The Murder City Devils / Botch - Edge Of Quarrel split

 

Label: Excursion

Year: 1999

Jocks vs nerds, punks vs heshers, mods vs rockers...the cultural landscape is pockmarked from the age old rivalries that establish our pecking orders and keep our niches well defined. But, when the "movie" Edge Of Quarrel (and I use quotes, because it's somewhere lower than a B-movie...it's like, a C-) based their narrative on a Straight Edge vs Punk schism (sorry...X Schism X) that was comically far fetched at the time, but in retrospect is even more ridiculous. The fact that the movie posits "hardcore" to mean "straight edge" and "punk" to mean "tattoos" would confuse your casual viewer for certain. Hell, your mother never could tell the two apart! But to think that wearing an Acme patch to a Trial show was some sort of red flag to the straight edge cops is wild, considering that by the time this movie came out most of the world's varsity jackets had been traded in for gas station jackets festooned in His Hero Is Gone logos, is rich. I mean, it's all in good fun, and maybe seeing your favorite Seattle scensters stumble through their stilted dialogue is worth the price of admission. Pioneer Square runs red with the blood of their fisticuffs! And where is Kim Thayil during all of this?! Seriously...how do the Grungers fit into this rift?

As we ponder this, and the many other questions the movie generates, we can collectively enjoy two tracks featured in the film. Two bangers that I suppose run the gamut from "punk" to "hardcore," but are satisfying either way.

Record oddity: I believe this is the only record that I own that has an 33rpm side a, and 45rpm side b. 

DL