Ian MacKaye isn’t an historian. But his label is going to help proper history buffs suss out what was happening in the States during the early eights. Just wait and see.
A part of the throng was a group from suburban Virginia called Scream. The band lasted for almost a decade. And yes, Dave Grohl, after exiting Drain Bramage (which also counted a young Reuben Radding – look him up) played drums on an album or two. But Scream when Grohl was a member had already moved past its pinnacle.
The interesting thing about Scream, since the band didn’t crop up until 1982, is that it was able to absorb the lessons the Clash taught punkers, but were also greatly influenced by the Bad Brains. Apart from “Amerarockers” being a lame white guy reggae, there are a few other efforts that sport the same sort of cultural integration.
The fifty four second “Cry Wolf” is a decent a representation of what was happening musically in DC. But I’d imagine that the more traditional rock songs hint at some underlying traditional currents in the scene – maybe that’s why everyone covered Wire.
Along with that, though, came a surprising melodicism. It might be as a result of the Dag Nasty thing kicking around. Or tracks like “Laissez-Faire” could be connected to MacKaye’s atonal bleating. Either way, Scream was able to encompass any and every element of the DC scene at the time.
For all these reasons, it seems a bit bizarre that Scream hasn’t maintained a distinctive following in the manner aforementioned groups have. The band toured deep into the eighties and occasionally gets back together for a one off show. It might be this wealth of integrated noises that did the band in, though.
Counting Grohl as a former member should also probably been a bonus. It just didn’t work out. But during one of the group’s last tours, after they’d befriended Mudhoney, those Northwesterners brought some dude named Kurt Cobain and Krist Novoselic to a gig. And the rest, as one might say, is punker history.