Steel Town Garage Resurrection........ ...The Creatures (Bethlehem, PA 1986)

The Creatures of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania circa AD 1984 were a revival of the vibrant Eastern PA rock'n'roll scene of the 1960s. The band was the creation of Garage Father Mark Smith, with the line-up of John Terlesky (JT), Dave Ferrara, Kenny Bussiere, and Mike Smitreski. By 1987 Terlesky, Bussiere, and Ferrara would break off to form The Original Sins.

Brother JT testifies:

...the first Creatures recording session had Scott Wilt on bass--I recall this because he, Dave Ferrara and I recorded what would be the Sins' first single Just 14 at the end of the session. Then we did another with Kenny, possibly re-doing some songs, Hemlock, 1000 Shadows etc. I had written a whole bunch of songs that were just shameless pastiches of more obvious 60's covers--Cy-o-nide is basically Too Much To Dream mixed with Friday On My Mind--so we could get the effect of those songs without actually having to do them. 

The funny thing is, as recently as 2011 I would still do some shows with the Creatures, and, derivative or not, they still kinda worked live. A good song is like a good old coat--it gets ratty and musty but it still gets the job done when you need it to. 

That recording session may have sown the seeds of schism, but Mark and Mike added new members to be resurrected as The Creatures of the Golden Dawn, and two great sects of Bethlehem garage rock emerged.  Amen!

I believe the "Demo 86" cassette contains the first recordings of the band.

The Creatures - Demo 86
Crazy Date
Thinking Out Loud
It's Not Love
A Thousand Shadows
Three O'Clock in the Morning
Hemlock Row
You're Gonna Get Yours
My Name Is Nothing
Cyonide
Don't Touch Me Now

Demo '86 was followed by another cassette called "The Creatures" and a single with the first lineup. The following tracks may or may not be from those releases:

You're Wrong
Last Laugh
Naked City
Walk Through Hell
I Tried My Best
Last Time Around (The Del-Vetts) live at Tops in Philadelphia

Thanks to Rustle Noonetwisting for rescuing the "Demo 86" tape, and to JT for the words.

For more Creatures of the Golden Dawn, check out the LP Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground on Dionysus Records.




In memory the dearly departed Mark Smith and Mike Smitreski...
            ....and Peter Ryan who first played this tape for me at Temple U in 1987.

A Tapewrecked Lancaster Playlist

The upcoming "Jack Lord's Hair Revue" show brought on some questions from youngsters about the original music scene in Lancaster in the olden days, so I ran it through the Tapewrecks filter and out came this playlist....

[Click on play buttons for songs, and band names for stories.]

The Crystalaires

1960's The local Lancaster scene was stopped short in 1959 when four members of the Crystalaires were killed in a car crash coming home from a gig in Reading. Their only single was released by Stan Selfon of Stan’s Record Bar as a benefit for their families. By 1966 there were several original garage bands with a few recorded singles played on WLAN and other AM stations. They played shows at the Moose Hall and the Hullabaloo Club (owned by Ed Ruoff. His son, Rich Ruoff would later open the original Chameleon Club in the 1980s). The Centurys were from Lebanon and were included along with the Shaynes on Bona Fide Records 1983 Return of the Young Pennsylvanians compilation. 

The Shaynes

The Crystalaires - Nobody Nowhere (1959)
The Baker Street Irregulars - I’m A Man (1965)
The Shaynes - You Tell Me Girl (c1966)
The Centurys - Hard Times (1966)
The Couriers - Feelings (1966)

 

1980s - Shows were mostly DIY affairs put on by high school kids in fire halls, American Legions, and the Moose Lodge, basements, and barns as well as Tom Paine’s Back Room/Chameleon, the only club that featured original music. WIXQ and WFMU played a lot of local bands and State of Confusion became the hangout for punks and a wide array of misfits. Stan’s Record Bar was joined by Web of Sound, BBC Records in downtown Lancaster, and a little flea market stand in the basement of Park City Mall called the Record Connection. The Bona Fide Records label put out a steady stream of 60s and 80s punk, garage, and oddball releases from across the river in York.
The Blame - Little Girls in Hollywood (1979)
The Bodies - Anarchy in the USA (1981)
Helsinki 5 - Computer Failure (1982)
Last Knight - Silent Scream (1984)
The Sinister Lampshades - Twisted Feelings (1984)
The Red Roosters - Mr. Moto/Psycho Macho (1984)  
The Real Gone - Bells Are Ringing (1985)
The Combat Hamsters - Khadafy’s No Worse Than Reagan (1985)
Briggs Beall - Soldier of Fortune (1984)
Nobody’s Fools - Emergency (1985)
Kirk & the Jerks - Hang On To the Dream (1986)
Substitute - Chains (1986)
Penal Code - Wax Museum (1886)
Jack Lord’s Hair I - War of the Monster Trucks (1987)
Jack Lord’s Hair II - Brain (1988)
Jet Silver & the Dolls of Venus - Venutian Rock (1988)
The OOgies - Love It To Death (1992)

