The Best Albums Of 2021 30 Years Ago

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1991 Rock and Rap round the clock renaissance: Nirvana, Metallica, My Bloody Valentine, Soundgarden, Cypress Hill, Sepultura, and A Tribe Called Quest

1991 was a very good year. It was a very good year for passionate, aggressive, uncompromising and innovative music. It was tremendously historic year that obliterated the status quo and radio formats, both of which needed a shellacking and power sanding a long time ago. 1991 ranked up there with other milestone musically revolutionary years like 1967 (Sgt. Peppers, Hendrix), 1971 (Zoso, Joni’s Blue, The Who) 1977 (Punk, Fleetwood Mac) and the phenomenal 1984 (Springsteen, Prince, Van Halen, Madonna, Metallica, Post punk). Although 1986-1988 should get a lot of credit for the great contributions from thrash metal,, proto-alt-rock and hip hop’s golden eras as well, for it has a major influence on this list.

Let’s go.

Nirvana's Nevermind: an album artwork expert decodes the famous underwater baby cover

Nirvana, Nevermind

When Nirvana and David Geffen released Nevermind on September 24, 1991, it slipped under the proverbial radar. But all of sudden, this album landed on earth and the charts like a meteor and the contents of from that crash oozed all over rock radio airwaves and shot up the charts in no time, buoyed by the first single and leadoff song “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as it dominated the airwaves and pop culture.

The quickness with how this captured the nation was not seen since supergroup Asia blasted into everyone’s conscience with “Heat of The Moment” nine years earlier, but in retrospect it’s hard not to see why. Even though the post punk influence of the Pixies and Sonic Youth were definitely there with the song structure and guitar skronk solo, “Teen Spirit” had the catchiest power chords and riffs of all time (the riff was actually played with two open strings!), it was reminiscent of Boston’s “More than A Feeling” from their own breakthrough landmark album, which was also a soft verse loud chorus structure. Another thing that propelled the song was the monstrous beats by new drummer Dave Grohl, who in 4 and half minutes became the heaviest drummer in the industry since Led Zeppelin’s John Bonzo Bonham. On the abstract and ironic lyrics of “Spirit”, Cobain riffs about making a hit song and singing to massive audience, emphasized by the shouting of the refrain “ENTERTAIN US” which conveys the demands of the crowd and also the record label’s demands to attract them, which the author later comes to accept his fate and the lucrative record contract with the dismissive “oh well, whatever nevermind” until the loud part comes again for the last time. With this, Cobain, Novoselic and Grohl made one of the biggest revolutionary anthems of all time that defined its generation the likes it’s seen since, well, The Who’s My Generation and even the Beatles Revolution and Stepponwolf’s Born to Be Wild.

The other factor of the song and album’s overnight zeitgeist dominating success was because of their video, which made MTV suddenly relevant again as it dominated the station for months. But what really put Nevermind over the fucking top was the fact that Billboard finally decided to rank their albums solely based on sales rather than the old standard of including that with payola induced airplay and promotion activity. And this is where it gets really fucking hilarious;  around the same time during Nevermind and Teen Spirit’s ascendance, Michael Jackson came out with his first album in 4 years Dangerous and he promoted this album and comeback by declaring himself the King of Pop as his album naturally climbed to number one despite a weak platitude song about racial division. After holding on to the top spot for about a month, on January 11, 1992,  Nevermind knocked Dangerous off and hit Number 1, and Nirvana dethroned Jackson and the new and true kings of pop

But the real X factor of the album’s tremendous success was the album was filled with even more and more hits. Even when it got louder and faster, the second track “In Bloom” is also a monster riffing catchy song where Kurt throws massive shade at the audience that’s embraced his band’s music, basically a revenge film sequel to “Teen Spirit”. That song was released as the third single that also became a massive hit that was propelled by a heavily played and hilarious video, which continue its momentum and domination of the number one position on Billboard’s album chart.

The third song and second single  “Come As You Are” continues the allegory themes of commercialism and guns (Cobain really obsessed more about the latter) over a mellow psychedelic sounding riffs and flanged out solo.

Then comes “Breed” where Nirvana bring hardcore punk to the masses. Track 5 “Lithium”, which also became a big hit single even though it was about treating manic depression. The first side (if you bought the cassette or LP) ended with Polly, a haunting acoustic incursion about date rape, this also became a popular song in a bad way but it did show Cobain’s range as a songwriter.

Side 2/B (if you had blah blah) starts off with was is arguably the best song on the album, the blistering blast beating hardcore track “Territorial Pissings”. Like “Teen Spirit” this is also a call to arms style revolutionary anthem for the down trodden. What really makes this a great song besides the pulverizing performance by the trio is how easily memorable the lyrics are, which are philosophical koans and nearly haiku-like. The best may be where Kurt tells the audience “just because you’re paranoid, don’t mean there not after you”, which is pretty good and prophetic stab about power structures that are there but you’re too powerless to stop or prove it’s existence. Basically the genesis of the mindset for most conversations on social media and the deep state.

On the follow up rager “Drain You”, this probably comes close to Black Francis/Frank Black influence on Cobain’s lyrics, which is just a love song from the perspective of a parasite. It’s followed up with another parasitic relationship themed song  “Lounge Act” driven by the bass riff of Krist Novaselic. “Stay Away” starts with militaristic snare bashing by Grohl and then the song goes basic 4/4 hardcore with basic chord progressions and refrains by Cobain in this song about identity and alienation. The transcendant “On A Plain” can be described as what you get if the Beatles and Husker Du wrote a song together, being that it’s the best song that captures melody, noise and lyricism and it’s infinitely unforgettable. Nevermind’s last song is the haunting and dour “Something In The Way”, played acoustically Cobain mutters his lyrics about isolation, disease and survival, revealing R.E.M.’s influence on his songwriting and the band as well.

Although if you were fast enough and a fan enough to buy the cd version when it came out, you got a special aural assault treat with the bonus track “Endless Nameless” which was improvised in the studio by the band while fucking around recording. Funny thing is that this would later become a concert staple. It’s really hard to believe that it was 30 years ago when an album was this life changing and affirming as Nevermind was and still is. It’s a testament and a living document to what rock and roll could be still be capable of.

893 Songs That Bring Us Together

Metallica, Metallica

After 1990 saw three thrash metal bands release classic albums (topped by Megadeth’s Rust In Peace), the greatest band in the world were still working on their fifth album following their first four perfect masterpieces. Following their platinum and Grammy-snubbed breakthrough album “…and Justice For All”, Metallica’s next album was highly anticipated but also filled with trepidation, for their label Elektra assigned Bob Rock, producer who recently worked the EQ’s for bands Bon Jovi, Motley Crue and Loverboy. Metallica also was given the heavy elite talent promotion treatment usually regarded for those such bands too, as they were able to get their first single (!!) debuted on commercial rock radio, a first for the band who got their initial fame on TDK and Maxell tapes and late night weekend metal hour radio formats. Speculation fomented about what the uncompromising band was going to sound like.

Then came “Enter Sandman”.

As with the opening songs on every album they previously released, the intro of the song sets a foreboding mood with a clean ominous riff, and then the song solidifies  Jason Newsted’s bassline and Kirk Hammett’s wah wah chords, which already made clear of the new direction in sound (especially for Newsted because his bass was barely audible on “…and Justice”).  Then James Hetfield comes in with the hook and Lars with the massive beats and fills and then the song about traumatic childhood REM fantasies commences and it’s another trademark Metallica classic song. Even though the tempo is considerately slower than 90% of their songs, Ulrich’s playing and Bob Rock’s immaculate production kept the thrash feel of those landmark albums and the genre they invented and perfected intact.

Enter Sandman would go on to crack the top 20 on the pop charts, which wasn’t a surprise given how it owed more to Alice Cooper and Deep Purple than it did to their more predominant influences Diamondhead and the Misfits. It also owes a debt to Queen considering how Sandman evolved into an arena and stadium anthem, most famously used by underground wrestling legend “The Sandman” to the Yankees  Mariano Rivera.

Then the album came out and immediately signified a new departure for the band showing a wicked sense of humor. Metallica made their album sub-titled and the album all black, in this case they made it “none more black” than Spinal Tap’s fictional Smell The Glove and official movie soundtrack. A week later, on the strength of the single, label promotion and their legacy and also the reformatting of Billboard ranking, “Metallica” debuted at number one, their first chart topper ever.

Following “Enter Sandman”, Metallica slows the tempo down even more on the gargantuan “Sad But True”, a song about being overwhelmed by inner demons set to an evil hook that almost sounds like Led Zepp’s Kashmir, accentuated by Hammett’s wah wah pedal shredding again.

