And so, the '80's began...
...and all Young Menswear was half-off. Hey, Dockers can swing as well as khakis! Right??
Our man Scott is the one on the left.
And just in case you were wondering, he's aerodynamically sound as well.
Cute, no?
But anyhoo...
It wasn't just about the clothes, it was about the music, man. More specifically, it was hardcore. Or rather, "Nardcore".
Jim, the webmaster of a grrrrreat source of info, has this to say on the scene:
"I'm looking at the record right now. I had no idea that Scott was now in Big Bad Voodoo Daddy. Yeah, False Confession was part of a pretty strong punk movement in a small city just Northwest of Los Angeles. Oxnard was the spawning grounds for several bands that really helped pave the way for hardcore back in 83-85. There was a ton of bands right around then that really turned out to be legends. Affectionately known as Nardcore, the style of music produced out of that city was unmatched, and the weird thing is, all of the bands were great back then. Now this might have been going on elsewhere, but I think what sets Nardcore apart was the fact that there was a record label (Mystic Records) that helped launch all of these bands onto vinyl. As much as all of the bands ended up hating Mystic for ripping them off, they still probably wouldn't have ended up with any records if it wasn't for them. I can't think of one record label that promoted it's city better than Mystic, led by Doug Moody. As much of a slimeball as I've heard him to be, he really is responsible for putting Nardcore on the map.
A brief listing of bands that came out of Oxnard and tore up Southern California:
Stalag 13 - Dr. Know - Ill Repute - Aggression - RKL - Scared Straight - Blast - False Confession -The Rotters - Rat Pack - Habeas Corpus -AFU.
The first seven of those bands are of legendary punk status, but I'm afraid to say that False Confession, as well as the others, got overshadowed by bigness of the other bands.
There are two other celebrities that came out of Oxnard. The original singer for Dr. Know, Brandon Cruz was actually Eddie from that 60's show "The Courtship of Eddie's Father". And the singer for Scared Straight, Scott Radinski, is now on the DL for the St. Louis Cardinals (Mark McGwire's team) and spent several years playing for my beloved Dodgers. He also now sings for a band that you might or might not heard of, Ten Foot Pole."
(Note: Dr. Know is now back together, so look out for them.)
Phew!
