May
6th
Tue
6th
Systems Suck
Classic punk anthem from a short lived hardcore band called Deadly Reign. The chorus remained clear in my head for 25 years after I heard them do it at Barrington Hall, Berkeley’s legendary post-hippie punked out acid squat and general dormitory for the insane. My kind of place, though you didn’t want to drink the punch there if you had to work in the morning. The Uptones played at Barrington once - it was like our third or fourth show ever - with MDC and Deadly Reign and a few other hardcore bands. They were down with our two-tone sound even though it was very different from the breakneck tempos and distortion all the punkers were doing. Dave Dictor and another MDC guy were bellowing the lyrics to the Specials’ “Nightclub” while we played our song, “Big Time” which has the same chords in the verses. It was hysterical, the whole mohawked crowd was a bouncing sweaty mess. But what stayed in my head from that night was “Systems Suck, Systems Fucked Systems Suck You Know!” - belted out by Mike (whose last name was never listed on any credits) - in my book one of the coolest punk singers of that era. Anna was a kick ass drummer, Jack and Scott on guitar and bass were total shredders, and they were the greatest bunch you could ever hang out with. This is their signature song, off the original All Quiet On The Western Front compilation. You can play it here.