Ulrich returns to thrashing form on the hypocrite bashing “Holier Than Thou” and then comes the first power ballad on the album, The Unforgiven”. Although inspired by the classic western starring a ragged and alcoholic mercenary played by Clint Eastwood, this stunning track focuses on being raised on and then rejecting religion and the bitterness and alienation that follows after being acclimated to it.

A similar theme follows in “Wherever I May Roam”. Side A ends with the surprisingly  jingoistic “Don’t Tread On Me” which the band wrote for the troops of Operation Desert Storm in the first invasion of Iraq, considering the bands opus songs about meaningless wars and nuclear holocaust. But it’s actually one of their best songs, with an intro that cribs from West Side Story’s “America” and trudges along with a savage riff and beat to march down the streets with a flag to. And Hammett’s wah wah playing is absolutely killer. Should be noted that the visible snake on the album cover is designed the same as the one prominently displayed on the flag that bears the song’s title and it also might be a dig at the label for the pressure of coming up with a hit record and the 2 year process to produce it.

After starting Side B (cassettes were dominant around this time) with the trashing “Through The Never”, “Nothing Else Matters”, Metallica’s and thrash metal’s first bonafide love song. While this song is universally reviled by original fans and haters of false metal as a sellout (which they are right to say) it actually illustrates what a underrated lyricist Hetfield is. While it’s definitely written to maximize sales and airplay, it’s tone and performance is incredibly sincere, including the obligatory loud part and Hammett’s transcending solo. “Of Wolf And Man” heavy and silly song about a lycanthrophe is probably more in spirit with Spinal Tap than the album cover, but still a headbanger and “The God That Failed” continues the theme of religious cynicism explored in “Unforgiven”. “My Friend Of Misery”, about wallowing in self-pity, continues Metallica’s exploration of mood musically and personal introspective themes that segues to the finale track “The Struggle Within”, a song about battling depression that happens to be the fastest and loudest song on this classic album.

Metallica’s eponymous fifth album in a row would become their biggest album of all time. But the bigger achievement is how they creatively managed to make 5 masterful classic albums in row on their first 5 tries. Not bad for a bunch of guys who made their first album in a decrepit music hall building in Jamaica, Queens not even a decade earlier.

Sepultura - Arise Artwork (8 of 10) | Last.fm

Sepultura, Arise

Following up their breakthrough album “Beneath The Remains”, Sepultura emerged with the dynamic Arise. Featuring way better production, Arise is a wall of sound and apocalyptic fury that bludgeons you in the face right away with the title track where Max Cavalera growls about mankind’s self-made obliteration over headbanging neck breaking chord progressions and hardcore beats, complimented by the stellar shredding by lead guitarist Andres Kisser.

The next song is the band’s defining and greatest song “Dead Embryonic Cells”, where Max’s younger brother Igor really shows his improvement and inventiveness as a drummer, you can actually here elements of funk and industrial music during his trashing beats as Kisser comes up with chord progressing resembling Kamikaze dive bombing. Then the song about the existential dread living in a world of terror and weaponized technology progresses into complex chord changes and another blistering solo. The performance on this song is thistight.

“Desperate Cry” continues the bands experimentalism taking thrash metal to new dimensions. While the following track “Murder” slows the pace and brings it back to basics and is one of albums best songs addressing oppression and the penal system and the even better “Subtraction” brings it back to basics while reverting to headbanging speedy tempos in another grim song about individual greed.

Sepultura’s experitmentalism gets even better on “Altered State”. The intro to song brings a world music flavor for their fans with Brazilian percussion like something you normally here on a Peter Gabriel album, the band reverts to moshing chords but Igor C. subtly adds flourishes of tribal beats to the mix and then the band goes full speed ahead until another moody break comes in towards the end. The complex and tight playing on this is comparable to Rush.

The band gets even more experimental on Under Siege (Regnum Irae), a religious sounding anti-religion song featuring a solid groove metal track with spoken interludes. “Meaningless Movements” returns to their gold standard brand of thrash and Max C.’s excellent lyrics about false idols and power structures. The album concludes with the white noise riffs and hardcore rhythms on “Infected Voice”.

Metallica may have made the biggest of the genre in ’91, but Sepultura’s  “Arise” was incomparably the best metal album of the year.

R.I.P. Eddie Van Halen – Tourism Gokanosho

Van Halen, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge

Going on 7 years without Diamond Dave, Van Hagar were able to exceed in record sales on their first two efforts with Sammy Hagar, the great 5150 and the ok OU812. But with commercial heavy metal starting to wane following the rise of the harder sounds of thrash and death metal bands plus the rise of alternative genre following the success of the Chili Peppers and Jane’s Addiction, Eddie and Alex Van Halen and Michael Anthony were going to step up their sonic game in order to catch up with the competition and maintain their relevancy.

Wait, what am I saying, this is Van fucking Halen and the quality songwriting and colossus performance on For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge shows a band that didn’t give a fuck what was trending and turned out to be one of their greatest albums ever, right up there with their ’78 debut, 84’s 1984 and their underrated monster 81’s Fair Warning. Incidentally, FUCK actually takes after those three classics with Eddie’s unequal innovative visionary fretwork and the Alex and Anthony’s killer rhythm section. Also in the spirit of those albums, they keep the ballads off and Eddie only plays keyboards on one song (and it’s the best one). Long time returning producer Ted Templeman gives FUCK a massive and incandescent wall of sound too, it almost sounds like the metal version of the Beach Boys Pet Sounds (Van Halen doesn’t get much credit for their harmony singing) But Hagar actually exceeds his performance and even writing on FUCK, going for more depth than the usual topics of partying down, scoping chicks, getting laid, even though the whole album still is a party.

Speaking of scoping chicks, the first song is all about that in the molten first song and single “Poundcake” where Eddie takes a power drill to his guitar on the first notes, an indication that the shred legend was cognizant of rocks new generation by taking a trick from Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, and he follows it with sparkling distortion chords over his big brother’s big beat during Sammy’s naughty food metaphors on another radio staple for the band.

Sammy get serious going after critics and criticizing religious zealotry and the band gets heavier on the semi-speed metal “Judgement Day”. Following the ludicrous “Spanked”, “Runaround” is another fast paced track driven by Eddie’s nasty licks and riffs, reminiscent of their classic “Panama”. But on “Pleasure Dome” is the first time the band gets musically exploratory on an entire song, as Alex Van Halen plays a free form jazz beat throughout the over 6 minute track, his greatest drumming since “Hot For Teacher, showing that even though his hot shot guitar slinger brother is the star of the band, it’s easy to overlook Alex VH as one of the greatest musicians that ever played the skins along with Kieth Moon and Buddy Rich. While Hagar’s lyrics are actually metaphysical here (or maybe this song is about getting hangover from his brand Cabo Wabo tequila) and Eddie VH solos take over the song towards the end, “Pleasure Dome” is Alex’s tour de force.

Side B/6 starts off with the slide guitar riffing of the pounding In ‘n Out, which is a song about working check to check and not about banging. Although the follow up “Man On The Mission” is all about courting a woman and banging her over a progression of nasty licks by the guitar legend. After these two excellent filler tracks, Van Hager saves their three best and most recognizable and memorable songs for last on Fuck. “The Dream Is Over” has one of the best hook intros ever recorded and Eddie goes to his slide bottle again and tears up his fretboard up on this catchy banger about self-reliance and survival.

Then there is the universal anthem everybody and every entity in the universe knows “Right Now”, starting off with a virtuoso piano intro and precision vein chilling bass hits by Anthony, Alex and Eddie come on with the driving beat and piano hook as Hagar passionately delivers his motivational speech verses and the uplifting chorus. Then the song completes with inspiring shredding from Eddie. This pretty much was the best song on the album, even though the singles release coincided with a Pepsi ad, but the song is still capable of giving you goose bumps.

The album ends with the equally rousing “Top Of The World” which sonically segues perfectly from “Right Now” (and the brief acoustic track “316”) although the song more about fucking the best woman in the world than total self fulfillment like the last song and the music suggests. But I guess that’s why the band called the album FUCK.

Badmotorfinger': How Soundgarden's Third Album Led To Stardom

Soundgarden, Badmotorfinger

After struggling to get sales following critical acclaim for their SST classic Ultrameaga OK and industry hype for their lackluster but still great big league debut Louder Than Love, Soundgarden rode on the wave of the new popularity for adventurous and aggressive rock and roll and released the brilliant filler free Badmotorfinger. Starting with “Rusty Cage” beginning and driven by Kim Thayil’s appregio riffing, late legendary frontman Chris Cornell wails on this graphic song about captivity and torture. Second song”Outshined”is a discordant blues jam that literally shines on the chorus with chiming riffs.