Other Bands from the region influenced the 1980’s original music scene in Lancaster, mostly along the I-83 north-south axis between Three Mile Island/Demi Club and Maryland/DC, with York’s Bona Fide Records as the common hub. A 1984 Circle of Shit show was canceled by the YWCA because of their name on the flyer and an angry editorial in the newspaper. Hasil Adkins played an astounding show at Moose Lodge in Lancaster in 1986.
The Left - 5 am (Hagerstown, MD)
The Velvet Monkeys - Any Day Now (DC)
The Stump Wizards - I Don’t Want You Anymore (Camp Hill)
Billy Synth & the Turnups - The Mask (Harrisburg)
The Impossible Years - Attraction Gear - (Philadelphia)
Circle of Shit - The Punks Are Out Tonight (Philadelphia)
The Skeptics - Idle Time (Frederick, MD)
The Dusters - Everytime (Hagerstown)
Joey Welz - Psychedelic Happening (Baltimore/Lititz)
James “Rebel” O’Leary - Rebel Star (York)
Hasil Adkins - Hunky Wunky Wicky Wacky Woo (West Virginia) 

2017 Bands still at it....
Trio Agave
Mud Pie Sun
Dillweed 
The Dying Elk Herd

Thanks to Kevin Stairiker from Fly After 5 for the questions that inspired this post!

The Donshires (Harrisburg 1964-67)

Dave and I wrote Sad and Blue the night before we recorded it in a "real" studio (some guy's trailer studio between Mechanicsburg and Carlisle). We also recorded an instrumental, Tripline, I faked on the spot. -Jerry Musser

The Donshires played from mid 1964 until 1967, in the Harrisburg area. The band formed when Joe Caloiero and Paul Stivale, both graduates of Bishop McDevitt H.S. hooked up with Dave Still and Jerry Musser, John Harris grads. The friends practiced at Dave's house and soon were playing in the local area dances and fire halls. Initially, the band's music was primarily influenced by the "British Invasion" and American rock artists. 

A local DJ at the time, Ben Barber, had seen the band at some gigs and soon became the band's manager. The Donshires quickly became a popular band playing in the Harrisburg area. During this time, the Donshires recorded two songs at a local radio station. 

 
By early '66, Jerry Musser left the band and Chuck Oaks came on board. The band's music started leaning to more of a soul style and the band began playing in local night clubs like 615 (in York), The Coral Club (in Hbg) and Martini’s (in Hershey).

By Sept ’67 Dave Still started college. The logistics of trying to practice and play together became very difficult, so, shortly thereafter, the band decided to disband.

    

Later, Joe Caloiero joined the Legends.

-Jerry Musser & Joe Caloiero
John Harris High School Class of 1966

Lots more about The Donshires on Bands of Central PA  

These songs are included on The Legends compilation CD from Arf-Arf Records.

The Left.... (Hagerstown, MD 1983-84)

You're So

There were a few smallish towns just south of the Mason-Dixon Line like Frederick and Hagerstown that spawned music that traveled up the DC/Harrisburg punk rock axis. This local scene passed just west of my hometown Lancaster and competed for hegemony over the central PA sticks with the NY and Philly scenes. York, PA's Bona Fide Records provided the medium, but The Left remained pretty rural, and as far as I know, never really penetrated the urban hardcore scenes.

Innervoid: What gigs do you have planned?
Jim Swope: ...A possibility of another "farm" gig is always there. This has been our biggest setback trying to get gigs. If anyone feels sorry for us, you can hire us for a small, exceedingly small, unbelievably small, small fee. In fact, we might consider paying you to let us play.... bales of hay, sacks of beans, or empty beer bottles!

In mid-sized Lancaster, I was a few years behind the times, just discovering '77 era punk rock and the Stooges in the early 80s, but I grew up watching Monkees reruns, so The Left were a solid outfit with Jim Swope playing some of the best 60's psych punk guitar ever.

