THE BIRTH OF IGNORANCE

Been rehearsing with the new grindcore band a lot and as a bit of inspiration thought I'd whack the first two Napalm Death albums on the 'ol MP3 player and see if I could pick up a bit of inspiration here and there.

By the way - because I am the world's coolest guy I actually bought the first ND album when it was NEW! Or maybe a year or so afterwards but either way it was before "From Enslavement" came out. Here is my copy, complete with the original insert with the addresses of the band members just in case you felt like dropping them a line.

Thought about a few things while the tunes invaded my brainspace - what if Jeff Walker had played bass? How cool would that have been! How totally amazing Mick Harris is on the drums, serioulsy! And about how this record, argue the point until you are blue in the face with me and I'll give you all the reasons why..... this was the first GRINDCORE record.

So, we think of the "classic" line up of Napalm Death - Lee Dorrian, Mick Harris, Bill Steer and Shane Embury (or Jim from Ripcord on Scum actually) and we say it was those who invented grindcore....yet most forget that actually this line up only played on the 2ND side of the album...

It was actually two men called Justin Broadrick and Nick Bullen (Nik Napalm) that invited a young Mick Harris into their band Napalm Death and record the A-Side of Scum.

All the classic tunes that they still play today - Scum, The Kill, You Suffer, Siege Of Power were actually not written by the "classic" line up at all....or even Mick Harris but by Bullen and Broadrick - so although Mick's drumming style iconised Grindcore and Mick himself invented the term...it was actually these guys that invented the style...and then left it all together!

What do they now?

Justin Broadrick has played in Head Of David, most famously Godflesh and now Jesu - and has mixed/produced tunes for such bands as Pantera, Isis and The Lemonheads. Word on the street (not my street, no one ever talks about Napalm Death there unless there are in, on their way too or from my place) is that both Faith No More and Danzig tried to snab him to play for them.

Nick Bullen - played in Scorn with Mick Harris but didn't do so much else.

When I listen to that first side (originally a demo recorded for £50) I can't help but wonder why some bands take so long pissing about and worrying about their music.....a £50 demo created an entire genre and made legends of the band....

How's that for a piece of fried gold! Elk out.