“Slaves And Bulldozers” is a pummeling dirge played with menacingly by the rhythm section of new bassist Ben Sheppard and drummer Matt Cameron along with Cornell’s caterwauls and Thayil’s repetitive high riffs and screaming solo on one of the album’s best songs and famous tracks. Then it goes into the stunning first single “Jesus Christ Pose”, where Shepard displays some nifty free jazz styles as Cameron plays a metallic rockabilly beat and Thayil conjures demonic white noise and riffs. Then Cornell rails against celebrity appropriation and false homages of the Son of God for 4 and a half minutes in one of the most unlikely hit songs of all time. “Face Pollution” has the band re-embracing their hardcore punk roots and expanding their already unique sound, which is unexpectedly and excellently accompanied by horns at the end. “Somewhere” is another successful transitory track, where their discordant tones are flourish with middle eastern and Beatlesque melodies.

Side B/2 continues the bands exploratory ascendance as one of rock’s best bands with “Searching With My Good Eye Closed”, it starts Thayil playing menacing Middle Eastern guitar licks as someone (maybe Chris) introduces the song by imitating the voice a see and speak game and then the song gets heavy and psychedelic as Cornell goes from moody to mercurial for nearly seven minutes in a song about the beginning of the afterlife.

Then that song’s theme segues instantly into the monstrous “Room A Thousand Years Wide”, as Cornell envisions a dimension of vast isolation, the chords and bending riffs and the sax solo and coda makes the track the most atmospheric performance on the album.

The detuned but tuneful balladic “Mind Riot” is a beautiful song about fate and death. On “Drawing Flies”, Cornell draws inspiration from mental illness and destitution on another horn propelled jazzy rocking track. Final tracks “Holy Water” rails against organized religion and the wall of white noise “New Damage” railing against George Bush’s invasion of Iraq and his promise and threat of a new world order ends the album with prophecies of doom and gloom and solidifies Soundgarden’s legendary status as one of the greatest bands in history.

Bullhead- Buy Online in Botswana at Desertcart - 19292634.

Melvins, Bullhead

The sudden interest for this album kinda came out of nowhere even though it was actually out for nearly a year and the reason for that is  Kurdt Cobain raved about this band in interviews as Nevermind cracked Billboard’s top 10 and ranked this album number 2 on his top 10 albums of 1991. And listening to King Buzzo’s opening riffs of Boris and off kilter but precision slow beats from Dale Crover and the influence on Nirvana made a whole lot more sense, because the buzzsaw riffs from Nevermind and Bleach really sounds a lot like the Melvins (Dale actually played a few songs on the their debut). Boris is 8 minutes of the creepiest evilist riffs that’s ever committed to tape.

The next and best track “Anaconda” main riff is absolutely transcending and even more evil. “Ligature” is a moody slow headbanger and “It’s Shoved” features Buzzo playing some sleazy licks as Crover plays a funky groove.

“Zodiac” begins side B/2 with single note riffing and hardcore trashing beats and their trademark breakdown . “If I Had An Exorcism” is the bands most musically experimental track even if the rest of the song is more of Buzzo’s one note riffing, but he’s probably the only guitarist that can that much atmosphere from that. “Your Blessened” is a massive track containing Buzzo’s best solo on the album and the last song “Cow” contains dirty Iommi-like riffs and Dale’s pounding his kit to kingdom come right to the songs coda.

It’s hard to comprehend what Buzzo is singing about on this album, his lyrics are as non-decipherable as Captain Beefheart’s. But that’s probably the point, because the heaviness of the music is what your supposed to focus on. Bullhead is truly one of the best albums ever.

Death Human | Exclaim!

Death, Human

Although Death was already established as a seminal metal band for about 4 years and 3 albums, Human is the album that front man and lead guitarist Chuck Schuldiner broke out as the best and innovative songwriter in the early golden blackened era of death metal. On this legendary death metal classic, Chuck explores themes beyond tales of morbidity into tales of the mind on stellar tracks like “Fattening of Emotions”, “Secret Face” ,”Lack of Comprehension” and “See Through Dreams” as the band’s playing gets more stylistically intricate and progressive than other bands that were dominating ears and banging heads like Obituary and Cannibal Corpse.

The album does contain the genre’s reliable graphic source material on the  “Suicide Machine” and “Together As One”, songs about medically assisted suicide and freak shows, but those tracks deal more with emotional anguish than shock value. The final tracks, the instrumental “Cosmic Seas” and “Vacant Planets”, Chuck introduces interplanetary and environmental themes to the death metal, taking it to new dimensions and standards that would leave a mark on the genre still dominant over 30 years later.

Morbid Angel, Blessed Are The Sick

Following their classic Altars Of Madness, Morbid Angel got more possessively, progressively creative, faster and louder and more demonic on Blessed Are The Sick. After the white noise intro by Trey Azagthoth, “Fall From Grace” and “Brainstorm” are necksnapping hardcore tracks about Lucifer’s descent from the Heaven loaded with Trey’s blazing riffs and shredding leads, the blast beats of drummer Pete Sandoval and the demonic vocals of bassist David Vincent

Following the hellacious battle hymm “Rebel Lands”, Azagthoth deviates from death metal norms by playing synthesizer on the creepy “Doomsday Celebration” which segues into the hardcore ripper almighty defying “Day Of Suffering” The band slows the pace on the title track and even slower on the coda “Breeding the Rats”.  “Thy Kingdom Come” and “Unholy Blasphemies” are apocalyptic black metal masterpieces that actually usurps Slayer’s position as the world’s most evil band.

The last tracks on the album then solidifies Morbid Angel as the premier metal band with the off-kilter trashing beats and grooves of damnation soul conjuring homage “Abominations”. The following track “Desolate Ways” is a beautiful acoustic instrumental, and then it goes into the next aural ceremony of demon conjuring from the depths of hell with the jazzy trashing and shredding “The Ancient ones” and concludes with Trey’s brief piano piece “In Remembrance, a fitting coda to the apocalyptic imagery conveyed by these black metal pioneers.

Pearl Jam - Worst & best albums - Rate Your Music

Pearl Jam, Ten

After their lead singer died overdosing on heroin in 1990 right when their debut album came out, the rest of the Mother Love Bone regrouped and hired surfer dude Eddie Vedder to be the frontman a little over a year later. And the result was Ten, one of the greatest debuts and rousingly emotional albums in rock history.

Like Soundgarden, Pearl Jam was in essence a metal band but didn’t rely much on the Boss Distortion and were from Seattle too. But where their neighbors took their sonic inspiration from Sonic Youth and The Stooges, Pearl Jam progenitors were more like the Chili Peppers and R.E.M and came off like the 90’s version of Aerosmith. This amalgam of funk, noise and atmospherics were evident on rocking jams like “Once and  “Why Go”, hardcore jams like “Porch” and “Deep” and their immediate hits “Even Flow” and “Alive”

A retrospective review of this landmark debut would be remiss without mentioning Eddie Vedder introspective and introverted lyrics and emotional contribution to the band that shines brilliantly on the unforgettable ballads and standout tracks, the haunting “Black”, the transcendence of “Release”, the moody and resounding “Garden” and the topical and harrowing anthem of childhood angst, vengeance and gun violence “Jeremy”

Despite all the downer subject matter of Ten it would go on to be the second biggest selling album in the grunge era. And after the song Jeremy became a huge smash, school shootings would become a routine event nearly a decade later and beyond.

50 Things You Might Not Know About 'Use Your Illusion I and II' | iHeart

Guns N’ Roses, Use Your Illusion I & II

After selling a zillion albums of their debut Appetite For Destruction, mercurial instant icon frontman Axl W. Rose must have felt a strong urge to give fans of Guns N’ Roses more rock and roll for their dollar after waiting 4 years for a new album. So he and fellow instant icon lead guitarist Slash, guitarist Izzy Sradlin, bassist Duff McKagen and new recruit drummer Matt Sorum hit the studio and recorded 30 songs for two CDs and cassettes to make up for the lost time.

Although these are two pretty good heavy metal albums, this actually would have been better if it was pared down to one classic album and the rest of the filler was put on an EP like their last release Lies or if Axl would put his overly wrought ballads like “Estranged” and “November Rain” and self-indulgent concept tracks like “Coma” and his  outdated grudge anthem “Get in the Ring” (which targets rock magazines and publishers like Lou Reed once did on a live album) on a future solo album (which he practically turned the band into taking 14 years to make Chinese Democracy).

“Right Next Door To Hell”,  “Perfect Crime”, “Shotgun Blues” “Don’t Damn Me” are breathless rip roaring rockers. Izzy contributes three songs that are actually some of the best songs on the album, “14 Years” “Dust ‘n Bones” and the killer “Double Talkin’ Jive”. Axl’s ballad “Don’t Cry” is a pretty good breakup love song, although it shows up again on the second Illusion album as a reprise but is more is actually redundant. Also redundant is the remake of Wings “Live And Let Die”. “The Garden” is a sinewy psychedelic metal track featuring Alice Cooper and followed by the hardcore sequel”Garden Of Eden”.