I still love 'em, I do... and these are some of my favorites:

HELL - It's the World
Hell
Youngster on the Force
Stop
Fuck It
5:00 AM






 

Last Train to Hagerstown

TV Eye

Redneck 7-11

Band members went on to form The Dusters, Monster Rock, and the Voodoo Love Gods and had tracks on Bona Fide's The Deadly Spawn compilation.

Buy THIS from Bona Fide Records: Jesus Loves The Left. It includes their complete discography plus 4 unreleased tracks.

The Left on Facebook

Their first album cranked loudly in the pickup is the exact duration of a run to my local neighborhood 7-11. Hit it!

Artwork by Fat Pat and John Hornick

"Your So" is from Bona Fide's Train to Disaster compilation.

I'm on a hunt for info and recordings by the proto-Left Embryonic Magnetos.

Jimmy Swope has released a new solo album Wages of Sin on Farmageddon Records. It's country music with a death toll.

...The OOgies............................... ...................(Lancaster 1991-92)

The Oogies are about the fourth generation in the gloriously convoluted inbred Gamber/Rex dynasty of Lancaster garage punk/metal bands: the Bodies to Last Knight to the Real Gone to Jack Lord's Hair I to II to III to the Oogies to Jack Lord's Hair IV and finally back to the Bodies....

Brainhammer (1991 cassette)
The One Before
Heads
OOgie Theme
Excess Is Not Abuse

Feedback Is an Act of God (1992 CD)

Cement

City of Light

New York's Alright

Cold & Calculated

Brainhammer

Red, White, and Blue

Pillhead With a Gun

God

Social Outcast

Love It To Death was a cleverly split single with Deadlove on the short-lived Web Of Sound Records, run out of the Lancaster record store of the same name.

Mark Gamber - Vocals
Rex Litwin - Guitar
Erik Sahd - Drums
Drew - Bass
Tim McDermott - Bass

photo by Laura Cotton

We could be having a lot more fun... ...........hanging out in a wax museum.... Penal Code (Lancaster 1986)

In August of 1986, the remains of The Bodies and The Real Gone briefly stitched together a band in my parents' basement and called it "Penal Code" in honor of the local top 40 cover band known as "Color Code." We managed to slop through one or two practices and catch it on this old eaten cassette. The elements of Jack Lord's Hair were all there, and we even wrote a couple originals, including the brilliant Wax Museum.

I got my knife
I got my axe
I got my rack of baseball bats
We could be having a lot more fun hanging around in a wax museum
Whack off the head
Go rolling in the aisle
Come on baby won't you make me smile
oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah

I got my knife
I got my axe
And all the kids got baseball bats
We're gonna have have a lotta fun hanging out at the wax museum
Whack off the head
Go rolling in the aisle
Come on baby won't you make me smile
oh yeah oh yeah oh yeah

99th Floor
Trash
Bad
I Wanna Be Your Dog
Vicious

Mark - vocals (The Bodies)
Tommy - drums (The Bodies)
Rex - guitar (Last Knight and The Real Gone )
Tom - bass (The Real Gone)

Jack Lord's Hair ...... Season 2: ...... The Difference Between Trash and Garbage ..........................(Lancaster 1988)

The second season of Jack Lord's Hair starts to show a little maturity, not quite as silly as Season 1: War of the Monster Trucks, but with tongue still in somebody's cheeks. I'm off being a college kid, and Russ Cox takes over on bass, followed by Rick Bard on second guitar. JLH gets darker, grungier, and Rex gets more Johnny Thundersy seeing as he's moonlighting with Jet Silver & the Dolls of Venus. 

Just Add Water

Brain

Ground

Miley Road

Trailer Park

Too Fucked Up To Drive

The Difference Between Trash and Garbage

Blank

Old Crow

Ground

Trailer Park

Brain

Each And Every Day 

Miley Road

Waiting For Pizza II

Rustle Noonetwisting: [The show in Philly] was actually the finest JLH performance I've seen, broken bass drum pedal notwithstanding. That lineup with The Gurn Twins Rex Thunders and Rick just being Rick circa 1988 (much to the bewilderment of the jaded Phila punk crowd) juxtaposed against the tall skinny short-haired wiseacres M. Gamber was a sight to behold.

Mark Gamber: That bewilderment made it all worthwhile. F 'em if they can't take a joke and on at least a couple of levels the Hair was a damn funny joke. Half punk rock show, half stand-up comedy act, 100% entertaining. Even from the stage! Maybe especially from the stage. Never did see that girl again. She was the kind-of-cute friend of a way-freaking-cute but not punk rock girl I worked with at Mars Electronics in Folcroft back around the time of the Challenger explosion. I don't remember the incident as much as almost getting fired for telling the "7-up" joke a couple days after it exploded. Oops....

