Join the Army

Join the Army is the second album by Suicidal Tendencies, and was released in 1987 – 4 years after their self-titled debut. It is one of the most well known albums for crossing over the genres of punk and metal, known as thrash. Mike Muir used vastly different vocal techniques and range compared to their debut album (sometimes sounding similar to Lemmy from Motörhead). Original guitarist Grant Estes had been replaced by Jon Nelson in 1984, who was then soon replaced by Rocky George, who influenced the change of the band's sound into the thrash direction. Original drummer Amery Smith was replaced by R.J. Herrera, who used the particularly metal drum feature of double kick.

"Possessed to Skate" preceded the album's release as a single, which also had a music video created for it. The video heavily features old school skateboarding tricks, and as such is considered a classic visual period piece of skateboarding.

"War Inside My Head" is featured in the game Guitar Hero: Metallica. "Possessed to Skate" is featured in the game Skate 2. "Suicidal Maniac" was covered by Hatebreed on their 2009 release For The Lions.

Track listing

• "War Inside My Head", "Human Guinea Pig", and "You Got, I Want" were originally written by previous guitarist Jon Nelson. He traded the rights for "War Inside My Head" for a Flying V guitar after he left the band.^[2]
• "Human Guinea Pig" was not on the original release, but appeared on re-releases and the FNG compilation

Credits

• Mike Muir – Vocals
• Louiche Mayorga – Bass, Backing Vocals
• Rocky George – Guitar, Backing Vocals
• R.J. Herrera – Drums

• Recorded and mixed at Record Plant, Los Angeles, California, USA
• Produced by Lester Claypool and Suicidal Tendencies
• Engineered by Lester Claypool
• Guitar and vocals recorded at Baby/O/
• Album cover by Michael Seiff

Chart positions

Album

Billboard (North America)

References