The Crucifucks
To call the Crucifucks' career a "13 year legacy" may be a tad misleading.
The Crucifucks came to full fruition with the release of their debut, self
titled LP in 1983. This record was highlighted by squeaky and snotty vocal
lines by brainchild Doc Corbin Dart and a slew of uncontent and downright
angry lyrical moldings. Their third and final LP, "The LD Eye," released in
1996, is an intelligent yet cynical look at worldly issues (mainly of the
negative or downright absurd nature.) In between, the Crucifucks faced all
sorts of milestones that, despite a very small output per time in existance,
proved to have created a band that was successful in saying what needed to be
said.
Over the years, Crucifucks juggled many members, the only constant being Doc
Dart. Their first LP, s/t, was released in 1983 on Jello Biafra's Alternative
Tentacles label. This auspicious debut featured Doc on the micraphone, Steve
Shelley [noted for future envolvements with Sonic Youth] on the drums, a
bassist known enigmatically as "Joe" and ___ on the guitar. To say the least,
it was offensive. It reaked of cynical and sarcastic anger delivering such
lines as, "It'll keep kids out of trouble shooting cops after school," "Be a
good American, go to war, or kill yourself, 'cause you're such a fucking
bore." As the band moved on to the release of their second LP, "Wisconsin,"
also released on Alternative Tentacles, the band approached a slightly more
intelligent route to serving up their anarchist sermons, and progressed into a
full-fleged "political" act. In between this LP, released in 1985, and their
third LP, "the LD Eye," lied a ten year gap with no new Crucifuck tracks, yet
a gap still haunted by the Crucifuck ghost. In 1990, the Doc released his
solo effort entitled "Patricia," a hauntingly brilliant LP filled to the brim
with negativity, despair, frustration and anger, with a feeling totally out of
the territory previously covered by the Crucifucks, though still managing to
have the leftist political edge of 'fucks.
2 years later, the infamous "Our Will Be Done" CD was released on Alt.
Tentacles. This disc encompassed the first two vinyl-only releases, "The
Crucifucks" and "Wisconsin," as well as the only non-LP track in 'fucks
history, "Official Terrorism" (which was featured on Maximum R N' R's
compilation "Welcome To 1984.") More importantly, this disc contained a
staged photograph of a slain police officer that was originally used on an
illeged "public service" poster by the Philadelphia police. The shocking
nature of this picture coupled with unfufilled copyright laws brought about a
$2.2 million lawsuit on the Crucifucks [who, at this point, were only
repressented by singer Doc Dart and drummer Steve Merchant,] Alternative
Tentacles Records and its leader Jello Biafra, and Borders Books and Music who
carried this release, from the Philadelphia Police. Borders managed to get
out of the suit without any damages, however, the Crucifucks and Alt.
Tentacles eventually lost the case.
This lawsuit did not mark the end of the Crucifucks, rather, it just resparked
the original anger with a corrupt system that fueled them to venture forth
into musical territories in the first place. 1996 saw the release of the
haunting and brilliant "LD Eye" cd, an amalgamation of the driving punk rock
of the first two LPs with elements applied in Dart's Solo "Patricia" LP. Steve
Merchant and Dart teamed up with bassist Dave Breher and guitarist Nat Warren
to create the latest incarnation of the band, and the four musicians managed
to pump out a 7 song, 42 minute opus of political distaste and social unrest,
best described as "graveyard music" [stolen from the mouth of a clerk at a
local record store,] due not only to general musical eerieness but equally to
overall narrative tales of death, usually in a political or social context,
and the dealings with thereof.
After this release, the four-piece toured mildly with Dart also doing the
occasional solo show, and any current plans and status are unknown by the
world, keeping with the enigmatic edge inherent in all public interactions
that the Crucifucks have laid down in their whole history.
Home
Crucifucks Media
26
Crucifucks Album Reviews (Mark Prindle)
Crucifucks Lawsuit (Article)
Phildelphia Police Suit Dropped (Article)
L.D. Eye Review (Article)
Crucifucks Interview
Order Crucifucks Album's (From CDNOW)
Dead Kennedys
Alternative Tentacles
Email: johnf@san.rr.com