Reagan Youth
is an American punk band started by singer Dave Rubinstein (Dave Insurgent) and his friend and guitarist Paul Bakija (Paul Cripple) in Queens in early 1980. They have been labeled a peace punk band, but are more commonly cited as a pivotal band in introducing the style of hardcore punk to the East Coast punk scene. 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.
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REAGAN YOUTH TICKETS
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History
1980-1990
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) 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 CBGB's. In 1984, prior to a significant US tour, Pike and Weissman left the group. They were replaced by
Victor Dominicis (Vic Venom) and Rick Griffith (Rick Royale) respectively. Griffith was later 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 1988 demise.
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 of 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 girlfriend and recently deceased mother, 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.
Original bassist Andy Bryan died of a heart attack in the late 1990s.
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 show, 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".
[2] In the summer of 2008, the Reagan Youth
MySpace page began featuring a snippet of a new demo recording of a new song, "In the Thirsty Hour", and a reference to the possibility of this third record
[3]. The band continues to perform live dates.
Music
Lyrical content
Reagan Youth is an aggressively
anarchist,
socialist, and
anti-racist band, and often utilized
Ku Klux Klan and
Nazi Party imagery for
satirical effect, much in the way of
the Dead Kennedys on the West Coast. Their intention was to draw the audience's attention to the perceived parallels between the policies of
Ronald Reagan and the
Christian Right and the beliefs of the hate groups. The band expressed its
left-wing politics through
irony, using images from
hate groups for their album/CD covers. Their songs included "Jesus Was a Communist," and "New Aryans," an anti-
conservative/
yuppie and also
anti-racist anthem. It should be noted that both of Dave Rubinstein's parents were
Holocaust survivors.
Musical style
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 (replete 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.
Band members
Current members
- Paul Bakija - guitar (1980-1990, 2006-present)
- Al Pike - bass (1981-1983, 2006-present)
- Javier Madriaga - drums (1985-1990, 2006-present)
- Pat McGowan - vocals (2006-present)
Past members
- Dave Rubinstein (deceased) - vocals (1980-1990)
- Andy Bryan (deceased) - bass (1980-1981)
- Victor Dominicis - bass (1984-1990)
- Charlie Bonet - drums (1980-1981, 1982)
- Steve Weissman - drums (1982-1984)
- Rick Griffith - drums (1984-1985)
Discography
Reagan Youth released only one album during their existence as a band (in 1984): originally titled Youth Anthems for the New Order
, it was re-released 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.
Compact discs and vinyl
- Youth Anthems for the New Order
(1984)
- Volume 1
(1989)
- Volume 2
(1990)
- A Collection of Pop Classics
(1994)
- Live & Rare
(1998)
- Punk Rock New York
(2007)
Bootlegs
- Live At CBGBs August 7, 1982
- Live At CBGBs November 20, 1982
(Ratcage Records Benefit)
- Live At CBGBs Vol. One
7"
References
- Reagan Youth official web site, History page
- History page
- http://www.myspace.com/reaganyouth