Poll results for favorite track off the Antidote "Thou Shalt Not Kill" EP

Thou Shalt Not Kill

The Antidote EP is my personal favorite of the early NYHC heavy hitters. Some diehard early 80s vinyl junkies might tell you It isn't the most obscure, it isn't the craziest, and it isn't the most critically acclaimed. But, it is I think surely considered by even the most devout early hardcore fans as an important record for its time...and to some it is a timeless masterpiece. I won't get too long-winded here or provide a band history, but goddamn if there aren't some major things to discuss regarding this 8 song powerhouse.

When I was coming up, this record already had a decade's worth of mystique to it, and seemed to be discussed in hushed voices by those older than me who had been around for years longer. I remember a significantly older friend once saying to me, "You think YOT is good? You gotta hear the Antidote record. Makes Cappo sound like he's just imitating it." Within minutes I think I had secured a tape dub from that same person...it definitely wasn't available in any bootleg or re-release format at that time.

For some reason, the songs were out of order on my cassette copy, and the first song to play was Foreign Job Lot. That opening twinge of feedback and then the breakneck guillotine of a riff simply destroyed me and turned my headphones into ashes and clumps of dust. By the time it got to the breakdown, I was borderline-unconscious and felt like I was nodding out in a lower east side squat. And man, that breakdown. To this day, that's in my top 5 mosh parts ever written. I'm not sure there is a vocal part in the existence of the world that sounds better than when Louie growls/screams/yells, "I CANNOT CAN'T A GET A JOB...BECAUUUUHHHHSSSSEEE!!! THERE'S NO PLACE TO WORK!!!!" There may be other vocal parts in songs on par with this, but I challenge you with ferocity to tell me there is anything better. Seriously, that's as good as it gets, the end.

So, that said, Foreign Job Lot, 'questionable' lyrics included, is my favorite song and got my #1 vote without hesitation. I'm pretty surprised this took the #3 spot behind Real Deal. Real Deal is a great song, I just didn't realize it had this level of popularity. I've always loved the cheering/fun vibe when the solo kicks in near the end, but to me this would be the #3 spot, and not #2. I just always thought that Foreign Job Lot was the universal second seed to the crowd favorite, Something Must Be Done.

In a lot of ways, Something Must Be Done is just the "hit" off the record. I love the song, one of the all time greats, and it gives Foreign Job Lot a strong run for the money. But it's just almost too familiar, I kinda forget its power at this point unless I go awhile not hearing it. I would give it my #2 vote.

The thing I always find interesting when listening to Something Must Be Done is the overdub guitar track that runs at times through the song that never seems to link up with anything. It will do some picking and some other little cool stuff, but it's almost totally out of time. It ends up sounding like a friend just started fucking around with a guitar when the band wasn't looking and it got recorded, but somehow it works.

Speaking of recording, this is also as far as I'm concerned one of the best HC recordings ever. It doesn't hurt that these dudes are super tight with great rhythm, but sonically, everything is perfect and could probably never be duplicated the same way it came out here. The guitar tone especially...madonna mia. Absolute perfection. If someone can exactly recreate this studio sound, I will pay you $10,000 just so I can come in and make some noise and record it.

While no song on here is bad, Something Must Be Done is an anthem in every sense of the word - the Antidote song anyone worth their salt should know every single word to. For a record that has some lyrics that don't really make a whole lot of sense at times and are written in an odd way, this is just a "get off the couch and change the world" battlecry song that is the musical equivalent of a gigantic caffeine pill laced with just a spritz of cocaine.

So yeah, Something Must Be Done will likely remain the Antidote crowd favorite for the rest of eternity, as this awesome piece of classic vinyl is burnt into the history books as one of the key template pieces for fast raging hardcore punk. RESPECT. -Gordo DCXX

Something Must Be Done - 131
Real Deal - 63
Foreign Job Lot - 39
Life As One - 18
Nazi Youth - 11
Got Me on The Line - 7
Zero Mentality - 5
Die At War - 3


Nunzio (Antidote) & Robb Miller (Rapid Deployment, Antidote) 1984, Photo courtesy of: Antidote