Search - Victims Family :: Germ

Why haven't you bought this album yet?

05/26/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you ever loved NoMeansNo or Dead Kennedys, then you cannot respect yourself until you've got Victims Family albums..you won't be well-rounded until you do. Oh sure, they're called Hellworms now, but you don't know the whole story until you've heard VF. Okay? You don't know what you're missing!"

Uncompromising with a sense of humor...is that an oxymoron?

Stargrazer | deep in the heart of Michigan | 11/05/2005

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I first played this album as an aspiring college radio DJ...while still in high school! Suddenly the Red Hot Chili Peppers seemed passe.



In those days, I'd fall asleep in my 3rd hour trig class because I was up late playing all kinds of bizarro stuff for the college kids, like the Pain Teens and Hector Zazou -- music I only hazily recall now!



Not so with Victims Family. Highly unforgettable. They're tight, fast, loud, politically uncompromising, but with a sense of humor (see the middle of "New World Hors D'Oeuvre" or the bonus "bogus" track). Larry Boothroyd's bass rivaled Les Claypool's playing of the same era. Ralph Spight is a guitar favorite to this day, ignited by his soloing in the song "Bad Karma."



Victims Family pushed the power trio format about as far as it goes.



"The Germ" led me to "White Bread Blues/Things I Hate To Admit," almost Minutemen-like in breadth and scope -- which kept me busy listening for almost a decade. Just a couple months ago I stumbled onto "Voltage and Violets" at a used CD shop in Detroit -- a recording I had despaired of ever seeing again. All their albums are tasty, but "The Germ" is the essential one.



The post-VF album by Saturn's Flea Collar (Larry, Ralph, and a different drummer) is also superfun."