But the best songs on the album(s) are the ones where the band stretches out and jams like on their greatest song, the opus Paradise City and most of them are on Illusion II. G N’ R conjure the spirit of rock and roll progenitors from the Stones, Skynyrd, Aerosmith, New York Dolls, and even the Beatles and Elton John on tracks like the piano charged “Breakdown”, the guitar shuffle of “Locomotive”, the psychedelic middle eastern tinged “Pretty Tied Up”, the relentless protopunk rager “You Could Be Mine” and their masterpiece anti-war anthem “Civil War”

While not as polished and structured like their landmark Appetite, there are lots of great songs here and the band brilliantly brought out and were able to integrate both their metal and acoustic sides on this expansive set, which makes it still a pleasure to sit through for a few hours even now. And Axl’s sappy symphony ballads ain’t half bad.

Midnight Marauders Vs Low End Theory | Rap & Hip-Hop Amino

A Tribe Called Quest, The Low End Theory

A Tribe Called Quest was still riding high off their debut People’s Instinctive Travels when they dropped the The Low End Theory and it instantly joined the pantheon of rap’s golden age hall of fame classic albums and they did it perfectly with the release of their first single “Check The Rhime” in the summertime and the first lines resonated with the quickness.

“Back in the days of the boulevard of Linden, we use to kick routines and the presence was fitting.”

Accompanied by a video where they are riding the actual boulevard, M.C.s Q-Tip and Phife’s fond recollection of growing up and honing their rhyming skills in St. Albans, Queens immediately resonated with hip hop fans from their native New York to across the nation. The music produced by DJ Muhammad featured  infectious samples over bass heavy rock steady beat that made paths of rhythm natural for walking and cruising around neighborhoods and grooving at the parties and club.

The Low End Theory was almost like a concept album that emphasized the bass and getting the booty shaking, and these elements were fulfilled by the unofficial fourth member of Quest for this album, Ron Carter, upright bass player for John Coltrane’s transcendent jazz albums on Impulse (notably A Love Supreme) who provided the low end for over half the songs. Two of them were the stellar opening  “Excursions” and the hardcore second track “Buggin’ Out”, where he provides the hooks on Q-Tip rapping about the band’s new sound and mission and on Phife’s stunning freestyle rhyming on the latter track. Phife continues his vast improvement on the mic on his first solo cut “Butter” about the difficulties picking up women and the ease in getting them after acquiring fame over Muhammad’s infectious keyboard hook and jazzy beat.

Q-Tip grabs the mic for a bit of braggadocio and shoutouts to his MC peers on his next solo cut “Verses of The Abstract”. “Show Business” is one of the first posse cuts on the album featuring two members of Brand Nubian and Diamond D, where they and Phife and Q-Tip rip apart the music industry for exploiting hip hop and their artists, which Tip also found a few verses to warn about on “Check The Rhime” and on his other solo track “Rap Promoter”. Then Tip and Phife defly trade off verses on the sterling “Vibes And Stuff”.

On “The Infamous Date Rape”, Q-Tip tells a tale of sexual courting gone wrong over Ron Carter’s creepy bass line and on his followup solo “Everything Is Fair” he tells the tale of a hooker and a groupie and their unfortunate fates over a Funkadelic verse sample providing the hook. Then comes the second single “Jazz”a straight forward track where the band sets a new standard for hip hop, rapping about their skills and their new sound over the head bopping beats and keyboard samples by Muhammad and Carter’s stunning bass line.

Phife and Tip trade off rhymes again on the wah wah driven catchy advertisement of outdated technology “Skypager”. After two minutes of Tip’s waxing philosophical on the track “What?”, that’s song’s ending would serve as the intro to the final track “Scenario”, where the Leaders Of The New School join forces with Quest in the as the 5 rappers go wild style over a monstrous snare driven beat by Muhammad. Like the other singles off the album, “Scenario” became another hip hop standard and the most famous and greatest posse cut of all time and pretty much launched the career of Busta Rhymes.

Like Nirvana’s Nevermind, ATCQ’s The Low End Theory also became the album of a generation and influenced thousands of other artists of their genre with their second effort. Along with Public Enemy, Eric B And Rakim and their buddies De La Soul who introduced them, Quest elevated hip hop to even newer heights and solidified the golden age of rap legend that’s still revered by the DJs of today that still play these jams.

Cypress Hill - Musiquapaulo

Cypress Hill, Cypress Hill

1991 was a renaissance year for popular music, and with renaissances come cultural shifts that brings progress and change to the status quo. That’s where Cypress Hill and their eponymous classic album comes in.

Hailing from Southern California, MC’s B. Real and Sen Dog and DJ/Producer Muggs didn’t fit into any category of hip hop at the time which had an West Coast/East Coast rivalry going on, although they derived their inspiration from both locales lyrically and musically respectfully. Like NWA, they rhymed about shooting up rivals on the crime ridden streets and derided cops on tracks like the doo wop drenched “Hand On The Pump”, “Hole in the Head” and the leadoff track “Pigs”, but the music was influenced by the grimy loops, white noise and minimalist hardcore beats sound pioneered by Public Enemy on “The Funky Cypress Hill Shit” and the killer first single “Phunky Feel One”.

But the thing that distinguished Cypress Hill from the rest was their beloved devotion to marijuana on songs “Light Another” and “Stoned is the Way of The Walk”, which led to a rise of awareness of the weed and led to a political uprising to get it legalized and rising sales for High Times magazines who put the band on the cover. What led to this rise to the hip hop dominance was “How I Can Just Kill A Man”, a Travis Bickle inspired track about taking matters into your hands while living on the crime ridden streets over Stax soul rhythm and guitar skronk samples that immediately resonated with the hip hop and metal heads alike.

After rapping about guns and weed on side A/1,  B Real exhibits his stellar rhyme styling on the third single from the album “Real Estate”, a braggadocio rap declaring using territorial rites over whack M.C.s looking to trespass and bite over Muggs sick beats and singular guitar riff sample, which wouldn’t sound out of place on a Marley Marl album for Cold Chillin’.  Sen Dog and B Real devote two cuts to their Latino heritage on the eerie “Latin Lingo” and  “Tres Equis” and close the album with the old school party jam “Born To Get Busy”

Cypress Hill was the first Latino band to disrupt and dominate their music genre since Santana did with their own classic landmark debut album, and like they did at Woodstock, Cypress Hill would go on to steal the show at Lollapalooza a year later on the strength of their album and growing fan base, making their own mark on the zeitgeist while strengthening the movement for pot legalization; which has become a reality 30 years later. And reactionaries say stoners are listless.

 

Ice-T Albums: songs, discography, biography, and listening guide - Rate Your Music

Ice-T, O.G.: Original Gangster

Ice-T was on a roll at the turn of the decade, coming out with his best album The Iceberg, starring as a cop in the blockbuster crime drama “New Jack City” and performing to new demographics on the first Lollapalooza concert in 1990 and it naturally continued when he came out with his magnum opus O.G.: Original Gangster.

This sprawling collection of gangster tales plays like Iceberg Slim’s Soul on Ice book on tape set to hardcore hip hop music, even if the various skits on the album takes away the flow (the album actually has 3 introductions!). Finally the album starts with the kinetic “Mic Contract” where Ice-T comes off like a hip hop mercenary over DJ Evil E’s monster beats and cuts. Ice’s soundtrack contribution from his hit film “New Jack Hustler” returns here, fitting perfectly in his tale of a remorseless opportunist recidivist villain over a relentless blaxploitation soundtrack car chase track and Sly Stone break beats.

On “Bitches 2”, Ice-T does a critical take on his peers arbitrary use of mysoganistic lyrics by focusing on how men act like pussies by mistreating women and using other people for personal gain like his antihero on “New Jack”.  But on the next track “Straight Up Nigga” he raps in solidarity with his peers over Evil E’s militaristic breaks and scratches as he goes off about his right to continue using the word while directing it at virulent racists trying to malign him and bleeding heart liberals chastising him to stop using it. Then it segues to the iconic title track, like Ice’s allegorical “Lethal Weapon” , Ice-T waxes nostalgic for how he rhymed about crime on the streets instead of rocking a party out while rhyming over the “Impeach the President” breakbeat. The first edition of the O.G. saga concludes with “The House”, a news bulletin horror tale about child and drug abuse that’s so brief it resembles how easily these stories get lost in the mainstream local news.

