DOA - Bloodied But Unbowed - 1983

There was a time in the early 90's when I thought these guys would be lost forever. This is a time in the early 90's before the internet really took off. I remember being away at college and trying to tell some friends about DOA and they didn't know what I was talking about. All they knew was the Europop Dance ground Dead Or Alive. Good in their own right, but completely different. I remember thinking that these underground hardcore punk bands that myself and my small group of skater friends listened to would be forgotten forever. No one talked about them. At the time all the music was out of print. No one was repressing these records on CD. I had a few records and tapes of records and a handful of tapes I made from the radio show "Fast and Loud" that played on WNUR in Chicago. What I never thought would be that 15 years later these bands would be revered as godfathers, that documentaries would be made about them, all the music would be re-released on CD, and that my own son would fall in love with this very music.

I credit the internet for saving this music from oblivion. I credit the internet for giving people a forum to share this music. File sharing programs and music blogs have been a god send for me. I've been able to re-find and re-listen to so much of that music from that time and rekindled my love for it.

It was in this rekindled state that I found this record and bought it. I loved the few songs I had from DOA and this record was perfect for me. It is a collection of the hits. I use that term hits loosely since I don't think any of the songs ever really were hits in the traditional commercial sense. They are more hits in the sense that they are the best of the best.

The highlights for me are "The Prisoner", "Smash The State", "World War 3", "The Enemy" and "Fucked Up Ronnie". These guys were hard core, but they weren't so hard core that they abandoned song writing. There is still some of the early punk influence in these songs. Sure they are faster and harder, but there is still a sense of melody and song craft.

01 New Age.m4a
02 The Prisoner.m4a
03 Unknown.m4a
04 Smash The State.m4a
05 Rich Bitch.m4a
06 Slumlord.m4a
07 Fuck You.m4a
08 I Don't Give A Shit.m4a
09 Waiting For You.m4a
10 Watcha Gonna Do_.m4a
11 World War 3.m4a
12 2 + 2.m4a
13 The Enemy.m4a
14 Fucked Up Ronnie.m4a
15 Woke Up Screaming.m4a
16 001 Loser's Club.m4a
17 13.m4a
18 Get Out Of My Life.m4a
19 D.O.A..m4a

Here's the whole thing on one glorious zip file. DOA - Bloodied But Unbowed.zip