Middle Class-Out of Vogue 7" (1978)

Until the advent of online file-sharing, Santa Ana, California's Middle Class were one of those legendary early punk/HC bands that most punks had heard of without hearing (myself included). Regardless of whether this was the first "hardcore" record or not (and really, why does it matter?), this is a classic that I'm happy to be sharing with you lumpen masses.

Opening with an impossibly taut, frantically repeated guitar riff and wobbly bass line, "Out of Vogue" careens through a Ramonesclone song structure, dragging you along as singer Jeff Ata intones against the brave new world of mass media: "we don't need your magazines/we don't need your fashion show/we don't need your TV/we don't wanna know!" The music is so fast, the shouted words are like a ritual incantation at breakneck speed. The song ends with a clipped "OUT OF!..."

"You Belong" starts off slower, building up momentum until the crushing transition to more sonic oblivion; Ata's singing is even more rushed as the Middle Class careen through a tale of...I dunno, the words are incoherent. The beginning drumfill of "Situation" is killer, holding you in suspense until the divebomber bass line and savagely strummed guitar hover into focus. The song is slower than the first two, effectively slowing down and intensifying the groove so that you can almost make out Ata's words: "no use in trying..." The slow down only sets the scene for "Insurgence," which flies by at one minute, one second. The whole band gallops along at top speed, trying to beat its own pace; there's no center to the song, it's pure rush: Johnny Rotten's "I just speed/that's all I need!" dictum taken literally.

This EP blew me away when I first heard it, and I still spin it at least twice a week. It's the essence of punk as a musical genre, condensed and compressed to the point where form becomes content: a formalist's wetdream. Yet this isn't retarded, inept, slipshod thrash in the tradition of the early harDCore bands like Teen Idles, SOA et. al. Middle Class were great songwriters, and would go on to prove their deft handling of tempo, rhythm and harmonies on their next outing, 1980's Scavenged Luxury EP. "Out of Vogue" was a perfect statement and on Scavenged Luxury they were already headed in the direction of 1982's LP, "Homeland": tense, despondent goth in the vein of early Fall or Joy Division.

Basically, if you don't like this EP, you don't like punk or hardcore. YOU BELONG  You can buy a repressing of the 7", or an LP-length collection of the first two EPs plus outtakes and demos, at Frontier Records. You should also read an interesting 2011 interview with all the original members, here.

*Edit, 9.10.12: Reup'd the file, get it HERE. *

*Edit, 1.6.13: Re'up'd it again, AGAINAGAIN.*

Middle Class-Scavenged Luxury EP (1980)

Middle Class started as arty thugs, and finished as thuggish artistes. Always a step ahead of their SoCal brethren, while other LA bands were still thrashing out their stupidity with three chords and the HB Strut, by 1980 Middle Class was already jettisoning the hidebound hardcore formula.

1980's "Scavenged Luxury" EP is one of the most interesting American attempts at working through the Martin Hannett sound, without, for a moment, simply aping it. The first track, "Home is Where," is the real transition from the hammer blows of hardcore to the wider horizons of post punk: the drumming is clipped and measured, superseding the frantic double-time of "Out of Vogue;" the guitar echoes off the bass, which sets the tone for the rest of the band. Jeff Atta's vocal style hasn't really changed: he declaims more than he sings, and the hollow, aloof tone fits the band's new, measured sound. 

   If 1978's "Out of Vogue" EP was about claustrophobic compression, "Scavenged Luxury" is self-consciously expansive. This really becomes evident on the second track, "Blueprint for Joy," where a razor-wire guitar note shimmers through the mid-tempo bass-drums combo. Combined with Atta's fragmentary phrasing, the tune has a furtive, twilight quality to it. "Last Touch" is built around a guitar line that crescendos in a repeated bass/drum lead, while "Introductory Rites" brings the whole show to a grinding halt. The track is jerky and the clean guitar sound has an echoing quality to it.
             
 Middle Class was clearly groping their way towards something new with “Scavenged Luxury,” and it’s a real midpoint between the sonic hurricane of “Out of Vogue” and ‘82’s “The Call” LP, which sometimes sounds like a sleeping pill. Throw this on at your next hipster dance party, and show all those assholes what the soundtrack to their late night coke binge should be instead of the Bloc Party (do people even listen to those guys anymore?).

*Frontier put out a good collection of the early Middle Class material a few years ago, from whence I culled the "Scavenged Luxury" EP:  http://frontierrecords.com/middleclass.html*

*Edit, 9.10.12: reup'd the file. Download SL HERE. * 

*EDIT, 1.5.14: Re'up'd it again. AGAIN.*