Stay tuned for Seasons 3 & 4 of Jack Lord's Hair, when things really get weird....

.....

..Jack Lord's Hair prequels, sequels & spinoffs:.. The Bodies, Last Knight,  The Sinister Lampshades, The Combat Hamsters, Substitute, The Obvious, The Real Gone, Fred, Penal Code, Bachelors With Guns, The Oogies, Charms du Crane, Jet Silver & the Dolls of Venus, Rocknoceros, Blue, The New Regency 5, Mud Pie Sun, The Chelsea Squares, Trio Agave, Gone to Seed.

 

So the Prophets Say................ ........The Centurys - Lebanon PA 1965-67

One of central PA's bands made it into the canon of 60s punk classics with their regional hit Hard Times, but the Centurys were truly unusual at the time for their pro-war stance.

So the Prophets Say
(Billy Beard)

I bet they'll tell you that they're wise

And that they'll analyze

Your situation

They can tell you what's gonna come

And how certain things will be done

They're your

Salvation

Will the world end today

Like it did yesterday

Or will we have to wait

Till tomorrow

I will tell you when it comes

You will hear those (?) drums (?)

(?)

(?) your sorrow

These (?)

These prophets of peace 

And prophets of war

(?)

They may tell you to make a big sound

About gettin out of Viet Nam

You know you gotta right

To your convictions

But will they warn you of a coming day

When your placards might be thrown away

And they'll say

Now you've got a few

Restrictions

You may not like it if they hand you a gun

Before you turn twenty-one

And say

Now you've got to 

Be a man

But your freedoms bells stop ringing (?)

And red state song your singing

I bet you wish 

You had a gun 

In your hand

These men so good

And men so bad

These prophets so sane

And prophets so mad

(?)

Why don't you let it be known

You got a mind of your own

And you can tell right from wrong

From day to day

(?)

Cause they know you care

And so you beware

Of what the prophets say

(harmonica)

Billy Beard had been enlisted in the Navy since 1960 and other band members got draft notices in 1967.

.....

Renco 115 – 83 / So the Prophets Say
Renco 116 – Don’t Bother / Together To Stay
Swan 4265 – Hard Times / Endless Search
BB 4002 – And I Cried / Catch Me Fast



The Centurys on Garage Hangover
The Centurys on Bona Fide Records' Return of the Young Pennsylvanians
The Centurys on Nuclear Platters 
Obituary for William Beard

Billy Synth & the Janitors... ........ ...Punk Rock Janitors (Harrisburg 1978-80)

The great central Pennsylvania musical oddball Billy Synth sent me this 1978 EP after posting the last tapewrecks retrospective of his music. The Janitors were started by Billy and Bernie, the Capital City Mall custodian, who apparently lost his job for wearing spandex pants to work, or so the story goes.... Billy seems to have been the singer early on, with Bernie taking over as they turned into the Punk Rock Janitors. Please correct me if I'm wrong and send me details if you have them.

Everytime You Give Me a Call
Rock & Roll Casualty
Captain Groovy
Misty Lane Fadeout

Billy Synth: When I bought my Arp Odyssey synthesizer.  We first had a group called Blue Ice, and we recorded one 45....

I eventually left Blue Ice because I liked the new wave scene and wanted a strictly punk-oriented band.  I hooked up with Bernie, the original "punk rock janitor" (yes, he was in another punk group AND a janitor!), another friend, Mikearama, and Dave Tritt on drums.... [Attacking the Beat]

At some point the Janitors got together with Half Japanese and played a set of outright insanity that was released as an EP:

Hartzdale Drive Destruction

Billy: I can't remember how we first connected, but Bernie & I from the Janitors went down to see Half Japanese with our instruments, and when we got there, we just started playing.  I mean, it was 1, 2, 3, 4, and we all started playing ANYTHING.  No rehearsal, no NOTHING!  That's how it came out.  Sooo strange!  [Attacking the Beat]

After Billy moved on to play with the Turn-Ups, Bernie took over on vocals and they re-dubbed themselves The Punk Rock Janitors. Harrisburg's Tina Peel (later known as The Fuzztones) had them as an opening act for many shows.

Work to Live
Just Once

Rob Doorack (Fuzztones roadie): The zenith of the Janitors' career came when the Fuzztones secured the audition gig at CBGB for them and a couple of hours of time in a small recording studio the same day....

