Circle Jerks’ classic hardcore punk album Group Sex is getting the reissue treatment and to celebrate its latest repress the band’s frontman Keith Morris compiled a playlist of tracks that caught his eye in the early 1980s.
Or, as he put: “This is a list of the music that interested me from 1980 through 1983. Punk rocks, smelly socks, and go out and lick some skunks.”
It covers bands the Circle Jerks toured with like Minor Threat and the Cramps, early movers in the hardcore scene such as Bad Brains and D.O.A. and the post-punk of Wire, Devo and Magazine.
Also featured are less obvious influences like the punk-informed pop band The Pretenders and influential metal band Judas Priest.
The playlist’s four-year span saw the Circle Jerks release Group Sex (1980), Wild in the Streets (1982) and Golden Shower of Hits (1983), and it’s the first of those that new label Trust Records is currently putting out.
KEITH MORRIS’ SONG SELECTION
Launched in October 2020 as a home for classic punk and hardcore records, Trust’s current focus is a 40th Anniversary deluxe reissue of Group Sex, with Wild in the Streets due to follow next. The label’s plans also include releasing 7-Seconds’ by The Crew, Sound & Fury by Youth Brigade and Agression’s Don’t Be Mistaken.
Meanwhile, Circle Jerks will be headlining the second day of the US Punk Rock Bowling festival in September, the line-up for whose 22nd outing also includes Descendents, Frank Turner, Gorilla Biscuits, Anti-Flag and The English Beat.
Keith Morris’ Playlist in Full
Wire – Outdoor Miner
The Pretenders – The Wait
The Plugz – A Gain A Loss (currently unavailable on streaming services)
The Plimsouls – Zero Hour
The Zeros – They Say That Everything’s Alright
D.O.A. – The Enemy
The Flesh Easters – Twisted Road
Judas Priest – Breaking The Law
Squeeze – Another Nail In My Heart
Devo – Gates Of Steel
Basement 5 – Last White Christmas
The Jim Carroll Band – Wicked Gravity
Killing Joke – Requiem
The Soft Boys – Tonight
The Psychedelic Furs – Mr Jones
X – Universal Corner
Minor Threat – Small Man, Big Mouth
Magazine – About The Weather
Cramps – Primitive
Mission Of Burma – That’s When I Reach For My Revolver
The Flesh Eaters – Digging My Grave
Pete Shelley – Homosapien
G.B.H. – Race Against Time
Legal Weapon – Equalizer
Gun Club – Bad Indian
The Misfits – All Hell Breaks Loose
Flipper – Way Of The World
Echo And The Bunnymen – The Cutter
R.E.M. – Radio Free Europe
The Wipers – Over The Edge
Bad Brains – Right Brigade
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An occasional writer on punk rock.
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