*** "American Oi! Reaction Rock - Commie Busters, ain't afraid of NO Hino!!!" ***

BEST DEFENSE - "AMERICAN SKINS"

(Note, read first: Somehow my CPU-'mouse' is more or left wrecked badly (especially the left button is ticking me off... hehe;-)...) and so I'm really annoyed with workin' with this piece of crap and a new I don't have currently here and so I have to stay with working with the Touchpad of my CPU/LapTop and that is totally ticking me off, too and even more, so don't look for the little 'Red, White & Blue' colors of the bandnames and so here in this post, it's due to my CPU-'mouse'-wreckage, just that you know it, so don't search after this little 'color-playing' here and now.)

BEST DEFENSE - "ARMED WITH THE TRUTH"

(I've already posted this one before but just in case that you might have missed there and then...)

Hey folks,

yeahr, and here we finally go again, continuing the 'American Oi! History Series' here on this blog, and this time we take a ride to the state of Pennsylvania because now it's time for BEST DEFENSE!!! And you all know the masterplan, after BEST DEFENSE we will come to pay our honour and to donate our tribute to DOC. MARTEN and then to STARS & STRIPES. After this I will also do two or three posts more about the good old days of the golden 1980's of American Oi!, featuring two bands together in a pretty controversial 'dual-post' (this two bands I've forgotten until now and after at least one of them used to release just a Demo Tape and some- but very important- songs on some- also very important- compilation(s) and then turned out to become some extreme right wing farce I wasn't so sure anyhow if they should be featured here amongst all the legendary bands- because they just didn't release that much after all- anyhow but decided to do so), then I will pay my tribute to one immortal larger-than-life band that's maybe not so much 'through-and-through' Skinhead'n'Bootboy'n'Oi! at the end of the day but is justified and needed and important to be mentioned here, and then I will do a closing post of the golden 1980's of American Oi! with completing the picture of it with introducing "THE U.S. OF Oi!" to you. After this we will leave the 1980's and step into the 1990's, the supreme time of American Oi! and there we will find uncountable great and legendary acts like PATRIOT, PRESSURE POINT, BOOT PARTY, STORMWATCH, BOVVER WONDERLAND and oh so many more. Okay, now you know the deal and for now and before we go ahead with DOC. MARTEN and STARS & STRIPES it's time for one of the best bands that had ever been around, short and simple: BEST DEFENSE!!! Unfortunately it was pretty hard to find something about them anyhow anywhere, okay, but hopefully I've got settled a post together that comes out anyway 'proper'!!!

*** AMERICAN SKINS - ARMED WITH THE TRUTH : 'American & Proud' ***

*** BEST DEFENSE ***

*** "REACTION ROCK, US AGAINST THEM... and WE'LL SMASH YOU!!!" ***



Pennsylvania back in the year of 1987 when the lads Greg Olsen, Tom Walkinshaw, Dave Baiter, Shawn Moyer, and Jim Rogers (all young Skinheads back then) had totally enough with all the bands from here and there around at that time and decided to take things in their very own hands to create finally a band that would be able to play the proper music that they by themselves always wanted to listen to. But anyhow it all lasted not for so long, they had been playing just for three years together, from 1987 to 1990. Okay, but even in this short time of their existence as a band they've managed to leave quite an impact on the Oi! movement and with some time of a delay it was brought to the whole wide world of global Oi! music, thanks to "PURE IMPACT RECORDS" from Belgium and "HAUNTED TOWN RECORDS" from Chicago.

BEST DEFENSE - "AMERICAN & PROUD"