That night the Janitors played to a nearly empty CBGB. The audience consisted of a half dozen Japanese tourists, the Fuzztones, their crew, and a few friends. The Janitors didn't care, they were completely awestruck by standing on the same stage where their heroes the Ramones had played. You'd have thought they were playing before 50,000 people. Danny was so nervous that he threw up before going on.

...The band played like they were possessed, careening around the stage madly, jumping in the air, completely uninhibited. At one point Bernie leaped off the front of the stage and crashed down onto the club's concrete floor on his knees without missing a note. Danny played a solo lying on his back with his head in a kick drum. When the Janitors had blasted through every song they knew they just stopped. Those of us in the audience were too stunned by what we'd seen to even applaud. For a moment we just stood there like sheep, mouths agape in astonishment and wonder.

The Janitors went back to Harrisburg the next day and broke up shortly after.... [Audio Asylum]

The complete Punk Rock Janitors CD is available on Sin Records.
Thanks to Pat Phos Martin and the Bands of Central PA page for the links and info.

Sept 2015 ADDENDUM: Mind Cure Records just released a mindcuring compilation of Billy Synth recordings 1977 to 1982 and the 1980 "Off the Deep End" LP that are beyond description. If you like what's on this post, you won't be disappointed.

Philly Garage Punk Roundup.... 1965-68

The Effects

The truth behind the crack....

The American Tragedy
The Bats
The Bounty Hunters
Bright Image
The Brotherly Lovers - Was a Lie
The Bucaneers
The Changing Tymes
The Colors of Night
The Dogs
The Down Children - I Can Tell
The Effects - I Won't Be There
Facts of Life
The Finestuff - I Want You
The Gass Co.
The Iron Gate
Mike London & the Englishmen - Gypsy Lady
The Magic Mushrooms - Never Let Go
Mick & the Shambles - Lonely Nights Again
Nazz - Open My Eyes
The Nomads - I Need Your Energy
Rico & the Ravens - Don't You Know
The Rising Tydes
The Sands of Time
The Snaps - Polka Dotted Eyes

....

Pennsylvania Unknowns vs. The Return of the Young Pennsylvanians

CRUDE PA ... Volumes 1 & 2

It's-A-Happening!  ...The Magic Mushrooms
Frog and Rabbit Records

The Bird World War... ................. .....50 Years of Surfin' Bird (1963-2013)

What's the Word?

The Bird is the word. But does it surf?

Prelude to war:

The Rivingtons' Papa Oom Mow Mow was a 1962 novelty tune that took up the funny-sounding Anglicized nickname of the Kenya Land and Freedom Army, the "Mau Mau". These anti-colonial fighters helped win Kenyan independence at around the same time Surfin' Bird was released a year later, their name having found its way into a New York mafia gang and US exotica culture in the late 50s. It was turned into novelty tunes by Screamin' Jay Hawkins and others. A possible Mau Mau/Ooga Booga Tarzan connection? I don't have much evidence to back this up, and maybe it's another cockamamy Tapewrecks theory. Factcheck me. But did this war of national liberation spark a global 50-year war we never heard of?

1963 USA at the height of the Civil Rights Movement and corresponding violent backlash: Red Prysock's What's the Word? Thunderbird! (1957) and maybe a little of the drink itself provided the inspiration for the Rivingtons follow up The Bird's the Word. The Trashmen start screwing around with both Rivingtons tracks at band practice, and Surfin' Bird is born. The song quickly hits #4 on the national charts, the Trashmen claim all credit, as was common practice in those days, and the original authors promptly sue, sparking a bilateral three-year milking war...

The Trashmen - Bird Bath
The Rivingtons - Shaky Bird (Part 1)
The Trashmen - Bird Dance Beat (1964)
The Rivingtons - Mama-Oom-Mow-Mow
The Trashmen - Bird '65 (1965)

...followed by World War B:

The Beach Boys - Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow (US 1965)
Wade Curtiss & the Rhythm Rockers - Puddy Cat (Mama-Meow-Mow) (US c1965)
The Freshmen - Papa Oom Mow Mow (Ireland)
The Hep Stars - Surfin' Bird (Sweden 1968 - PreABBA Benny!)
Les Celibataires - Papa Oom Mow Mow (France)
Ernos - Papa Oom Mow Mow (Finland 1970)
Gary Glitter - Papa Oom Mow Mow (UK 1975)

Back in the USA:

King Uszniewicz & his Uszniewicztones (US 197?)
The Ramones - Surfin' Bird (1977)