Side B/2 begins with a skit with Ice T dismissing a request to do a filthy sex song and goes right into the hectic speed rap showcase “Flyby” and the Black Sabbath sampled dirge gangbanger tale “Midnight”. “MVP’s” is a four minute jam of shoutouts to his hip hop peers from east to west, hardcore to pop (including MC Hammer, excluding Vanilla Ice) and then it goes into “Lifestyles of The Rich and Infamous”, which comes off like a funky ET celebrity news segment about himself. Then there is “Body Count” where Ice-T invites his heavy metal band of the same name to jam for 4 minutes to fulfill his and their rock star aspirations. The song has heavy Suicidal Tendencies influence lyrically and musically, especially on the chorus. “Escape From The Killing Fields” has Ice advising his listeners to better themselves and flee from their urban hellscapes and the album’s finale’ “The Tower”, Evil E slows down the Halloween movie them as Ice T raps a graphic tale about the systemic violence and cultural clashes in prison, evoking the inhumane conditions in 4 minutes nearly a decade before a whole TV show would portray it in a New Jersey prison on Oz. Ice-T’s O.G. is the Scared Straight of hip hop’s golden age albums.

30thAnniversary – Organized Konfusion “Organized Konfusion” – Brooklyn Radio

Organized Konfusion, Organized Konfusion

As with the last 5 years when rap moved from 12″ single to full album format, lot of outstanding hip hop albums came out in ’91 especially from young legacy artists from Ice Cube, NWA and De La Soul. But it’s only fitting to include the overlooked and although the artist has to be East Coast. And nobody on the East Coast got even close to this dynamic duo from Southeast Queens, Organized Konfusion , who were ironically signed to a west coast label owned by the Disney company.

Whoever Mickey Mouse and co hired when they were scouting and found OK really knew their shit, because MC’s Prince Poetry and Pharohe Monch had abundant skills to pay the bills. This is evident right way on the first three tracks;”Fudge Pudge” is 5 minutes of relentless rhyme play with an assist by label mate and fellow Queens rapper O.C.. On the soulful”Walk Into The Sun” has PP and PM trading verses about the nature of the streets of New York along with sampled hooks by Roy Ayers and Steely Dan. Then there is “Releasing Hypnotical Gases”, the wordplay and metaphors by this duo about their incomparable rhyme skills range from space travel, middle east invasions and the periodic table of elements. “Prisoners Of War” is another mindblowing display of wild styling rapping featuring even wilder scratching and cutting.

OK  get comprehensive on the lowdown “The Rough Side Of Town” documenting the harsh realities of the streets of their hometown in South Jamaica but they still don’t waste their breath slowing down describing them except on the shout along chorus. On their name sake title track, Prince and Pharohe revert to freestyle form again on a massive funky drummer mix and a sly sample hook of “What Condition my Condition was In”.

On “Roosevelt Franklin”, OK wax nostalgic about their childhood memories in the form of a street and academically smart kid. “Who Stole The Last Piece Of Chicken? is fun fast paced track homage to BBQ’s and home cooking and playing rough on the streets, which also gets a slowed down finger licking good Richard Pryor sampled remix reprise at the end of the album which was actually the first single from the duo.

The album ends with arguably Hip Hop’s first foray into gospel music “Open Your Eyes” where Pharohe and Prince proselytize inspirational verses and harmonize beside live organ playing and choral singers. The concluding “Outro”, OK brings it home integrating old school rhyming with their new school innovative verbal hyper-syllable hyper-metaphorical wordplay.

Organized Konfusion also produced their debut album themselves, which they credited fellow Southeast Queens resident and legendary producer Paul C from nearby Rosedale, who discovered the duo and helped record the demos that got them signed but was brutally murdered at his home a few years before this album came out. It’s no wonder why this masterpiece still transcends time…and the organisms.

Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black': Public Enemy's Daring Album

Public Enemy, Apocalypse ’91: The Enemy Strikes Black

Coming swiftly after the sprawling hip hop classic Fear Of A Black Planet, Public Enemy wasted no time and dropped their fourth hip hop manifesto Apocalypse 91…The Enemy Strikes Black with a bigger and louder sound and messaging. Although long time producers The Bomb Squad is diminished here, Chuck D, Flavor Flav and Terminator X turn the beats, the rhymes and the cuts up to 11. Terminator X continues his turntable hero dominance from the last album on the furious DJ virtuoso intro “Lost At Birth” which segues into “Rebirth”, which turns the beats up to 13 on the most menacing and hardest track they ever recorded as Chuck D takes one verse to remind the audience that he’s still the hardest rhymer and then when that track ends cold and segues into the ghetto blasting “Nighttrain”, Chuck rails inward against Black politicians, drug lords and thieves who take advantage of powerless Black people by using identity politricks. The bombtrack “Can’t Truss It” compares corporate power structures as modern slave traders over old school style rhyming (Like Run Dmc’s dum diddy dum) that uses a lot of nonsense words to make the message more accessible and palatable to the masses, ironically using the same tactics to sell P.E.’s own product.

Flavor Flav’s first showcase track “I Don’t Want to Be Called You Nigga” strikes black against people who annoy him by addressing and critiques against the normalization of the slur in hip hop and on the streets. On “By The Time I Get To Arizona”, Chuck maligns that state’s government for not recognizing Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday on a menacing blaxploitation theme music track.

Apocalypse doesn’t let up on its themes to motivate Black people out of apathy and alcoholism on the tracks “Move!” and “One Million Bottle Bags”. Flavor gets topical again on the piano tinged “More News At 11”. Then the hardest, heaviest anthem of the album comes in with “Shut Em Down”, Chuck D.’s call to arms to sanction corporations taking from communities and not giving back to them over a behemoth beats.

The album ends with a third Flavor song ranting against the NY Post and the winning B side track “Get The Fuck Outta Dodge” a horn driven track about another routine illegal search by the popo and the inclusion of Anthrax’s fistful of metal remake duet with the P.E. on their cover of their immortal “Bring The Noise”.

Mr. Scarface Is Back - Wikipedia

Scarface, Mr. Scarface Is Back

Following the breakthrough success of the Geto Boys sleeper hit single (2nd best song of the year) “Mind Playing Tricks On Me” and the album We Can’t Be Stopped, another surprise by the band was the release of MC Scarface debut solo album the same year “Mr. Scarface Is Back” one of the rawest and relentlessly ultraviolent works of art that came out. While the music culls the best of 60’s and 70’s soul from crates of Stax and Volt 45’s, Scarface’s drug lord fables and horror movie inspired lyrics are the hip hop equivalent of death and black metal.

“Mr. Scarface is Back” continues the saga set from Brad Wilson’s song from the Geto Boys Grip It! LP. in a verbal reinterpretation of the drug lord’s domination of the industry and the killing spree that followed. “The Pimp” adds to the anthology of pornographic sex tales by the Geto Boys, carrying on the tradition set by Blowfly, Schoolly D and 2 Live Crew. On the devastating “Born Killer”, Scarface tells a tale of a hitman’s killing spree and also the environment and mental condition that sealed his fate on the hardest and most cerebral track.

Following the high crimes detailed on “Murder by Reason Of Insanity” and “Your Ass Got Took”, “Diary Of A Madman” is where Scarface documents mental breakdowns leading to acts of criminal violence told with remorse.  On “Money And The Power”, Scarface brags and boasts in this fable about making bank in the drug game and financing his hip hop ambitions. On “Good Girl Gone Bad”, Scarface doesn’t mention a woman but he does get a son after whacking his father following a heist and a set up by his victim. Then there’s “A Minute To Pray And A Second To Die”, Scarface’s noirish tale of exacting revenge on rival gangbangers who tried to rub him out over haunting loops of Marvin Gaye songs and winds up getting killed at the end of his hunt, which segues into “I’m Dead” where Brad doesn’t realize he’s in the afterlife where he will walk the streets where he committed his recidivist criminal acts in limbo.

Main Source – Breaking Atoms (1991, Vinyl) - Discogs

Main Source, Breaking Atoms

On the legendary hip hop music hour on public television, Video Music Box, a video came on featuring a new rap group of two DJs and their bespectacled MC Large Professor, who’s optically nerdy image was far from the mold of the typical MC around the time. Their song “Watch Roger Do His Thing” was also unique, for it wasn’t a gangsta tale or a political rap, but about a dude working his ass off in school and winding up a success. The production was very raw too, with live synths and the DJ’s Scratch and Kut cutting up jazzy break beats. While it was a damn good record, it didn’t make much of an impact because the subject matter of achieving in life wasn’t compatible with the gangsta rap that was dominating the charts.

Until the day when Breaking Atoms came out and their second single and hip hop classic break up song  “Looking Out The Front Door”was released. Without resorting to tropes (bitch bitch bitch), Large Professor rhymes his justifications for leaving his woman over brilliant loops of deep soul tracks and what Scratch and Kut’s killer scratches and cuts.

And “Front Door” isn’t the only classic on the album. Breaking Atoms starts heads nodding immediately with “Snake Eyes”, where Professor instantly becomes one of the best rappers and producer’s in the industry about street hustlers, false friends and acquaintances over a hard hitting snare, guitar and flute loops. Then there’s the ethereal “Just Hangin’ Out”, with LP rhyming about chilling out on the streets over string arrangement and soulful guitar loops.

