Various Artists-Ugly American Overkill Tour EP (1991)

Artist: Various (Tar, God Bullies, Helmet, Surgery)

Label: Amphetamine Reptile

Format: 7"

Cat #: scale 34

Year of Release: 1991

Country and Year of Edition Issue: US 1991 2,000 press

Listed Condition: VG+/VG+

Sell Date: 11/19/20 $3.99

Discogs Last Sold: 9/30/20 NM/NM $4.46

Low: $2.98

Median: $3.70

High:  $9.64

Current low price: $2.22 VG/VG+

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 22

Have/Want: 279/35

Where Sold:  Milwaukee, WI

Time it took to sell: 5 years

Where and When Bought: Newbury Comics Boston new 1991

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: A-

Sad To See It Go:  No

Released for a slate of 1991 Eurodates for these 4 classic AmRep newly minted establishment.  All bands were crucial and genre defining.  I put up at least some of the God Bullies in Boston after a gig sometime around this release.  Definitely Mike Hard.  I forget if it was some or all of Kalamazoo's finest.    "Tie A Yellow Ribbon"  is the stand out here.  I can say this a million times but these bands characters were characters.  Mike Hard and crew had a serious run here...Mama Womb Womb, Dog Show and War On Everybody were all top tier.

By 1991, these bands were all arists with released full lengths.  Tar I saw pre AmRep and until the end years, Surgery I wrote about last week and Helmet I held out all the way through their major label run until they just went down fighting only to get back up again some point on the timeline later.

This single had the vibe of tracks that didn't make the album, the God Bullies track was the only one that grabbed me by the throat relistening last week, although all these bands grabbed me by the throat one time or another.  Dog Show, Jackson, Nationwide and Strap It On were all on constant life soundtrack for me, and those were the albums prepping people for this 4 band tour.  In Boston, they were all headliners.  4 nights out for me a few times a year.  Tinnitus be damned.

Playing the what comes to mind first game.  I know I did a Tar midweek CB's/Maxwells 2-nighter mid-week and thought nothing of it.  The first time was one of those Saturday night belly dancer nights at the Middle East where Billy Ruane snuck a touring headliner on at 9 or so before the place was cleared out.  By 1991, they had a normal night.   Carreiro from Red Bliss put up Helmet in Framingham somewhere around this, but I missed the "mayhem" and went home to my bed in the Fens where the God Bullies stayed sometime around that year.  I already gave you my Surgery non story last week.

All these bands transcended mere entertainment for me in 1991 plus/minus a couple years on each side.  

I always feel like a prick with the "Gwiz-gau" grade for something like this release, given the purpose it serves.  Something new to sell on the road for the people who have everything is the clear concept.    I feel like I top weight everything in regard to singles, even something like this,  created for the man who scours the singles bin in search for the next blast of punishment.  These bands combined have about 10 'A' full length records.  Their detritus blow almost everything else away.  People lived for the first wave of AmRep bands for a reason.

I know I did.