The Persuasions - Papa Oom Mow Mow (1977)
The Cramps - Surfin' Bird (1977)

Postwar skirmishes:

Pee Wee Herman - Surfin' Bird (1987)
The Dwarves - Motherfucker (1990)
Supersnazz - Papa Oom Mow Mow (1993)
Sodom - Surfin' Bird (2001)

And then there's this:

Peter Griffin - Surfin' Bird (2008)

B - U - N - N - YYYYYYY

The Real Gone - Easter Bunny

NUCLEAR Platters ................... ....The Unofficial CONELRAD Sequel

When the folks at CONELRAD put together Atomic Platters collecting the songs from the early Cold War up to about 1965, I was already hankering for a sequel that went up through my childhood and high school years to the end of the Cold War. Atomic Platters includes over 100 novelty numbers, and radio spots, as well as serious religious and secular warnings about the end of the world. There was a kooky euphoria about the Bomb, at least for the few years the US was alone with it. Atomic war fell out of fashion in the early 70s, but came back in a darker way in punk and new wave. The tone of the music changed along with popular attitudes toward nuclear power, losing much of it's lightheartedness (but not all) after Three Mile Island, Reagan, and Chernobyl scared the Breznev out of people. My family evacuated when TMI started melting in 1979 and I grew up with the lingering feeling that a nuclear war was imminent. I wasn't alone.

Atomic Platters covers music of the "Golden Age" of the cold war, that is, before the kids who grew up with the Bomb started writing the music and driving the counterculture. Jeff Nuttall, in his 1968 book Bomb Culture, describes this shift in attitude and the "generation gap," which continued to widen and reach its musical crescendo in the 1980s as the Doomsday Clock ticked closer to Midnight.

What way we made in 1945 and in the following years depended largely on our age, for right at that point, at the point of the dropping of the bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the generations became divided in a very crucial way. 

The people who had passed puberty at the time of the bomb found that they were incapable of conceiving of life without a future. Their patterns of habit had formed, the steady job, the pension, the mortgage, the insurance policy, personal savings, support and respect for the protection of the law, all the paraphernalia of constructive, secure family life. ...To look the danger in the eye might wreck the chances of that ultimate total security their deepest selves had contrived, death by H-bomb. 

The people who had not yet reached puberty at the time of the bomb were incapable of conceiving of life with a future. They might not have had any direct preoccupation with the bomb. This depended largely on their sophistication. But they never knew a sense of future. 

...Dad was a liar. He lied about the war and he lied about sex. He lied about the bomb and he lied about the future. He lived his life on an elaborate system of pretence that had been going on for hun­dreds of years. The so-called 'generation gap' started then and has been increasing ever since.

In Apocalypse Jukebox, David Janssen and Edward Whitelock mark Eve of Destruction as the song that

sucked out any sense of humor--or hope for that matter ... In twenty short years, the popular mood regarding the atom bomb had changed radically. By August 1965, Barry McGuire's song erased both God and hope from the atomic equation. The treatment of atomic power and nuclear weapons in American popular music would hereafter be characterized by mistrust, dread, and fatalism. 

The horrid zombie dancers in McGuire's Hullabaloo video (see below) alone could have inspired a torrent of punk violence. The songs that follow certainly have loads of that mistrust and dread. But many of them bring that old sense of humor back in a blacker, more subtle way. Or, like the Dickies, Eve of De-Ster-Uction, just spoof the whole god-awful mess.

My Nuclear Platters sequel is run through the Tapewrecks filter omitting a many of the big commercial hits and sappier protest songs (and a shitload of metal). The audio tracks included are some of my favorites, out of print, and bands from around my hometown downwind from Three Mile Island, Pennsylvania, and others that are rare, weird, or particularly stupid.

[TMI] denotes a song about or inspired by the Three Mile Island accident. [I've since found hundreds of TMI songs and documented them on Radioactive Releases.]