On “Just A Friendly Game Of Baseball”, Large Professor uses his mastery of metaphors discussing the abuse of the badge and the inherent biases of the criminal justice system. Then there is masterpiece “Peace Is Not The Word To Play”, where Large condemns the misuse and trivialization  of the word “peace” over a fast paced staccato beats and ends with the double lead scratching of the DJs reminiscent of Eric B. and Rakim’s seminal “Paid In Full” (Large adds an even better verse on the the video remix)

Following the latin-flavored rant about whack MCs”Vamos A Rapior and the slamming “He’s Got So Much Soul” is the other legendary definitive posse rap song that came out in ’91 “Live At The Barbeque”. Starting with horn crash samples from the Sweetback Badass Soundtrack and old school cadences on the chorus, LP and his crew spit lyrics about slaying all competitors. But as hip hop heads are aware, this is the song where Queensbridge Houses Nas, known as Nasty Nas, made his rookie of the year debut in the studio and on wax. Explaining how graphic and provactive his verse was cannot do it justice.

Street’s disciple, my raps are trifle
I shoot slugs from my brain just like a rifle
Stampede the stage, I leave the microphone split
Play Mr. Tuffy while I’m on some Pretty Tone shit
Verbal assassin, my architect pleases
When I was 12, I went to Hell for snuffin’ Jesus
Nasty Nas is a rebel to America
Police murderer, I’m causin’ hysteria
My troops roll up with a strange force
I was trapped in a cage and let out by the Main Source
Swimmin’ in women like a lifeguard
Put on a bulletproof, nigga, I strike hard
Kidnap the president’s wife without a plan
And hangin’ niggas like the Ku Klux Klan
I melt mics ’til the soundwave’s over
Before steppin’ to me, you’d rather step to Jehovah
Slammin’ MC’s on cement
‘Cause verbally, I’m iller than a AIDS patient

I move swift and uplift your mind
Shoot the gift when I riff and rhyme
Rappin’ sniper, speakin’ real words
My thoughts react like Steven Spielberg’s
Poetry attacks, paragraphs punch hard
My brain is insane, I’m out to lunch, God
Science is dropped, my raps are toxic

My voice box locks and excels like a rocket.

This album’s legacy was solidified when Large Professor left the band the next year over money disputes with Skratch And Cut. And that’s all.

Achtung baby (uncensored cover) by U2, LP with recordsale - Ref:3111988130

U2, Acthung Baby

Coming off the lackluster Rattle And Hum movie and soundtrack, U2 were another band that had to update their sound and persona for the new decade and Bono and the boyz did just that with Acthung Baby. Besides the cool album cover, the new U2 was immediately felt on “Zoo Station”, where Adam Clayton, The Edge and Larry Mullen Jr. throw down an industrial style racket with distorted bass riffs, dissonant guitar bends and oil barrel beats.

The next song “Even Better Than The Real Thing” is even better, the band bringing catchy hooks to the white noise and clamor and Bono’s new style of lyricism in this song courting and copulating a woman (I’m ready for the laughing gas).U2 strips down the cacophony they embraced on the beautiful ballad “One” a break up song and also a hymm of loss and acceptance.

On “Until The End Of The World” a stellar track driven by Edge’s sparkling chords and Adam and Larry reggae dub rhythms on Bono’s take of the Last Supper.  First single “The Fly” is a straight rocker about media consumption and the basis of one of Bono’s stage personas he would take on the bands high concept legendary Zoo Station Tour.

The sultry love song “Mysterious Ways” is filled with more of the Edge’s distinctive catchy riffs. Bono comes up with some odd lyricism on the ambient and moody love song “Trying To Throw Your Arms Around The World”. “Ultraviolet (Light My Way)” and  “Acrobat” are atmospheric tracks about devotion and alienation. The album concludes with the funereal “Love Is Blindness” about how love is misinterpreted and weaponized, driven by the Edge’s discordant searing leads at the end.

While Acthung Baby didn’t have the anthems of War or the hit smashes of The Joshua Tree, the album’s updated sound and cohesiveness still makes it a great thorough listen as those classic LPs.

Bandwagonesque - Wikipedia

Teenage Fanclub, Bandwagonesque

After the success of Jane’s Addiction and Lollapalooza and Sonic Youth playing sold out shows in 1990, the corporate music industry was chomping at the bit and circling like vultures to sign indie rock bands. The latter band which happened to be on DGC, scooped up Nirvana and wound up making mass profits from their monstrous success, becoming the biggest rock band since Guns N’ Roses on the poppa Geffen label. Which probably was why they thought they can afford to roll the dice with Teenage Fanclub, who just came off a critically acclaimed debut album and heavy college rock radio play.

Although released with great fanfare and adored by critics as well, Bandwagonesque did not become the blockbuster DGC though it would be, although some songs on here were catchy enough to be huge hits, but they did wind up with a platter of major label product perfection. “The Concept” combines soaring leads with jangly chords and an ending that combines the harmonies of the Beach Boys with Neil Young riffage. The follow up instrumental “Satan” starts off with white noise amp distortion like Slayer’s “Hell Awaits” and backwards masked vocals and then the band plays a hardcore jam that ends abruptly in 40 seconds.

Then for the rest of the album it’s see why this band was worth all the hype because every song is absolute perfection, especially on the tracks “December”, the stunning 80’s new wave pop of “What You Do To Me”, the bluesy “I Don’t Know”, and the ascending power punk rager “Star Sign”.

Side B/2 starts with the Byrds meets Cheap Trick heavy jangle track “Metal Baby followed by the horn accompanied rocker “Pet Rock”. “Sidewinder” is a silly love song with the a killer double lead. The album closes with three musically transcendent tracks; the slacker anthem “Alcoholiday”, the melancholic “Guiding Star” and the discordant double guitar harmony masterpiece “Is This Music?”

While the band is not  original, they are basically to pop rock legends Big Star what the Black Crowes were to the Faces, two retro sounding bands giving modern takes to legendary bands whose great music did not reflect to great sales. But at least the time and the moment was right for Bandwagonesque to get the promotion it deserved.

 

https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=https%3A%2F%2Ftse1.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DOIP.sjcgaeCMirBia2YHZmSuqwHaHV%26pid%3DApi&f=1

Pixies, Trompe Le Monde

A year after Bossanova and Kim Deal’s excellent side hustle band The Breeders debut, things got hectic between her and Black Francis as the Pixies were recording Trompe Le Monde. Although the “college” rock cum “indie” rock band wouldn’t have a problem expanding their audience with the legacy they already had in only 4 years of existence.

The hostility between the band members rubbed off on the first three songs on the album, with the melodic thrashing title track and the raving punk rockers”Planet of Sound” and “Alex Eiffel” are new wave infused headbangers as Black Francis sings about aliens and the designer of Paris’ most famous monolith.

“The Sad Punk” is another speed metal track that breaks down at the end in a song about dinosaurs and is followed by the band’s first cover, a straight on take of  “Head On” by the Jesus And Mary Chain. “U Mass” is a glam rock style jam about the bands alma mater and “Letter To Memphis” is a metallic Big Star homage to that bands hometown.

The album slows down the pace  on “Bird Dream Of The Olympus”, “Space (I believe In) and the skronky “Subbacultcha”. The sci-fi themes resume on the surf rocking “Lovely Day” the folksy alien conspiracy jam”Motorway to Roswell” and the finale “The Navajo Know”.

Released one day before Nirvana’s Nevermind with their swan song Trompe Le Monde, The Pixies would add another classic to their discography. More high octane and metal than Bossa Nova, a lot of the songs were longer and none were sung by Kim, so even though the best qualities of the band were dispensed, it didn’t affect the material because the songs were just too fucking good.

 

Mr. Bungle (album) - Wikipedia

Mr. Bungle, Mr. Bungle

Two years after Mike Patton took over the planet with Faith No More with their breakthrough art/heavy metal masterpiece “The Real Thing”, he came out with his band and their debut album Mr. Bungle, absolutely the wildest and weirdest genre destroying product ever released by a corporate major label and what makes this album even greater and more significant is that Warner Brothers was obligated to release this album for it was in Patton’s contract to have his band signed when he agreed to sing for Faith No More!

Starting with “Travolta”, which incorporates metal with circus music and industrial. The next track, “Slowly Growing Deaf” veers from trash metal to ska, to death metal and then lounge, could be the most commercial song on the album if the coda didn’t have a recording of someone with explosive diarrhea appears in the coda.