What now may sound to you like the typical kind of clichè of founding a band because wanting to play the music that you would like to listen and just couldn't due to the fact that no band else was playing this music was in the case of BEST DEFENSE totally correct, 'cause they really came up with a syle and sound of Oi! of their very own. And I mean really off their very own!!! Yes, they had been an Oi! band, an Oi! band from the States so that's made them to an American Oi! band, but they really had their very own style. The music is marked by the outstanding and totally unique guitar playing, all done very much varying and also more than 'just' well-versed, no matter if ya take the outstanding and very diverse lead and the stand-alone solo playing or if ya aim ya ears at the great rhythm guitar work and how it's marking the architecture, the structure, pace and rhythm of the songs, that's really and truly just 'awesomly' great, and the (out)shining bass (very present, great) and the hardest stomping drums really do (and they succeed in doing so) back up the guitar playing with a lot of power, force and might, yehp, and like we all know might makes right, and BEST DEFENSE really had been the real deal (and they respectively their music are so still today). And also it all had a pretty cool and very good Rock & Roll - ish feeling to it. What's even more just stand-alone outshining and just amazing and phenomenal are the exciting, great and truly unique lead vocals, maybe just a little bit comparable with the young GLENN DANZIG back then in the old and early MISFITS times. Outstanding!!! Also the songwriting was (and still is) just amazing, all very, very well-versed and damn brilliant into each and another floating. No holes or unwanted distorting breaks (because 'wanted breaks' you'll find, and this breaks even lead the songs pretty much, and it's really exciting to get it all while you listen to it) in the songs, all changes of pace and rhythm and structure are very good floating and flowing and melting into each other, so that it is really a pleasure to listen to BEST DEFENSE also and even and maybe especially today. You can't really compare them with any other bands, and even if I would now say that if you're searching for a mixture out of DOC. MARTEN, the ARRESTING OFFICERS, and NEW GLORY (maybe put a little bit of MORAL OUTRAGE respectively STORMWATCH to it) then maybe BEST DEFENSE are what you're searching for. Ah, and forget about what you can read at a lot of different places, because BEST DEFENSE had never been a band with Hardcore marks in their music, not really, and hell no they had never been an Oi! Core band, even they've played really hard stomping and harsh knocking American Oi! with a great Boots & Aggro potential in it, yeahr, but damn no Hardcore or Oi! Core after all. Just to get this straight!!!

BEST DEFENSE - "SIX GUN JUSTICE"

Lyrically they had also quite a lot to offer. Being a patriotic American Oi! band from out of the Cold War era they had a strong Anti-Communism and also Anti-Liberalism in their lyrics, as well as a big portion of Patriotism and they had been pretty militant after all. Comparable to the YOUTH DEFENSE LEAGUE, but without some stupid non-sense White Pride talking aside of the stage and beside of their songs. No NS crap to be mentioned anyhow, too, and they've also stayed totally away from the pro-white to White Power bullshit, no racist and/or fascist crap or stupid jackass non-sense that bands like NEW GLORY or the ARRESTING OFFICERS used to go nuts on (more or less). And with a lot of what they've used to sing about they had totally been right anyway. A lot of folks will may ran their mouth about their lyrics, but I feel no need to say here anything more about it, so if ya have a problem with it than just get a life, point and fact!!!

BEST DEFENSE - "REACTION ROCK"

BEST DEFENSE only existed from 1987 to 1990 (way too short if you ask me) and they've managed to record and release a demo (on tape, through and through D.I.Y.) back in 1988 with the oh so evil (and today in Germany forbidden / censored) Celtic Cross on the frontcover. But not like you all (?) now think that's a sign of racism and fascism. Because only over the last two decades the (Neo-) Nazi faggots used to steal and contaminate a lot of 'old mythological northern symbols' (again) with their NS WP weltanschauung-crap it don't mean that these symbols are what the Nazis turned them into and it also don't mean that they haven't got different meanings. And beside this, a racist band would not write about how great values like equality in general are in the linernotes or thanklist of their release, like BEST DEFENSE had done it. Musically it's just great stuff!!! For what I know the only realistic way to still get it today is via downloading it and maybe you just check the great "THE U.S. OF Oi! OF SWEDEN" blog for doing so (http://usofoiofsweden.blogspot.com/search/label/Best%20defense). Then they recorded a lot of songs that had been meant to be released via a full length album that should have been released via Roddy Morenos THE OPRESSED record label "Oi! RECORDS" back then in 1989, but the label closed down business before doing so. So the recordings had been 'for nothing' until the belgian "PURE IMPACT RECORDS" label got them and released the material under the banner of the title of "SIX GUN JUSTICE" finally back then in 1999 on CD and the american label "HAUNTED TOWN RECORDS" on vinyl as a 12'' LP also in 1999. The track lists do somehow be a little bit different, and the artwork of the LP looks very different and much, much better than the one of the CD (I have the LP as well as the CD version... just that you know it...;-)...), but all in all it's the same record. And that's a good thing, right;-)?!? Ah, may sound like a sorry weak excuse, but sadly enough my scanner isn't big enough so that I can just give ya the atwork of the CD in proper quality. So, that's all for now, a damn great band far ahead of their time and unbeaten even and still today, so do your best and buy this record, "SIX GUN JUSTICE", from where you can ever get it. Cheers & Oi! Oi! Oi!

BEST DEFENSE - "LOST NOW FOUND"

(PS: The videos here posted (or the stuff that's here named videos at all;-)...) I have done by myself, so don't blame the band or anyone else for what you do get to see here;-). Btw, all songs are taken from their "SIX GUN JUSTICE" masterpiece, just that you know about it.)

BEST DEFENSE - "BOOTBOY"