Okay, up and away and ahead we go, onward into battle... ah, yehp, okay, we are writing the year of 1986 and we're located in Brooklyn, NYC (yes, this blog works also as a time-machine, at least from time to time, harhar;-)...) and in this year at this place we do see the birth of one of the few very, very best American Oi! bands of all times. And yes, it doesn't matter if ya take American Oi! or Oi! in general, New York Hardcore or Hardcore in general (especially their earlier material is here focussed), or if ya take music that refuses the mainstream piece of shit world, the
YOUTH DEFENSE
LEAGUE had been (and still are, because, I mean, their songs still remain so their songs still are and hey they still are also everything that they had always been, and so they just 'still are') one of the few very, very best bands out there. They had always had a pretty strong link to Hardcore, especially NYHC, right from the start and also over their time of existence. They've used to play really a very special and unique style of music, if ya ask me. Started as a heavily (very heavily) by (New York) Hardcore influenced Oi! band (of course, as an US Oi! Core band, you're right), with harsh and fast guitar riffing, aggro stop-and-go parts, etc. pp., developed over growing more and more into Oi! Oi! Oi! music of the supreme kind, and finally cultivating their style of sound and music with working with some R.A.C. influences and Hard Rock and Heavy Metal impressions. Just listen, for example, to their brilliant track "
SOLDIER OF
FORTUNE", the rhythm structure, the arrangements of the song, and the guitar work (riffs, leads, solo) and you will get this partially strong Metal elements pretty soon. The guys did some (still today) damn fresh work when it comes to the songwriting and the architecture of the songs, as well as they had been truly pretty damn fucking skilled musicians. By the way, "SOLDIER OF FORTUNE" is maybe my total favorite song of them (musically as well as lyrically), and now you get a little video clip of this brillian track, so enjoy it!!!
YOUTH DEFENSE LEAGUE - "SOLDIER OF FORTUNE"
Formed in 1986 they've already released also in 1986 their debut release, the now-a-days fucking legendary "
SKINS FOR
SKINS" D.I.Y. Demo (tap), that had been followed by the also now-a-days very legendary "
SKINHEADS
88" D.I.Y Demo tape in 1988. Also back then in 1988 their "
AMERICAN PR
IDE" single was released, as their first proper release with label support to back it all up, released via "Oi! CORE RECORDS". Later they've also recorded something like a 'lost single' that had back then not been released, but was (re-) released by "VULTURE ROCK RECORDS" in 2000 as a 12'' single with the title "
OLD GL
ORY". Also "
AMERICAN PR
IDE" had been rereleased by "VULTURE ROCK RECORDS" in 2000, as well as in 1999 on "NEW GLORY RECORDS" came out the "
YOUTH DEFENSE
LEAGUE" titled bootleg record that contains their first two demos, "
SKINS FOR
SKINS" and "
SKINHEADS
88" (as well as some more or less unreleased stuff). Also in 1999 the "
AMERICAN HI
STORY" titled live record of the
YOUTH DEFENSE
LEAGUE had been released, containing live recordings of their gigs in the legendary (and now-a-days closed) "CBGB's" club in NYC by "VULTURE ROCK RECORDS", and to this release there also came out a 7'' single titled "
SKINHEADS
88"/"
THE B
OYS", but this was (for what I know) more or less 'just' a promotional release after all by "VULTURE ROCK RECORDS". By the way, talking about years like 1999 and 2000, okay, the band itself hadn't been existing then for already quite a while, just to get this straight. In 2005 finally the total package and legacy of the
YOUTH DEFENSE
LEAGUE was compiled and released by "VULTURE ROCK RECORDS" and it carries the title "
VOICE OF
BROOKLYN" and was released solely on vinyl and (at least the first thousand copies) with the "
SKINS FOR
SKINS" demo on a golden 7'' vinyl single. (Even my single does not look golden but orange, but okay, who cares, haha;-)...) The "
VOICE OF
BROOKLYN" featured all their recordings and is, hm, yehp, it's the complete
YOUTH DEFENSE
LEAGUE package, point and fact. Also on several compilations they were featured, the two most legendary of their compilation appearences are the ones on the legendary compilations of the titles of "
NEW YORK
HARDCORE" (released by "REVELATION RECORDS" in 1988) and "
THE U.S. OF
Oi!" (released by "LINK MUSIC" respectively "STEP ONE RECORDS" also in 1988), yeahr, that are the two most mentionable compilation appearences of them. So, and after all and only text isn't that entertaining at all you now get the second little video clip, and you get to hear (or listen to) their great anthem "
TURNC
OAT", a great song (even the soundquality of the video clip could be a little bit better, I know, I know...), so again, just enjoy it, and after (or under) the clip we go ahead with the
YOUTH DEFENSE
LEAGUE.