“Squeeze Me Macaroni” is a Zappa inspired disco metal food fetish homage that features the DJ and guitarist Trey Spruance engaging in a scratch/shred battle. “Carousel” is a ska metal  killer clown warped nightmare track. On the thrash polka “Egg”, Patton graphically sings/raps the birthing process from conception to existence.”Stubb (A Dub) another ska track that gets disrupted by a showtune interlude about a dead dog. The metal trashing mad “My Ass Is On Fire” is the closest the band gets to Faith no More in spirit but the breakdowns and tempo changes is all Bungle.

“The Girls Of Porn” is the only song where it doesn’t jump genres and is a straight funk  number aping the Ohio Players and the wacka chicka sountracks of the tracks subject matter. “Love Is A Fist” is a musical hot mess of lounge and free jazz and thrash metal. After a recording of a grade school PSA of titular namesake of this lunatic hour of music (once featured on Pee-Wee Herman’s legendary HBO special), the album ends with the 10 minutes of circus and ambient music “Dead Goon”.

Album Blue Lines (2012 Mix/Master), Massive Attack | Qobuz: download and streaming in high quality

Massive Attack, Blue Lines

The golden age of rap had a huge influence on the sound of modern r & b, resulting in the rise of the New Jack Swing in America and the creation of a new genre from England that combined hip hop with the bass dominant reggae dub called trip hop, pioneered by the trio Massive Attack on their debut Blue Lines.

Leading off is “Safe From Harm”, an ominous track with guest singer Shara Nelson verses and MC 3D rhymes evoking gang violence on the streets and a paranoia similar to the Geto Boys “Mind Playing Tricks On Me”. The title track, 3D, Tricky and Daddy G mumble freestyle over a jazzy beat. Massive then does a straight sample free remake of 70’s soul standard “Be Thankful For What You Got. “Five Man Army” uses a classic Al Green drum break on Massive’s posse dancehall rap track.

The penultimate track on Blue Lines is the monumental “Unfinished Sympathy”, Shara Nelson takes the lead vocal again singing as a lover forlorn over a standard disco beat mixed with two drum breaks accompanied by furious DJ scratching and a live string section that crescendos at the end. There hasn’t been a dance song this meticulously arranged and produced since the collected works of Barry White.

“Daydreaming” has Nelson providing vocals again as 3D and Tricky rhyme about political and cultural issues dominating their native Britain over a jungle beat and “Lately” is another head nodding song about loneliness. The album concludes with “Hymm Of The Big Wheel” a soulful and funky political ballad about the continuing inequitable divide between the haves and the have-nots.

Loveless by My Bloody Valentine (Album, Shoegaze): Reviews, Ratings, Credits, Song list - Rate Your Music

My Bloody Valentine, Loveless

At the end of the 80’s, an unlikely guitar hero emerged from England in the indie rock genre in Kevin Shields of My Bloody Valentine, who with fellow guitarist Belinda Butcher and their Fender jazzmasters  emerged with a new sound defined as shoegaze, which they perfected on the band’s third album Loveless; a cacophony of transcendent sustained melodies.

“Only Shallow” hits your aural cavities immediately with chainsaw white noise hooks that refrain after each verse. The band sounds like the love child of Jesus And Mary Chain and the Coctaeu Twins. The tremolo drenched white noise on “Loomer” runs propulsive percussion similar to early Velvet Underground. On “To Here Knows When”, Shields adds keyboards to give the song an orchestral feel to accompany the guitars droning hooks. Drilling high pitched skronk riffs envelope the hard driving and sugary “When You Sleep” and “I Only Said” is guitar driven track accentuated with seagull like sounds.

On the pounding metallic “Come In Alone”, Shields evoke siren sounds from his tremolo leads. “Sometimes” is a slow building ballad with Shields and Butcher chugging their detuned jazzmasters as Shields adds keyboards to make the track ascend even further. “Blown A Wish” is a dynamic psychedelic sounding track with the guitars mixed backwards. ”

What You Want” is a incandescent hard rocking track with Sheilds and Butcher’s best vocals. The final song “Soon” starts with a sampled hip hop beat and then goes into full drive with a loopy keyboard riff and Shields and Butcher’s dual white noise racket rhythm and lead playing.

My Bloody Valentine spent 2 years working on this masterpiece, which was laborious it took 20 years to make a follow up album. 9 years later, it’s a safe bet that their 4th album is not realistic, but the omnipresent influence of Loveless will surely last for more generations to come.

Here’s how they rank:

  1. Nirvana, Nevermind
  2. A Tribe Called Quest, The Low End Theory
  3. Cypress Hill, Cypress Hill
  4. Sepultura, Arise
  5. Soundgarden, Badmotorfinger
  6. Metallica, Metallica
  7. My Bloody Valentine, Loveless
  8. Scarface, Mr. Scarface Is Back
  9. Van Halen, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge
  10. Ice-T, O.G. Original Gangster
  11. Main Source, Breaking Atoms
  12. U2, Acthung Baby
  13. Organized Konfusion, Organized Konfusion
  14. Morbid Angel, Blessed Are The Sick
  15. Mr. Bungle, Mr. Bungle
  16. Teenage Fanclub, Bandwagonesque
  17. Melvins, Bullhead
  18. Massive Attack, Blue Lines
  19. Death, Human
  20. (Tie) Pearl Jam, Ten; Public Enemy, Apocalypse ’91: The Enemy Strikes Black; Guns ‘N Roses, Use Your Illusion I & II

Honorable mentions, because this would take weeks to write them up.

Red Hot Chili Peppers, Blood Sugar Sex Magik; Matthew Sweet, Girlfriend; Prong, Prove You Wrong; De La Soul, De La Soul Is Dead; Kyuss, Wretch; Dinosaur Jr., Green Mind; Gang Starr, Step In The Arena; Naughty By Nature, Naughty By Nature; R.E.M., Out Of Time and Ice Cube, Death Certificate.

 

Lincoln Restler’s Illegal Agency Capture Mural

 

What the what?

Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, New York

Riding my bike on Flushing Avenue two way bike lane on a very brisk January afternoon by the Brooklyn Navy Yard there was a very peculiar sight. A large mural on a commercial warehouse building featuring the name of current city council member of the 33rd District  Lincoln Restler was featured on it. Thankfully there wasn’t a picture of his mug there, but what made it odd is what else was written on it.

According to the information that seems to be advertised here, the borough of Brooklyn loves Council member Restler (and also safe streets) and also a date to vote on June 22. That date just happens to be the primary he won last year against about over a half dozen other candidates leading to his inevitable victory running virtually unopposed on election day in November. Yet this mural campaign advertisement has remained there during that time between primary and general election and still remains to this day in Mid-January.

Wonder why is that? And the other wondrous thing about this campaign mural ad is that it hasn’t been tagged over with graffiti, even though the Restler campaign deftly painted over a couple tags that are still visible,usually you would get your ass kicked for desecrating another graffiti artists work for that breach of street art protocol. Yet Restler’s campaign mural is still immaculate.

Although this might be easy to miss while commuting by car and even bicycle, (which has a painted and a two way line on the sidewalk), the only way you can probably see this ad is if you walk out of the navy yard entrance that connects to Clinton Avenue, but the bigger mystery is how this was missed by New York City’s campaign finance board, which clearly shows Lincoln is heavily violating charter rules for this thing still being up. To my knowledge, there has been zero reporting about this shit that Linky left on this wall from the legacy news media websites and even from at least 5 Brooklyn news blogs. The only one that actually brought attention to this was defeated rival Victoria Cambranes which she photographed and tweeted a month after the election was over.

One things for sure, somebody or some collective entity are paying for this way outdated campaign mural to remain on this wall. Because whoever owns this building has definitely sold it’s walls to be used for advertisements. The artwashing kind. Because around the corner from Lincoln Restler’s blight, there’s a creative street art piece bought by Oscar Mayer.

But on Restler’s campaign mural, there is nothing identifying who put this up, not even one of those “paid for by the yadda yadda yadda of so and so” notifications like on every normal campaign ad.

But there is a tell on who and what entity is behind it, and that’s where (safe streets) factors in this. Why the Restler campaign and the entity would need to put open streets in parenthesis is subliminal advertising and promotion, very boldly considering the size of the ad and the font. For there are these urbanish bike zealots and “public space” lobbies and think tanks that have gained massive influence in most of our liberal city officials and even in the Department of Transportation in the last decade, which hit an extreme tipping point during the pandemic when former Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council cronies approved new bike infrastructure and, ahem, open streets that makes them open for people to mingle and frolic on them while closing them to vehicular traffic. This also led to notorious open restaurants program, usurping former parking spaces for cars to place outdoor dining shanties for people to eat and avoid catching covid.

And since his brief time in City Council, Restler has shown how deep he is with these bike zealots and urbanish entities, tweeting about making more bike lanes and open streets for his district, which consists of mostly upper class wokish thinkers like him. This behavior and this illegal campaign ad has shown that Lincoln Restler is a willing and defiant servant of agency capture, being that he is serving in the private interests of the “open streets” urbanish minority and their financial backers over the will of his constituency. And as long as Linky keeps that shit on that wall, it manifestly confirms it.

