Long Out of Print

CIRCLE JERKS: VI. CD

The joke (jerk?) is on you—this was actually the Circle Jerks’ 5th album! But then, there were always enough jokes to go around with this hardcore outfit formed by former Redd Kross guitarist Greg Hetson and former Black Flag vocalist Keith Morris; in contrast to their more serious-minded hardcore peers like M.D.C. and Minor Threat, the Circle Jerks were, in the words of Keith Morris, “the party meisters. We wanted to find the keg and get laid.” That didn’t stop them from putting out some of the best albums of the entire hardcore movement, and this long out-of-print 1987 release stands as one of the best punk albums of the ‘80s. Note that we didn’t say hardcore punk; by this time the tempos had slowed and the production values increased. Predictably, this led some to cry sell-out, but VI goes right to the jugular with such skewerings of the consumer culture as “American Way” and “Living,” their lyrics spit out by the newly clean and sober Morris with his trademark desperate edge. In fact, Hetson, in Tony Rettman’s revealing liner notes, states that VI just may be their best record: “You know, every once in a while, a track from VI will come up on my iPod and I’m struck by how good a record it is. It’s definitely a consistently better record than others we’ve done. The songwriting, the sound quality, the charge of it; it definitely still holds up.” Real Gone Music is proud to reissue this punk classic, remastered at Sony’s Battery Studios with lyrics and photos.

SONGS:

1. Beat Me Senseless

2. Patty’s Killing Mel

3. Casualty Vampire

4. Tell Me Why

5. Protection

6. I’m Alive

7. Status Clinger

8. Living

9. American Way

10. Fortunate Son

11. Love Kills

12. All Wound Up

13. I Don’t