We Weren't There

I recently caught a good portion of You Weren't There, a new documentary touching on the Chicago punk scene of the late seventies to the early eighties. Although I spent most of the time shouting out opinions and phrases like "I have that record" during the viewing of the film, the guys in the room showing me the video happened to be my good friends - friends who have come to terms with my ADD outbursts.

The movie talked about a ton of really great energetic punk acts who played at a club known as "Oz". The punk scene was very tight and mostly positive [with the occasional (and sometimes historic) band member vs. band member dispute]. Each band's influence spawned a new group and ideas just exploded exponentially. That is, until Oz started catching heat for serving alcohol to underage kids.



This is a picture of the Busted A Oz Lp that was recorded March 9th, 10th, and 11th of 1981. This was as quickly as everyone could get together to document the chaotic Chicago scene once everyone was aware of its imminent doom. It came out on Autumn records in 1981 and includes live cuts from Naked Raygun, Strike Under, Subverts, Effigies, Da, and Silver Abuse. Cat # is A0-2.

A few beliefs I previously had were completely reinforced by this film. Most notably:

- Subverts shred
- Effigies are amazing
- Everything Jeff Pezzati has been a part of and is a part of is absolutely incredible
- Da is definitely a band that tuned into their own station at the time but ruled hard
- Steve Albini is a total trash-talking jerk but still a hero of mine
- Chicago breeds some spectacular musicians
- no matter how old punk rockers get, punk rock in itself is eternally youthful



When the doors finally closed, graffiti appeared on the outside of the building that read: "OZ LIVES AND RULES".