On June 9th Crass Records, alongside One Little Independent Records, will reissue their iconic three volume compilation series 'Bullshit Detector' on 12" vinyl, available in both classic black and limited-edition grey.
'Bullshit Detector' was the name of a series of compilation LPs put together by the anarcho-punk band Crass and released on their own label. Three editions were released between 1980 and 1984, consisting of demo tapes, rough recordings and artwork that had been sent to the band. The sound quality of the 'Bullshit Detector' series was mixed and often basic, or even poor, as Crass would master the tapes directly to record without any additional production or enhancement. For Crass, the expectation of a polished performance was missing the point.
Sleeve notes from Bullshit Detector Volume 3 read; "Don't expect music when the melody is anger, when the message sings defiance, three chords are frustration when the words are from the heart."
The title 'Bullshit Detector' was derived as a reference to the Clash song 'Garageland' from their first album, a song covered by Chumbawamba guitarist Boffo on the second volume.
After punk had already been co-opted, re-packaged and sold back to us, 'Bullshit Detector' Volumes 1-3 were, and still are, seen by many to capture the purest ethos of punk culture, an event that inspired hundreds to take to their bedrooms and garages and join the DIY revolution. Crass believed in the power of community and that their movement was for everybody, these compilations are an admittedly harsh but important part of that story; when Crass gave punk back to the people.
Tracklist
Vol 1
Andy T - Jazz on a Summers Day
Counter Attack - Don't Wanna Fight For You
The Alternative - Change It
Clockwork Criminals - We Are You
Reputations in Jeopardy - Girls Love Popstars
Crass - Do They Owe Us a Living? (Drums and vocals only)
Amebix - University Challenged
The Pranx - 2 Years 2 Late
The Sinyx - Mark of the Beast
Frenzy Battalion - Thalidomide
Icon - Cancer
The Speakers - Why
A.P.F. Brigade - Anarchist Attack
Fuck The C.I.A. - Right or Wrong
Caine Mutiny and the Kallisti Apples of Nonsense - Morning Star
The Sucks - Three
Porno Squad - Khaki Doesn't Go with My Eyes
S.P.G. Murders - Soldiers
The Eratics - National Service
Red Alert - Who Needs Society?
The Snipers - War Song
Armchair Power - Power
Disrupters - Napalm
Andy T. - Nagasaki Mon Amour
Action Frogs - Drumming Up Hope (Ferret Skank)
Vol 2
Waiting For Bardot - Voice of U.K.
Omega Tribe - Nature Wonder
The Suspects - Random Relations
Your Funeral - Think About It
Kronstadt Uprising - Receiver Deceiver
Deformed - Freedom
No Label - Let's Get It Right
The Rejected - Same Old Songs
Boffo - Garageland
XS - Fuck the System
Polemic Attack - Manipulated Youth
Gardener - A. Gardener's Song
Toxic - Tradition of Slaughter
1984 - Break Up
Insert
Toxik Ephex - Police Brutality
Sic - Low
Molitov Cocktail - Ain't Got a Clue
Naked - Mid 1930s (Pre-War Germany
Capital Punishment - We've Realised the Truth Now
Anthrax - All the Wars
Endangered Species - Slaughter of the Innocent (Curiosity Kills)
Pseudo Sadists - War Games
Total Chaos - Psycho Analysis
Dougie - War Without Winners
St. Vitus Dancers - The Survivor
Stegz - Christus Erection
Metro Youth - Brutalised
Normality Complex - Black Market Shadow
Youth in Asia - Power & the Glory
Riot Squad - Security System
Destructors - Agent Orange
The Pits - U.K. in Dreamland
The Bored - Riot Style
Toby Kettle - Theatre Comment
Chumbawamba - Three Years Later
Passion Killers - Start Again
Amerikan Arsenal - Get Off Yr Ass
Vol 3
Avert Aversion - Oh What a Nice Day
Awake Mankind - Once Upon a Time
A Nul Noise - Hibakusha
Animus - Nuclear Piss
Peroxide - Ministry of Death (M.O.D.)
Untitled - We Are Taught How to Kill
Xtract - (Waiting For The) Genocide
Verbal Assault - Not Yet Ron
Fifth Column - Counterfeit Culture
Potential Victim - People
7th Plague - Rubber Bullets
Rebel - Genesis to Genocide
Alienated - Living in Fear
Barbed Wire - Weapons of War
Rob Williams - Lies
Reality Control - The War is Over
Youthanasia PX - Power
Sammy Rubette + Safety Match - The Ballad of Maggie the Maggot
