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In 1978, my older brother Jeff and I started our band Redd Kross. I was 11 and he was 14. Our first public performance was at an eighth-grade graduation party, opening for Black Flag—and we got them the gig! We had met Black Flag only a few months earlier at probably one of their first shows ever. It was at a Moose Lodge in Redondo Beach. I remember they were incredibly loud, really muddy sounding, and the lead singer, Keith Morris, was particularly obnoxious. Although that night I much preferred the headlining band, Rhino 39 (one classic single on Dangerhouse Records), we still made sure to buy the opening band's self released 7-inch at the merch booth. It turned out to be the now classic Nervous Breakdown EP.
We were all disillusioned by surf culture, Led Zep, and mainstream teens. All the assholes at school and on the beach could go fuck themselves. We were proud to be outside of their bullshit. Our drummer at the time, John Steilow, was a slightly different story. He was popular at school. He was even a surfer, and he got us our first show. It was at Lisa Stangles's graduation party. John was in Lisa's eighth grade class, and since he was a popular dude, known for his drumming prowess in the school orchestra, she asked if his band would play her party. We jumped at the chance, and offered to get our friend's band to play as well. There you go: Lisa Stangle had just booked the first Redd Kross show ever, and a headlining set from an extremely vintage version of the best Black Flag lineup.
I had just turned 12. We set up in the living room. We only got through a couple songs before they started booing, "Punk shit, you suck, faggots." Some dude with a pubescent cheecho shouted, "Play some Zep," and without hesitation Jeff announced that we would do some "unreleased Led Zeppelin." John clicked off a four-count, and we dove into the gnarliest noise jam, so fierce it would've made Thurston Moore green with envy. For the first 30 seconds or so, the kids really got into it, then they started questioning the new sound we were laying on them, and eventually they began to boo and berate us once again.
Black Flag's set included all the early classics: "Nervous Breakdown," "Wasted," "Fix Me." I think the kids were way too intimidated by these older dudes to give them any hassle. Most of them evacuated the living-room area, leaving our small group of friends to enjoy a private show by one of the most ferocious and innovative punk bands of all time. Keith Morris recently told me that he remembered a teenage girl being carried away from the party. Apparently she drank an entire pot of coffee, leading to caffeine overdose.
That still stands out as one of the best shows I've ever seen.
STEVE MCDONALD
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Andy Milonakis, that funny fat kid who raps on the internet, wrote us an exclusive verse, right off his chubby little fucking dome:
"Don't ask me how I do it bitch, I got the knack
I'm a fucking honky, I'm so white I'm black
You drink malt liquor and I drink pussy juice
You're sticking your dick in men while I'm boning female moose
If fucking animals is wrong, then break out the noose
Judge me all you want, it makes my dick hard
I'm Andy Milonakis, America's favorite retard
I'll blow up your house, then kill myself in your yard."
angrynakedpat.com
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