1963-1967: IT IS 12 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall / Talkin' World War III Blues - Bob Dylan (1963)
Fidel Castro - Skatalites (Jamaica 1964)
Eve of Destruction - Barry McGuire (1965)
Kill for Peace - The Fugs
The Russian Spy and I - The Regents (1966)

Commie Lies - Janet Greene 

So the Prophets Say - The Centurys (Lebanon, PA)

That's the Bag I'm In - Fred Neil 

Monk Time - The Monks
I Come and Stand at Every Door - The Byrds
My Little Red Book / Mushroom Clouds - Love
7 and 7 Is - Love
Transparent Radiation - The Red Crayola (1967)
That's the Bag I'm In - The Fabs
War Sucks - The Red Crayola

1968: IT IS 7 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

Last Day on Earth - The Velvet Haze (1968)
Draft Morning - The Byrds

1969-1971: IT IS 10 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

Running Gun Blues - David Bowie (1970)
Apeman - The Kinks
O Apocalipse - The Pop's (Brazil 1971)

1972-1973: IT IS 12 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

Political Science - Randy Neuman (1972)
Search and Destroy - Iggy & the Stooges (1973)

1974-1980: IT IS 9 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

Final Solution / 30 Seconds Over Tokyo / Search and Destroy - Rocket from the Tombs (1974)
Cyclotron - The Electric Eels (1975)
Geiger Counter / Radio-Activity - Kraftwerk
Final Solution / 30 Seconds Over Tokyo - Pere Ubu (1976)
Rocket U.S.A. - Suicide

Holidays in the Sun - Sex Pistols 

Chinese Radiation - Pere Ubu (1977)
Havana Affair/Commando - Ramones
Cold Wars - The Rezillos
Eve of Destruction - The Feelies
Contact in Red Square - Blondie 

Hiroshima Mon Amour - Ultravox
Flamethrower Love - The Dead Boys
Love and Peace (H-Bomb) - Eater
We Got the Neutron Bomb - The Weirdos (1978)
No Nuclear War - Peter Tosh
Bomb Scare - The H-Bombs
Armagideon Time - Willi Williams
Eve of Destruction - The Dickies

Your Love Is Like A Nuclear Waste - Tuff Darts
I Wanna Start a War - The Warm Jets (Philadelphia)

The Dead Dreams of a Cold War Kid - Hawklords
War Zone - The Dead Boys
Panic in the World - Be-Bop Deluxe
'A' Bomb in Wardour Street - The Jam
The A-Bomb Woke Me Up - The Swimming Pool Q's (1979)
I Found That Essence Rare - Gang of Four
Atomic - Blondie
Kill the Poor - Dead Kennedys 

Nuclear Device - The Stranglers
Yellowcake uf6 - The Stranglers
Secret Agent Man - Devo
Atom Age - Bill Nelson's Red Noise

Top Secret Man / Peace - Plastics (Japan)

Life During Wartime - Talking Heads
Save For the Sky - The Dead Milkmen
(Potter County Was Made By the Hand of God, But the Devil Made) Three Mile Island - Al Shade (Potter Co., PA)TMI
Three Mile Island - Joseph Aronesty TMI
Three Mile Island - The Tyme-Aires (Etters, PA)TMI
Radiation - Richie Gerber TMI
Three Mile Island - Fred Small TMI
Radiation Funk - Maxwell (PA)TMI
Face the Fire - Dan Fogelberg TMI
Three Mile Smile - Aerosmith TMI
Three Mile Island Blues - Alan Fox TMI
Goodbye T.M.I. - Gary Punch & the Outriders (York Co., PA)TMI
No More Nukes - Roger Matura & the Niss Puk Band (Germany)TMI
London Calling / Clampdown - The Clash TMI
Shut 'Em Down - Gil Scott Heron TMI
The Meltdown - Root Boy Slim & the Sex Change Band TMI

1980: IT IS 7 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

World War III - Root Boy Slim & the Sex Change Band (DC)
Atomic Love - The Late Teens (Carlisle, PA)TMI
Three Mile Island / Call to Arms - Arcade (central PA)TMI
Who Will Close Pandora's Box - Fred & the Jupiter Gypsies TMI
Critical Mass / System Failure - The Nuclear Regulatory Commission TMI
Three Mile Island - Jorge Santana TMI
TMI - Reesa & the Rooters (Philadelphia)TMI
Who's Gonna Win the War? b/w Nuclear Toy - Hawkwind TMI
Paranoid Chant / Joe MacArthy's Ghost - Minutemen 

Generals and Majors / Living Through Another Cuba - XTC
Man at C&A - The Specials

Stop the World - The Clash
Armagideon Time - The Clash
Nagasaki Nightmare - Crass 

Cold War - Devo
Ivan Meets GI Joe / Washington Bullets / Charlie Don't Surf - The Clash
Enola Gay - OMD

