Reagan Youth

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Reagan Youth

Background information
Origin Forest Hills, Queens, New York City, New York, U.S.
Genre(s) Punk rock
Hardcore punk
Years active 1980–1988;
2006–present
Label(s) R Radical
New Red Archives
Members
Al Pike
Javier Madriaga
Paul Bakija
Pat McGowan
Former members
Dave Rubinstein
Andy Bryan
Charlie Bonet
Steve Weissman (changed to Neweissman in 1999)
Rick Griffith
Victor Dominicis

Reagan Youth was a band started by singer Dave Rubinstein (Dave Insurgent) and his friend and guitarist Paul Bakija in Queens in early 1980. They have been labeled peace punk as well as hardcore. Their name is a word play on Hitler Youth. An important group in the New York/New Jersey hardcore scene, they performed very regularly at CBGB and toured the U.S. extensively, often with other early punk bands such as the Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains and The Misfits. The Beastie Boys and Rancid, among other significant successful punk rock and alternative rock groups, have cited Reagan Youth as an influence.

Contents

[edit] Style

Though known for their use of Ku Klux Klan and Nazi Party imagery, Reagan Youth was an aggressively anti-fascist/anti-racist band, playing with such black bands as Bad Brains. The band expressed its political views through irony, using images from the two hate groups for their album/CD covers. Their intention was to draw the audience's attention to the perceived parallels between the policies of Ronald Reagan and the Religious Right and the beliefs of the hate groups. Their songs included "Jesus Was a Communist," a stab at the Christian fundamentalists in the United States, and "New Aryans," an anti-Ronald Reagan/yuppie and also anti-racist anthem. It should be noted that Dave Rubinstein was well aware of the irony and shock value inherent in these images and lyrics; both of his parents were Holocaust survivors.

Musically, the band was firmly rooted in the early hardcore/punk crossover tradition, but moved deeper into waters uncharted by punk rock as their career progressed. While their first record, from 1983, is mostly in keeping with hardcore punk convention, albeit with modestly ambitious flourishes on each instrument, their second, from 1990, features dense guitar work (repleat with solos and overdubs,) diversified tempos and several sonic experiments. In fact, the latter record draws comparisons to Black Sabbath and '70s album-oriented rock.

[edit] History

Formed while Rubinstein and Bakija were still in Forest Hills high school, they quickly gained a good reputation and were soon playing the punk clubs of Manhattan. Reagan Youth played their first gig on August 22, 1980, with original bassist Andy Bryan (Andy Apathy - deceased) and drummer Charlie Bonet (Charlie Tripper). Bakija's physics teacher Jack DePalma shaved his head and became a roadie for the group. After the band recorded a four-song demo in 1981, Bryan was replaced by Al Pike. Bonet departed soon after; after the band briefly rehearsed with Rubinstein filling in on drums, Steve Weissman joined full time. The band was signed to the R Radical imprint, and later, to burgeoning punk/hardcore label New Red Archives.

After graduation and the release of their first album, Youth Anthems for the New Order (later reissued on New Red Archives with three outtakes and renamed Volume 1,) they began touring nationally and were regulars at the Sunday-afternoon hardcore matinee shows at CBGBs. In 1984, prior to a significant US tour, Pike and Weinstein left the group. They were replaced by Victor Dominicis (Vic Venom) and Rick Griffith (Rick Royale) respectively. Griffith's tenure was brief; he was replaced in 1985 by Javier Madriaga (Johnny Aztec.)

By the late 1980s the extensive touring had taken its toll on the group, both physically and emotionally. Despite the many shows played and the relatively large album sales for a hardcore punk band, the members of the band continually found themselves broke. When Reagan left office, the band split up. Dominicis was the first to leave; Bakija (playing both guitar and bass,) Madriaga, and Rubinstein recorded a final album, Volume 2, in 1990 after the band's demise.

[edit] Post-breakup

In the years following, Dominicis made a significant impact on the punk music scene playing in the band Nausea, whose fast and metallic sound helped define the crust punk genre.

Madriaga, Rubinstein, and Bakija briefly continued making music together, performing in a psychedelic rock group called House of God, but this project was short-lived.

By 1990 Rubinstein had become a heroin user and occasional dealer. In a conflict with another dealer, he was severely beaten with a baseball bat, requiring weeks of hospitalization. In 1993 he began seeing a girl, Tiffany Bresciani, who supported both their drug habits by prostitution. Later that year his mother was killed in a car accident. Soon after, Dave and his girlfriend were on Houston Street looking for customers and drugs. A familiar customer in a truck hired Tiffany and the two of them disappeared. A few days later, police on Long Island stopped the same truck and discovered Tiffany's body in the back. The driver was Joel Rifkin, later convicted as a serial killer responsible for the murder of several prostitutes. Despondent over his continuing drug addiction and the loss of his mother and girlfriend, Dave Rubinstein committed suicide in 1993.

A version of their song "Degenerated" was used as a song performed by "The Lone Rangers," the fictional heavy metal band portrayed in the 1994 comedy Airheads. The song was credited as being written by Dave Rubenstein and Paul Bakija (but not under the name Reagan Youth).

In 1998, New Red Archives released Live and Rare, a single CD compiling highlights from NYC-area Reagan Youth sets from the early '80s with the Pike/Weinstein lineup, along with tracks from the band's initial demo and a brief experimental demo for Volume 2. Al Pike and New Red Archives owner Nicky Garratt, also the guitarist for the British band the UK Subs, contributed liner notes for this release.

The Beastie Boys have regularly given on-stage shout-outs to Reagan Youth, citing the latter group's influence, and have occasionally performed Reagan Youth's eponymous song live.

[edit] Reformation

In 2006, the band reformed. Bakija, Pike and Madriaga, along with vocalist Pat McGowen (Pat SpEd) of the New York City hardcore band Distraction, initially intended to play only a single New Year's Eve show at CBGB's, but "the project began to take on a life of its own" [1]. The group played several additional local and regional tours, and embarked on the "Resurrection Tour" in August, 2007, with Boston hardcore band Mouth Sewn Shut.

Bakija has expressed interest in writing and recording a third record "about the life and times of Dave Insurgent," but hedges that the rest of the band would need to get on board with the project prior to making any progress on that front [2].

The band is being managed by Cutie Calamity, who helped to reform the band in its new incarnation.

[edit] Discography

They were in existence for almost ten years, but only managed to release one album during their existence as a band (in 1984): originally titled Youth Anthems for the New Order, it was rereleased as Reagan Youth (Volume 1) by the small independent label New Red Archives in 1989. This album eventually sold 40,000 copies. A second album, titled Volume 2, was completed and released in 1990, after the official breakup of the band. Both are still available on vinyl, as well as a CD titled A Collection of Pop Classics that combines both records. A collection of live recordings was issued in 1998 as Live and Rare.

[edit] Released Material:

[edit] Bootlegs:

[edit] External links