For our 5/45s feature, we ask musicians to walk us through some of their favorite singles. Whether they be influential, impossible to find, or just a prized possession, we love discovering the 2-3 minute tunes that inspire some of our favorite music.
This month we have an extra special 5/45’s feature! We speak to the staff of Raleigh, North Carolina’s SORRY STATE RECORDS, one of the best in punk, hardcore, and other badass records. SORRY STATE has a weekly newsletter full of great recommendations new and old so we knew they’d have some great picks for 45’s. Check out part one and stay tuned for part two!
Daniel
My favorite 7″ records tend to come in one of two formats: the classic two-song single and the hardcore EP where they cram in a lot more than two tracks, often spinning at 33rpm and sometimes containing upwards of 15 minutes of music. A lot of my favorite early 80s UK singles on labels like Riot City and No Future give us a hybrid version with one anthemic track on the a-side and two or more rippers on the flip.
Ultra Violent: Crime for Revenge 7” (Riot City, 1983)
My favorite single in that vein has to be Ultra Violent’s classic 1983 single Crime For Revenge on Riot City. Crime for Revenge is one of the best punk songs ever… anthemic, furious… just perfect. The two tracks on the b-side don’t quite rise to that level (what does?), but they keep the party going. Also, while the recent reissue on Static Shock was very well done, when you upgrade to the original pressing you get some classy-looking injection molded labels and a mastering job loud and abrasive enough to peel the paint off your walls.
I have a few thousand 7″s and could talk about them all day, but here are five 7″ records that get me going:
- Ultra Violent: Crime for Revenge 7” (Riot City, 1983)
- Youth Brigade: Possible EP (Dischord, 1981)
- Wretched / Indigesti: Split 7″ (self-released, 1982… thanks Eric!)
- The Fall: Kicker Conspiracy 2×7″ (Rough Trade, 1983)
- The Zeros: Don’t Push Me Around 7″ (Bump!, 1977)
Jeff
When tasked with this exercise, I grappled with how does one simply narrow it down to just five 45’s? I’m still kicking myself for not choosing a Discharge single or anything on Dischord. Part of me wanted to not be too obvious, but another part of me felt like you gotta reach for the classics. I almost grabbed five records from my collection at random, but I’m way too much of an over-thinker to do that. So, if the question comes down to ‘What makes for a good 7”?’, what’s the criteria? Iconic artwork? Perfect length? Worth it for at least one banger track? Genre-defining? Maybe you choose a classic 2-song single where the B-side track is secretly just as good (if not better) than the title track on the A-side. Or if we’re talking hardcore, maybe you choose a 7” EP that happens to have an LP’s worth of sub-minute bursts squeezed onto a 33 RPM bite-size platter.
Poison Idea: Pick Your King 7” (Fatal Erection, 1983)
In this case, I decided to choose the latter for my #1 spot. Poison Idea’s debut EP Pick Your King is what I (and I’m sure many others) consider the gold standard for 80’s hardcore punk. 13 songs in less than 13 minutes. Some of the most intense, urgent and furious hardcore ever and delivered with feeling and sincerity. I’m sure it was a game changer in 1983 for its unique riffs, speed and style, but also set the bar for gnarliness and attitude by its notoriously nihilistic, self-destructive creators. A record I’ve seriously listened to countless times since I was a teenager, and still fires me up like nothing else. Still sounds as vital, powerful and raging as ever. Locking down my original Fatal Erection copy on clear vinyl was a glorious day indeed. I still trip out when I dig my copy out to blast on my turntable every once in a blue moon. To this day, I don’t know why I still find the cover art so evocative. Which side do you choose? Jesus or Elvis? Morality or danger? Devotion or freedom? It’s heavy stuff, dude. A damn-near perfect record in my book.
Since each of us Sorry State crew members are only highlighting one record each, here’s what would’ve been my selections for top 5 45’s (at least if you ask me today):
- Poison Idea: Pick Your King 7” (Fatal Erection, 1983)
- Mecht Mensch: Acceptance 7” (Bone-Air Records, 1983)
- Blitz: New Age 7” (Future Records, 1983)
- Nog Watt: Fear 7” (Revenge Records, 1985)
- Headcleaners: The Infection Grows 7” (Xcentric Noise Records, 1983)
Dominic
Being a “record collector” wasn’t something I planned on but rather was just the result of being into music. I just wanted the tunes and happened to grow up in the era where a record was the format. Thus, I have ended up with thousands of records. Later adding tapes and CDs but sticking mostly to the vinyl format. I’ve sold and let go of big chunks at different times but still have well over ten thousand LPs and singles. Picking five 45s is both the hardest and easiest task you could put to me. They all have meaning to me and a reason for owning them, whether it be for DJ use, personal enjoyment as a fan of the artist or nostalgia for my own experience or for an age gone by that I wished I had been in. For this task I ended up picking five singles released during a ten-year span from the late 1970s to the late 1980s, probably the most influential period on me for defining my musical taste.
The Specials: Do Nothing (2 Tone Records, 1980)
A band that means so much to so many and needs no introduction. This was the second single taken from More Specials, their sophomore album. Written by Linval Golding and remixed for the single with added synth strings, dubbed The Ice Rink Strings, from Jerry Dammers and featuring trombone from Rico Rodriquez. I loved it the first time I heard it, and that love hasn’t diminished forty plus years later. Like many of the group’s songs, this one had socially conscious lyrics that resonated strongly with this twelve-year-old kid when it was released at the tail end of 1980. The flip is a cover of Bob Dylan’s Maggie’s Farm that some people don’t care for, but I think is great and which introduced me to the song and has had me collecting different covers of it since. The Solomon Burke one is a good one if you see it. Check out the group on Top Of The Pops performing the song in their Christmas jumpers and love that laminated picture sleeve for the single featuring a nice group shot. Classic and won’t cost you more than a tenner tops.
- The Specials: Do Nothing (2 Tone Records, 1980)
- The Vibrators: Baby Baby/Into The Future (CBS, 1977)
- Delta 5: Mind Your Own Business (Rough Trade, 1979)
- The Smiths: This Charming Man (Rough Trade, 1983)
- The La’s: There She Goes (Go! Discs, 1988)
