How much I loved this LP when it came out – and I still know every song by heart, even though I don’t spin it as often as I used to!
Too bad STETZ never released anything else beside this, apart from songs on three LP comps («Hardcore Takes Over», «One big Crowd» and “New Jersey’s got it”) as well as a demo tape from 1984, which sounds considerably more Hardcore than the album.
It’s a shame that this LP was never repressed, not on vinyl nor on CD!
And that’s what makes “Songs of Experience” so damn great – its diversity. It has everything, from kinda grim Hardcore (“Suburban Nightmare” and some more moments on the hardcore-y a-side), to the prevalent catchy, quirky, funny, funky, play- and joyful and poppy sounds of your New Jersey College Punkers, telling you stories of beach parties, money miss-spent on tattoos, bondage, the ahs and ohs of love and whatnot. At first, I hardly ever played the calmer b-side (“side Bodacious”), but over the years I learned to appreciate it just as much as “side Aristophanes”.
On this day 11 years ago, on September 11 2001, STETZ’ drummer Wayne Russo was killed in the barbaric attack on the World Trade Center in NYC. «He was a sweetheart of a man. Very goofy, the type to quote Monty Python», Bruce Wingate (formerly of ADRENALIN O.D. etc.) remembers him.
This is a tribute to Wayne, one of the approximately three thousand victims who died on nine-eleven.
Download the entire «Songs of Experience» LP here (.zip archive; hold your mouse button and choose “save as”).
12 Comments
awesome post, man! thanks for this. great album. just played the a-side and loved it.
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Wonder how many people bought the Hardcore Gore VHS. This record got no respect at all it seemed to me. Of course, I was nowhere near New Jersey. I bought it for like $1 in the clear-out bin in my college town, Bellingham, Washington. None of my friends liked it. I did, though it is in one of my storage LP boxes and I haven’t listened to it in years. This inspires me to dig it out. Nice post.
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Nice tribute, downloading now…thanx.
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Very nice – both. Da man being back und die schöne Platte, kann mir schon denken, dass Dir Seite 2 früher nicht so zusagte!
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In re: to your ZZ Top side bar post, Rick Rubin DID work with AC/DC. It was called the “Ballbreaker” album. During the process, AC/DC came to hate Rick and his lazy ways, Angus silently took over the producer roll less than halfway through the process. Rick never showed up to the studio and when he did, he would do stuff like make Malcolm do an obscene amount of takes, eventually resulting in Malcolm throwing his prized Gretsch across the room and telling him to “Fuck off” if he doesn’t like how he plays. Best thing about that record was the return of Phil Rudd. I know everyone loves to love Rick Rubin but even on this ZZ Top record, Rick and Billy almost came to blows and argued the entire time.
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Admin Reply:
September 16th, 2012 at 18:32
Thanks for the info! I’m not even sure if I have ever heard “Ballbreaker”.
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http://www.voicesofseptember11.org/dev/memorial_foundation.php?idbio=1027933825&idfoundation=534859630
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Admin Reply:
September 21st, 2012 at 13:54
Thanks for this!
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Thanks for the post & the great blog.
FYI I knew of Stetz not only from what you’ve mentioned but also a compilation called “Bark! Bark! Bark!” on a small label called Dead Issue that had bands from New Jersey, New York and I believe eastern Pennsylvania. The best known band on that one was False Prophets.
I have a copy here somewhere and might get around to posting it myself…
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Admin Reply:
September 30th, 2012 at 14:52
That’d be great. Would love to hear that comp.
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Nice post of this classic Joisey band! This is a bit off topic, but I’m hoping one day somebody will post the awesome first Black Task ep. This record will slay all the Punks and Metal geezers!
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RIP
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Hello music friend with amazing taste, please don’t take this as me being pushy but I would love to see a new post or two (of metal?). Your site is amazing and I could use some cheering up! Thank you very much for all the work this site requires.
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Ballbreaker is easily the only listenable ACDC album.
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Very sad. I do have the vinyl of Songs of Experience. Sounds great to this day.
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