YOUTH DEFENESE LEAGUE - "TURNCOAT"
So, yehp, knowing now about their history, releases and music and musical development we will now take a look at their lyrics and at the
YOUTH DEFENSE
LEAGUE as a band. They had been a very patriotic as well as anti-communist band, singing against the Soviet Union and the danger of the 'Marxist Plague' spreading all over the world, no problem with that how-ever, and by listening to it today you can really feel how heated up the final years of the Cold War had been because what their patriotic and anti-communist lyrics do express is really this "Us against Them", the West against the East attitude of this time period, and it's all very militant and gladiatorial and 'prepared-to-die-in-this-war-of-freedom-versus-tyranny'. So, yeahr, the
YOUTH DEFENSE
LEAGUE express truly some kind or better some specific stage in and of "
AMERICAN HI
STORY". That's cool and to me not a single problem at all, even I think that this all would be enough for letting them being attacked now-a-days as a fascist band, but anyhow, that's not enough, haha;-). They do called themselves a White Pride band, and they thanked SKREWDRIVER and Ian Stuart Donaldson in particular for the inspiration. Okay, two things: 1.) That was totally stupid by the band (why I will tell ya soon); 2.) That's another proof for my thesis that you always should take a more detailed look at things and especially people before you damn fucking judge and label them for life (and why I will also tell ya soon... which means now). The band wasn't even really through and through white. One member came from the Middle East (Rishi, who also played in
WARZ
ONE), another one (Crazy Jay Skin, he played also in
WARZ
ONE) was a jew (so a person that ISD and his braindead buttfucked jackasses would have loved to see die only because of this), and Todd who used to play with and in the
YOUTH DEFENSE
LEAGUE) was of black heritage. So yeahr, they weren't even a 'real' white band and some members had also been 'subhumans' in the eyes of ISD, so yes, it was totally stupid of the guys in the
YOUTH DEFENSE
LEAGUE to talk such crap back then and they should have it all known better, but talking such crap, not thinking about it 'for too long', showcasing SKREWDRIVER shirts and the R.A.C. banner, yehp, two things to this: 1.) Just take it as it was, some not-all-too-well-thought-through provocation and don't take it all more serious like it all was; 2.) And just take it also for what it was, a product of the Cold War end-time and it's aggressive "Us against them!" attitude which let the West in global politics collaborate with Islamofascists in the Middle East and work together with fascist military dicatorships in South America just to weaken the Soviet Union, and which let in society and subcultures to a not so differianted view on who your maybe allies had been, just as long as they had been (at least called themselves) anti-communist and patriotic. That's it!!! And if ya read the lyrics, ha, they sing about defending democracy (and with this freedom and equality) against it's enemies, and how America (which means the U.S.A.) stand(s) at the front line at keeping the world free of any kind of tyranny, so yes, it's the total counterdraft to what SKREWDRIVER, NO REMORSE, BRUTAL ATTACK, etc. pp. had been propagating. For sure the
YOUTH DEFENSE
LEAGUE had been a patriotic, anti-communist and conservative (and so a right wing) band, but damn it, in no way they had been a fascist, racist or Nazi band, that's a fact, no matter what the thought police of the (self-proclaimed) left may still say, and also no matter what the stupid lowlife faggot jackasses of the (especially radical and extreme) right may say, just read the lyrics and listen to the songs and reflect the time the
YOUTH DEFENSE
LEAGUE had been active and then you will get it and see it all much more straight and clear, point and fact. By the way, and also the
YOUTH DEFENSE
LEAGUE hadn't been on the same page as the
ARRESTING OF
FICERS and/or
NEW GL
ORY, just that you know about it. Now, after that much text, the next video clip of them is coming for ya, and now ya get their battle anthem "
YOUTH OF
AMERICA", and again, just enjoy it!!! And yes, with this song they pretty much express also this whole 'mission' attitude when it comes to spreading and defending democracy wherever it's possible and needed. Again, something damn different than this whole NS/WP Fascist Rock jackasses like SKREWDRIVER and ISD's offsprings were preaching, and again: Point and fact!!! Ah, and by the way, hopefully now you've got it that Rock Against Communism isn't always Rock Against Communism, if ya get what I want to say with this words.
YOUTH DEFENSE LEAGUE - "YOUTH OF AMERICA"
Okay, some last words need to be spoken here about their song "
SKINHEADS
88", not that some guys now talk about '88 = Heil Hitler' (in this particular case here) or bullshit like this. It's just a song about the Skinhead subculture, born and bred in England at the end of the 1960's (some say '67, some say '68, and more or less all have now-a-days focussed on '69), and this song was written in 1988, so something like twenty years and like they do sing it with the line: "Subculture rising for twenty years!", yehp, that's it, so stop your bullshit interpretations and just take it for what it is, a song paying tribute to the Skinhead cult that was written in 1988 and so ca. twenty years after the Skinhead subculture used to arise for the first time and for this stands the 88 in this song and for nothing else. Again: Point and fact!!! Now again, while we are coming to the close of this posting here, another little video of the
YOUTH DEFENSE
LEAGUE for your information and enjoyment, and it's a clip to their early hard-as-nails track "
SKINS FOR
SKINS".
YOUTH DEFENSE LEAGUE - "SKINS FOR SKINS"
Okay folks, I hope you enjoyed this post about some of my ever all time favorite bands, the
YOUTH DEFENSE
LEAGUE, and hopefully you liked what you've read and listened to and despising all the bullshit talk just get what you can get of them, hm, and maybe start with the fantastic "
VOICE OF
BROOKLYN" compilation LP. More of the '
American Oi Histo
ry Series' will come in the future, you can be sure about it and trust me on this one, and for now that's it, thanks for your interest and time!!! What will come up next I've already announced before (as the introduction of this very posting here), and maybe I will do a history post about the groundbreaking and legendary "
THE U.S.
OF Oi!" sampler, maybe as a little 'closing-thing'-like-post of the (at least as the here introduced first wave of the) American Oi! 1980's bands, we will see, but anyhow, what's next on my list you all can read at the beginning of this post here, so okay, just let us finish this one here and (again) get what you just can get of this larger-than-life band. Cheers & Oi!
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