, dynamics, melody or production. It's a complete overload of energy and volume that few other bands could match even today. Fans of modern metal with its glossy finish and melody lines won't know what to make of this, but those who want to get their hands dirty in some of the best hardcore punk ever made simply need to find this, a task that was made easier in 2006 when Chatterbox released a 2-CD version that also included the "Bar of Life" double A-side (featuring "Fun Again", one of the most intense pieces of music of all time), demo material and a roughly-recorded live show from the band's Canberra gig with DRI during which Randy Reimann apparently heckled some skinheads until they went crazy and smashed up the place.

If that isn't classic, nothing is.

1. Rat in a Hole
2. Can't Forget
3. I.V. Me
4. Deadheads
5. Forgiving
6. Pissed on Life
7. Beginning of a Hurt

Rating: 95%

2006 version:

CD 1:

1. Rat in a Hole
2. Can't Forget
3. I.V. Me
4. Deadheads
5. Forgiving
6. Pissed on Life
7. Beginning of a Hurt
8. Fun Again
9. Are You Alright?
10. Elitist Shit
11. Rat in a Hole (demo)
12. Fun Again (demo)
13. Can't Forget (demo)
14. Illness (demo)
15. No Seduction (demo)
16. Deadheads (demo)
17. Are You Alright? (demo)
18. I.V. Me (demo)
19. Pissed On Me (demo)

CD 2:

1. What I Want (live)
2. No Seduction (live)
3. Illness (live)
4. If I Don't (live)
5. Scream of Desperation (live)
6. Elitist Shit (live)
7. Balance (live)
8. Damage Zone (live)
9. Rat in a Hole (live)
10. Forgiving (live)
11. New One (live)
12. No Light No Shadow (live)
13. Can't Forget (live)
14. Deadheads (live)
15. Degenerated (live)
16. Mosmanised (live)
17. Time (live)
18. Can't Face Reality (live)
19. I.V. Me (live)
20. Every Time I Open Up (live)