off the beaten track

some of you may or may not remember me make mention of a radio show called OFF THE BEATEN TRACK.

it's the SGM origin story.
i know.
you'd thought that SGM had been some sort of lab experiment gone awry.

i'll give you the cliffs notes version:
back in the early part of the 90s i'd lived just outside of davenport,ia. one night i had been randomly skimming the radio for something worthwhile to listen to because believe it or not the radio used to be fun to hangout with at one time. this was a sunday night. i'd just been going back and forth with the radio dial and was over on the left side at the time. i'm not sure what song it had been that caught my attention but it did. it was probably something that i wasn't used to hearing on the radio. at the time i was trying to stretch the parameters of my musical library outside of the slayers and the metallicas and the like. so it could have very well been something by ministry or kmfdm that had taken hold of my eardrums. turns out that it was a radio show called OFF THE BEATEN TRACK being overseen by a dj that went by the name of roberto. and that was that. i returned every sunday night between the hours of 7:00 and 11:00pm. i used to have the 24 90 minute cassette tapes to prove it but they had somehow managed to get lost along the way.

so what i'm saying is: if i hadn't have come across OTBT there probably more than likely never have been an SGM.

i'd probably be the guy from the movie GHOST WORLD that hangs out in the parking lots of convenient stores eating beef jerky and listening to metal and showing off my sweet nunchuck skills.

back when i'd first discovered facebook i went through that manic phase that everyone probably went through. you know the one. the one where it's all like "i can like this and this and this and i have to look up this and like it so other people will like me for liking it!". for some reason OFF THE BEATEN TRACK popped into my head so i gave it a search. and that's where i found this and that.
 
and then i'd started making inquiries if anyone had happened to have any recordings of the show that they'd care to share. i was contacted by someone stating that they did. and those are the recordings that i'm sharing with you now (though they're taken from a few years before i came into the fold).

also: if you'd care to listen to an updated version of OTBT you should pay a visit here every sunday night from 7:00-11:00pm. it's still overseen by roberto.

i was provided with a written out track listing for everything and i did my best to interpret it.

off the beaten track - july 29 1984
part 1
1 - scritti politti - wood beez (pray like aretha franklin)
2 - section 25 - reflection
3 - personal effects - love never thinks
4 - public image ltd. - low life
5 - torch song - prepare to energize
6 - love circus - twist to the world
7 - ?
8 - 10,000 maniacs - death of manolete
9 - sid vicious - my way*
10 - dead kennedys - forest fire
11 - dead kennedys - hyperactive child
*=frank sinatra cover
part 2:
1 - ub40 - dub mobile
2 - bill laswell - work song
3 - tripes - undertow
4 - siouxsie and the banshees - bring me the head of the preacher man
5 - uptown rules - bay of kids
6 - violent femmes - country death song
7 - black flag - can't decide
8 - kid creole & the coconuts - gina gina
9 - whambo jamboree - i love your wife
10 - sex pistols - submission
11 - haysi fantayzee - here comes the beast
DL

off the beaten track - august 1984
part 1:
1 - the service - lover's leap
2 - the service - apprentice
3 - the service - temporary situation
4 - the service - slow motion
5 - the situation - million words
6 - captain sensible - wot
7 - big boys - history
8 - nervous germans - hometown
9 - coup d'etat - dig-a-boom-boom-chi-chi
10 - fun boy three - telephone always rings
part 2:
1 - colorbox - tarantula
2 - gang of four - call me up
3 - what is this - i am a house
4 - steve almaas - what's the matter
5 - hellbillys - getaway
6 - the dream syndicate - tell me when it's over
7 - tex and the horseheads - lock me up
8 - the art of noise - close (to the edit)
9 - meat puppets - lost
10 - soviet sex - youth of america
11 - saccharine trust - peace frog*
*=the doors cover
DL 
off the beaten track - june 14 1987
part 1:
1 - front 242 - master hit
2 - ?
3 - crazy backwards alphabet - la grange*
4 - black flag - you're not evil
5 - carmaig de forest - crack is no worse than the fascist threat
6 - ?
7 - red dress - i like to eat my mouses raw
8 - the lorries - crawling mantra
9 - das damen - girl with the hair
10 - the ex - they shall not pass
*=zz top cover
DL
part 2:
1 - they might be giants - youth culture killed my dog
2 - meat puppets - a hundred miles
3 - love tractor - cartoon kiddies
4 - bruce gilbert - eline cout II
5 - ?
6 - ?
7 - violent femmes - blister in ther sun
8 - camper van beethoven - joe stalin's cadillac
9 - billy bragg - it says here
10 - front 242 - rerun time
11 - el grupo sexo - squirrel boy
12 - robyn hitchcock - trash
DL

part 3:
1 - swingin' teens - gidget's bitchin' beach party
2 - ?
3 - ?
4 - band of susans - hope against hope
5 - boris badenough - hey rocky!
6 - imo & the soul syndicate - debator's prison
7 - ?
8 - phil gnarly & the tough guys - real wild party
9 - butthole surfers - american woman*
10 - butthole surfers - moving to florida
11 - mark mothersbaugh - my hometown
*=the guess who cover
DL

part 4:
1 - butthole surfers - creep in the cellar
2 - ?
3 - ?
4 - brave combo - happy wanderer
5 - front 242 - quite unusual
6 - ?
7 - bambi slam - bamp bamp
8 - soul asylum - closer to the stars
9 - bad brains - sacred love
10 - agitpop - caught in your rain
11 - rhythm pigs - little brother
12 - laibach - one vision
13 - ?
DLpart 5:
1 - ?
2 - the wolfgang press - the great leveller
3 - ?
4 - ritual tension - hotel california*
5 - big black - pete,king of the detectives
6 - personal effects - mana fiesta
7 - front 242 - w.y.h.i.w.y.g.
8 - ?
9 - urban blight - house of gold
*=eagles cover
DL