Wipers: Youth of America [JACKPOT]

Why you'll love it

Jackpot's limited reissue is remastered by Greg Sage himself from the original master tapes. Rolling Stone called the album proto-grunge, and Melvins, Nirvana and Hole have all covered Wipers songs.

This edition

• Limited edition
• Remastered by Greg Sage from the original master tapes
• Pressed in the USA
• Stereo mix

About the album

Punk bands in 1981 were busy getting shorter. Greg Sage went the other way on purpose. With a new rhythm section in bassist Brad Davidson and drummer Brad Naish, the Portland band's second album stretches out over six songs, and Sage wrote, produced and recorded every one of them. The debut, Is This Real?, had been raw and quick; this was something else entirely.

"Taking Too Long" and "Can This Be" open on ringing, driving guitar, "Pushing the Extreme" keeps the tension wound tight, and "When It's Over" charges up a frantic, ascending riff and never lets go. The title track closes the record, a long, hypnotic run where The Quietus heard krautrock momentum underneath the gloom.

Consequence of Sound said it sounded as strong and fresh as it did 30 years earlier, and The Quietus reckoned punk never again sounded so searching. Sage wanted to push back against the fashion for short songs; the title track runs past ten minutes, so we'd say he made his point and then kept making it.

Also at Kops: more Wipers on vinyl · browse Punk

Tracklist

Listen

On Jackpot / Zeno (cat# JPR 82802), a reissue of the 1981 album.