1981-1983: IT IS 4 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

If the World is Coming to an End - The Dead Milkmen (1981)
She's a Bomb - The Dead Milkmen
A Minute Closer to Death - The Dead Milkmen
What Future? - The Proteens
Susquehanna Meltdown - Fly By Night TMI
Beautiful World - Devo
Los fusilitos - Los Torogoces de Morazan (El Salvador Libre)
Some Other Time - X
Radio Free Europe - REM
The Third World War / Nuclear Spy - S.I.B. (Italy)
World War 9 - Billy Synth (Harrisburg, PA)
Nuclear War - Sun Ra (1982)
European War - The Cleaners from Venus
Radioactive Kid - The Meteors
Sleeping Snakes - Translator
Der Kommissar - Falco
Straight To Hell / Atom Tan  - The Clash
Kill a Commie - Gang Green
Nuclear War - The Bodies (Lancaster PA)

Radioactive Chocolate - MDC (1983)TMI
Radioactive Baby - The Turn Ups (Harrisburg, PA)TMI
Deadly Skies - Husker Du
Dream Told By Moto - Minutemen
Radio Activity - Royal Cash
Central Nuclear - Vulpes
Before You Push the Button - Joe Jack Talcum (Philadelphia)

Nagasaki Neuter - Slickee Boys 

A Sense of Belonging - Television Personalities
Two Tribes - Frankie Goes to Hollywood 

You'll Never Know - Primitons

1984-1987: IT IS 3 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

Dancing With Tears In My Eyes - Ultravox (1984)
Three Mile Island - Pinkard and Bowden TMI
This World Over - XTC
I Hope You Get Drafted - The Dicks
Hopeless - Briggs Beall (Lancaster, PA)
Doomsday - Discharge
Vietnam / West Germany / Untitled Song for Latin America - Minutemen
Eve of Destruction - Johnny Thunders
Hallowed Ground - The Violent Femmes
Kinky Sex Makes the World Go Round - Dead Kennedys
100 Million People Dead - Butthole Surfers
World War III - Grandmaster Melle Mel
Nucular Rat - Kenny Gross (Lancaster, PA)
Hammer to Fall - Queen

Headin' for Armageddon - Joey Welz (Lancaster, PA)
Two Minutes to Midnight - Iron Maiden
Uranium Rock - The Cramps

World Destruction - Time Zone
Caustic Future / Khadafy's No Worse Than Reagan - Combat Hamsters (Lancaster, PA 1985)
Reagan Blues - Hasil Adkins
Song No. 15 - Ornamental Wigwam (Philadelphia)
Party at Ground Zero - Fishbone
Violence Is Golden / Bells Are Ringing - The Real Gone (Lancaster, PA)
Right Wing Pigeons - The Dead Milkmen (Philadelphia)
The Viet Cong Live Next Door - The Left
Emergency - Nobody's Fools (Lancaster, PA)
Nuclear War / Radiation Sickness / Mr. Softee Theme - Nuclear Assault (1986)
Christmas at Ground Zero - Weird Al Yankovic
MAD - Tons of Nuns (Philadelphia)

Flamethrower Love - Kirk & the Jerks (Lancaster, PA)
Bombs Aren't Cool - Li'l Rodney C and KK Rockwell
The Future's So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades - Timbuk 3 

Atom Bomb Baby - The Scientists
How I Learned to Love the Bomb - Television Personalities
Binded World Radiation - Hellsent (Lancaster, PA)
It's the End of the World as We Know It (and I Feel Fine) - REM (1987)

1988-1990: IT IS 6 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

Geiger Counter - The Legendary Stardust Cowboy (1989)
End of the World - The Original Sins
Sweathearts - Camper Van Beethoven

1991-1994: IT IS 6 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT

Atomic Power - Uncle Tupelo (1992)

...

Thanks to contributions from Tom Casetta, Ed Whitelock, Scott Lubic, Bryan Rutt, Mic Rage, Christian Dayton Osgood, and Rustle Noonetwisting

Tom Casetta's Listen Up! radio program on G-Town Radio. Tom's interview with Ed Whitelock is essential, as is Janssen and Whitelock's book, Apocalypse Jukebox: The End of the World in American Popular Music.

CONELRAD
NUCLEAR WAR and Lancaster County - Tapewrecks
Radioactive Releases...The Music of Three Mile Island - Tapewrecks
Garage Hangover
Freedom Has No Bounds
Vinyl Meltdown on York, PA's Bona Fide Records
On Jeff Nuttall's Bomb Culture - The Generalist
In the 80's: Songs About Nuclear War
Bulletin of Atomic Scientists: Doomsday Clock timeline

2012-2014: IT IS 5 MINUTES TO MIDNIGHT