Original Punk Rock Vinyl Records (1st Pressing) 7"

file under: when punk was really punk

*click on image to enlarge

A small sampling of ultra rare all original 1st pressing 7" vinyl records of the earliest days of punk rock from my personal collection.

Top row: 
999 - "Homicide" 1978 United Artists Records Ltd.
Black Flag - "Six Pack 1981 SST Records
Go-Go's - Go-Go's 1980 Stiff Records *(not even listed on Wikipedia)

Middle row:
The Clash - "Complete Control" 1977 CBS Records
Sex Pistols - "God Save the Queen" 1977 Virgin Records
X - "White Girl" 1980 Slash Records

Bottom row:
Dead Kennedys - "Holiday in Cambodia" 1980 IRS Records
Sex Pistols - "Anarchy in the U.K." 1977 Gutterbest Limited *(unauthorized pressing)
The Damned - "The Damned" (Date unknown) Scatter Brain Child Records *(Bootleg)

Vintage 80's Generation-X Bootleg T-Shirt

file under: early british punk

rare Generation-X bootleg t-shirt
year: 80's
tag: long gone
material: 100% cotton
condition: pretty thrashed
value: $175
*note: no provenance for this tee. acquired last year at a second-hand clothing store in Los Angeles. definitely a bootleg printed in a garage years ago. Gen-X were one of the coolest early British punk bands. Billy Idol and Tony James wrote some of the catchiest punk anthems of the late 70's. The Sex Pistols sang about "no future" but Gen-X sang about having fun and getting laid. Their albums were always in heavy rotation in my car stereo and all those great songs have stood the test of time.

rare live 1977 footage shows the full energy of the band

SoCal Punk

file under: when were young

rare Circle Jerks bootleg t-shirt
year: ???
tag: hanes
material: 100% cotton
condition: nice vintage
value: $150
note: nice bootleg probably printed in someone's garage. seeing early southern california bands like the circle jerks, black flag, the chiefs, wasted youth, middle class and many more was life changing as a young teenager.

the Circle Jerks in action

Siouxsie 84

file under: hard to find

ultra rare siouxsie and the banshees promo tee
year: 1984
tag: missing
material: 100% cotton
condition: excellent
value: $150.00 (not for sale)
*note: dazzle was the second single from the 1984 album Hyæna. It is the only record guitarist Robert Smith of The Cure composed and recorded with the Banshees.

It's A Mad World

ultra-rare ~ have never seen another one ~ ever.

1985 Corrosion of Conformity - "Animosity" tour t-shirt

From the end of 1984 until late spring of 1986 three guys from Raleigh North Carolina of all places, forever changed the musical landscape by combining their love for Black Flag and Venom. C.O.C's 1985 release "Animosity" stands today as one of the heaviest pieces of vinyl you could have in your collection.

Remember these guys created this sound 25 years ago. Amazing! All thrash bands since can be traced directly back to this brief but brilliant artistic maelstrom!

Mike Dean of C.O.C delivering a crushing mix of punk and metal (later known as thrash metal).

Sleep In Safety

Extremely rare 1983 Promo tee for 45 Grave's only studio album "Sleep in Safety".

Another gem from my personal collection!
Unless you were a punk living on the west coast in the early 80's, at first glance you'd think this was just another obscure band t-shirt from days gone by. How wrong you'd be. In reality this is an extremely rare piece of music history from one of the early pioneers of the L.A. punk scene. As budgets were small to non-existent in those days I'm sure only a very limited number of these tees were printed in 1983 by Restless Records to promote 45 Grave's one and only full-length studio album. Safe to say only a handful have survived after 27 years.
45 Grave were born from the ashes of the Los Angeles punk subculture and ground zero, The Masque club between 1977 and 1979. By 1980 they were at the forefront of L.A.'s second wave of punk rock. The band included members from some of L.A.'s earliest and most infamous DIY collaborations such as; The Gun Club, The Screamers, The Bags and The Germs. 


Along with bands like Social Distortion, Bad Religion, The Circle Jerks, Black Flag and T.S.O.L., 45 Grave helped established a west coast punk scene in the early 80's that rivaled that of London and New York. 30 years later these artists and their band's contributions to the punk lineage are of mythic and legendary proportion.

45 Grave promo shot.

"Sleep in Safety" promo tee graphic.

1983 "Sleep in Safety" album artwork.

The lovely Dinah Cancer of 45 Grave.

Great memories of gigs at the Whiskey A Go Go!

The band on stage early 80's.

This flyer hung on my wall for a long time back-in-the-day.

Don't Die of Ignorance!

Sham 69 - First American Tour 1988

Probably one of the rarest in my personal collection. Like the 1986 Lords tee, I've never seen another one of these anywhere, ever. Granted by 1988 the Sham 69 line-up had changed and the early days of punk were long gone, this still remains a very rare and collectible tee. I picked it up a few years ago for a buck at a thrift store. One of those "No way!!!" moments that only come around maybe once or twice a year, if that. It was originally white but obviously 21 years ago the owner didn't think twice about a little tie-dye action. What a shame. Thankfully it was done in a cool gray and not a bad dye job at that. Can you imagine if it was some horrendous multi-color monstrosity? If it had been I might have left it hanging on the rack, instead this gem is tucked away in the collection safe and sound for another 20 years.

Brief Sham 69 history

Credit: www.punk77.co.uk :

Sham 69 were quite simply one of THE top punk bands of the late seventies. Led by the charismatic and irrepressible Jimmy Pursey they produced a stream of catchy, populist, short and sweet punk tunes including 'If The Kids Are United', 'Hurry Up Harry' and 'Angels With Dirty Faces' that made the British charts.

What makes Sham 69 even more interesting though is their arrival on the scene when Punk began to move from the more elitist fashion driven art scene to a rougher, more working class ethic. While some original faces on the scene perceived this as a dumbing down, others saw it as a breath of fresh air on a moribund scene. Add in a skinhead revival, frequent violence at their gigs and the Sham 69 one is a fascinating story.

But above all Sham 69 were a fantastic, full on punk band with great tunes, a top singer and a dynamic live act. 

86 Lords

In 1986 The Lords of the New Church were on tour. By this time they had released three studio albums and had a considerable following from Stiv Bator's Dead Boys legacy. When The Lords tour rolled into California for two shows, one at the now sadly defunct Fender's Ballroom in Long Beach and one at the Timbers Ballroom in Glendora an almost unknown band at the time named Guns-N-Roses opened for them. This tee is from that tour and is undoubtedly the rarest in my collection. I've never seen another one anywhere, ever. R.I.P Stiv.