Various Artists-This House Is Not A Motel (1989)

Artist: Various Artists (The Birdhouse, Bored!, Les Thugs, The Subway Surfers, Green River, Blood Circus, The Surfin' Dead, Submentals, Mudhoney, Broken Jug, Loveslug, The Fluid, Miracle Workers, Boys From Nowhere, Der Beat from Bagdad)

Title: This House Is Not A Motel

Label: Glitterhouse

Format: CD

Cat #: GR 0046

Year of Release: 1989

Country and Year of Edition Issue: Germany 1989

Listed Condition: VG+/VG+

Sell Date: 4/10/21

Sell Price: $8.99

Discogs Last Sold: 11/14/20 VG+/VG+ $6.02

Low: $6.02

Median: $10.24

Average: $11.13

High: $20.40 M/NM 5/30/16

Current low price: $10.24

Current Number on Sale at Discogs: 6

Have/Want: 82/18

Where Sold: Lancaster, PA

Time it took to sell: 10 years

Where and When Bought: mailorder late 80's new around $15

Gwiz-gau Letter Grade: B+

Sad To See It Go: No

Glitterhouse was primarily known in the US for licensing Amphetamine Reptile and Sub Pop in the late 80's for the German/European market.  Often this that to exclusive tracks and compilations that a noise rock completist simply had to have by any means necessary.  Even if it took mailorder.

Sometimes I would actually phone orders in to a store in Maryland if the Boston stores didn't carry certain low press titles.  I think this was actually mentioned to me as just arrived and I added it to my order without totally knowing what was on it.

Certain tracks were radio hits from my WICN years.  My favorite track by the Fluid, "Cold Outside" made it on here.  Worcester, like Denver, Chicago or Mpls had an seasonal thing that made this a hit for any DJ that trudged to his show in the elements.  "Swallow My Pride" by Green River was also heavily played.  Mudhoney came in my Boston years though it was in it's second pressing before I finally got this single after seeing the band at the Middle East before they hit the UK and got the NME/Melody Maker blowup.  Blood Circus and Les Thugs were the other Sub Pop bands revered in that era that made it to this comp.

There were some other bands on this that made it to my collection (Loveslug, Boys From Nowhere) or knew from doing radio (Miracle Workers).  Bored! were always on my bucket list, but never bought.  The rest of this was faceless but serviceable, enjoyable noisy rock before grunge became "grunge" and was ruined by commercial aspirants vs people doing something just because they loved it.  You really have to not be driven by "fans" or social status or economic well being to make something worth a damn, in my view.  This tends to be extremely difficult for anyone that grows up into some kind of care taking role such as parent, significant other or family.  Self flagellation usually only goes so far and for a unit to maintain this without a supporting infrastructure decreases exponentially with each member.

The business of music can make one shake their head.

This album doesn't have a Youtube or Spotify link, but someone put the liner notes in Discogs from the vinyl edition, so they will have to do for further research.  I've added the bands to add the song links that are up from other sources.

The Birdhouse- London, Great Britain. This one's from the Vic Maile produced "Meglamania".
Bored!- Geelong, Australia. Taken from the kick ass "Bored!" mini-lp.
Les Thugs - Angers, France. From their Glitterhouse debut "Electric Troubles".
The Subway Surfters - Aurich, W-Germany. This one's from their "The Subway Surfers" debut-mini-lp.
Green River - Seattle, USA. From "Rehab Doll", features a groaning Kim Gordon.
Blood Circus- Seattle, USA. It's on the Sub Pop 45 and on "Primal Rock Therapy".
The Surfin' Dead - Enger, W-Germany. Recorded exclusively for this record. New lp in fall.
Submentals - Münster, W-Germany, Wild stuff from the "Submentals" debut lp.

Mudhoney - Seattle, USA. From the debut 45 on Sub Pop and nowhere else.
Broken Jug - Bamberg, W-Germany. This is the b-side of their rare "Ann" 7".
Loveslug - Amsterdam, Netherlands. Opening track of the "Snail House Rock" mini-lp.
The Fluid - Denver, USA. Taken from "Clear Black Paper", their 2nd album.
Miracle Workers - Los Angeles, USA. This is an outtake from the "Live At The Forum" lp.
Boys From Nowhere- Columbus, USA. Mick Divvens finally has a 12" out. This one's from it.
Der Beat From Bagdad - Bonn, W-Germany. The Glitterhouse-weirdo. From the 2nd lp "Big Beat".