Yet Lincoln is not the only one enslaved by the “open streets” agency capture. His hipster neighbor and buddy Assembly Member Emily Gallagher brazenly showed her dedication to the urbanish open streets cult by arranging a zoom trivia contest with her gentry bike zealot base that was co-hosted by the transportation totalitarian caliphate members and actorvists and also some author whose book Emily was promoting, and the contest’s theme was…. “safe streets.”

And the fun part is that you had to donate to her re-election campaign to participate it, making people literally pay to play it.

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Surely, whatever answers there were to this trivia game where wholly rigged to fit the Transportation totalitarians narrative and surely will be sneakily processed into her policy proposals to take to Albany, circumventing whatever community reaction and detraction to them.

These people may act wholesome ideologues, but they don’t fuck around when it comes to the little power they wield and whatever means necessary they will try to achieve to placate their greedy and selfish benefactors. All while unaccountability continues to get more normalized in the borough of Crooklyn and the rest of this goddamn fucking city.

Update:

A Crooklyn resident informed me that this Flushing Ave. warehouse where this illegal campaign mural still stands is own by a person named Marc Agger, a very successful businessman who runs a fish distribution business and is on the advisory board of Transportation Alternatives.

There’s the connection to the (safe streets) mention. Why there’s no indication of who is paying for this ad which would have racked up over a million dollars in fines in a normal city run by ethical and moral officials who care about things like accountability. But NYC would rather be a dystopian kakistocracy with bike lanes.

Mayor Eric Adams Crony Nepotism Police Squad

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Mayor Swagger

Manhattan, New York

Mayor Eric Adams first week on the job was truly wild. The mayor promised to be a big presence in New York City and get shit stuff done, notably to bring proactive policing back and he wasn’t fucking around. Not even 12 hours into his mayoralty after being sworn in a minute after midnight in Times Square, he’s calling 911 while witnessing a street fight from a train station and doing most of his press conferences outside, showing more visibility and optical accountability than his Bill de Blasio did in his 8 abominable years as mayor. And during his publicity blitz, Eric Adams defiantly announced that he was going to bring swagger back to the city to get through the current rut that’s being induced by a rejuvenated pandemic.

Adams also fulfilled his promise to appoint a Black Woman as NYPD commissioner. And introduced her at the Queensbridge Houses where the new commish was raised up with great fanfare. Time will tell if the historic hiring of Nassau Chief of Detectives Keechant Sewell will return public safety to all New Yorkers big and small. Adams also decided to appoint a deputy mayor for public safety, a role resuscitated from the David Dinkins era that was made to bring down the high levels of crime that was plaguing the city at the time back in the early 90’s, a decision that actually makes sense considering that 100,000 index crimes were committed in New York City last year during de Blasio’s recovery for all of us.

But like his fiendish predecessor The Blaz, Adams has sadly tainted her moment and this city with the quickness by bolstering a close friend and his kid brother to official high brass NYPD positions practically right beside her. Even more warped that he pulled this machination stunt on a fucking snow day while Adams was working remote in his basement of the rowhouse he owns in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn.  As the last sprinkles of the first snowfall of the year came down and while he was producing another stupid video about getting stuff done on the @NYCMayor twitter account, his longtime friend and mayoral campaign advisor Phillip Banks appointed himself as the new Deputy Mayor of Public Safety.

That’s right. A citizen appointed himself to an administrative position in the Mayor’s office, not Eric Adams, the mayor of New York City. And not just an ordinary citizen, but a citizen who was ensconced in a federal investigation while he was about to be appointed by the Blaz as deputy chief to Commissioner in cases involving bribery, pimping and money laundering with other top brass NYPD officers and two of de Blasio’s earliest and dedicated developer donors Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg.

And Phil Banks didn’t just do this on the down low, he announced this in a major private equity firm owned local newspaper The New York Daily News and was given editorial space by the print/digital publication in the opinion section to defend his self-hiring as well.

This can only be described as deranged. The NY Daily News actually published Phil’s editorial 6 hours before they reported it and erroneously headlined it as Eric Adams’s decision while hyperlinking the New York Times story of his crony’s hubris laden proclamation from a few hours earlier.

I don’t think I’ve never seen a major newspaper and journalism this compromised ever before. And to read Phil’s screed is like he thinks he’s doing the city a favor, and his claims that his self-appointment confirms his commitment to uphold law and order amplifies his hubris.

“The law is in my blood.”

But Banks blood was so low when he was officially promoted in 2014, he must have needed a transfusion or had anemia considering how deep he was in the pay to play access shenanigans he was pulling off with Jona and Jeremy, who were tremendously emboldened by de Blasio giving them a free pass for all their money bundling for him, as they were partying down and getting laid with the top echelon of the NYPD. When the feds started following his ass like Henry Hill catching Banks using multiple ATM’s, he didn’t have the swagger to continue his chief of departments role for Commish Bratton and abruptly stepped off. How Philty Phil managed to escape indictment is truly another one of the greatest stories of the naked city.

What’s not a mystery is how Banks had adjusted to his self-appointed position and how swift he grasped the power that came with it. When the NY Post reported that Commissioner Sewell  announced the termination  of the Internal Affairs Bureau Commissioner Joseph Reznick and deputy inspector Robert Ganley, who both were earning a salary and a pension while working in their respective roles. While most taxpayers and those who call for defunding the police think this would be a good thing removing two double-dipping bureaucrats off the city largesse, this move was truly rather sudden and erratic because Adams had no one to fill their positions. And considering the case of the IAB, it was confounding that the Mayor wouldn’t have an immediate replacement being after he told cops at the 103 Pct. in Jamaica that he will not tolerate abuse of the badge and the law. Even more confounding is how these two high brass cops got the boot for collecting two city salaries while Patrick Monahan is getting paid twice still working for the NYC Economic Development Corporation.

But there’s a reason for this shakeup, a nasty vindictive reason. Commissioner Sewell did not fire Reznick and Ganley, Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Phillip Banks did. And he fired them even though he doesn’t have the authority to, Sewell does. And he fired them when he wasn’t even appointed as Deputy Mayor yet, and Banks got some sweet revenge on Resznick because the IAB was investigating his criminal pay to play and money laundering operation while he was working for Bratton and de Blasio.

It’s really hysterical that Mayor Adams was rightfully being cautious about appointing his pal and adviser ever since it was announced he would be playing a role to reduce crime in NYC even though he assigned him the duty of vetting the next Black Female police commissioner, but to let him just invite and hire himself under the collective noses and behind the backs of his constituents and the press early in the morning on a fucking snow day is a good way to convey the swagger he promised to bring to City Hall. 

But not content with bring cronyism back to Park Row, Adams rode on that swagger momentum and hired his brother Bernard to be deputy commissioner of the NYPD on the next fucking day! Surely Mayor Swagger thought that since de Blasio made his tax boondoggle wife the co-mayor by making the First Lady a de facto municipal position and also how he hired his son to film b-roll videos of his parents (along with a college chum of his) that there would be no scrutiny or outrage about his nepotism hire, except that Bernie Adams was going to get paid $240,000 for his job whereas Chirlie and Dante (to my knowledge) worked for free so the Blaz wouldn’t violate city charter rules for hiring his relatives. Not the case with Adams, for swagger supersedes over all and justifies everything.

Or so he thought, because a few days later, the Mayor removed Bernie from that post and and appointed him to a manufactured a new position as head of his personal security, which also commands a hefty salary of $210,000. Hizzoner’s reason why he feels his brother is necessary and “qualified” for this role and why he broke his first campaign promise to not be flanked by cops everywhere he goes (while carrying a piece) is his perception and unconfirmed premise of white supremacist and anarchists in the city. Which sure sounds like he got this idea because of the actual rising resistance against him continuing de Blasio’s fascist vaccine extortion mandate in restaurants and entertainment and leisure venues and the workplace.

Especially when anti-mandate protesters came to his house.

It’s quite obvious how Mayor Adams is not blurring any lines between being professional and personal about his crony and nepotism hires, but the way he’s been defiant about his Bernie bro is truly batshit laughable. From describing his qualifications to lead an Executive Protection Unit team touting his leadership experience when in the last decade his brother was an assistant director of a Virginia college faculty parking (or maybe an assistant to the actual director) and how Bern’s presence will scare those nasty white supremacist anarchists out of town.

By the way, these are the white supremacists Adams is so worried about, which is why his NYPD won’t confirm this threat:

There also is another reason Hizzoner gave his brother a fat paycheck city job and it’s probably because Bernard needs the money after his involvement in a pyramid scheme while he was Virginia’s U glorified parking attendant. No wonder he was quick fast to come back to the city after his big brother won. And like Mr.  P. Banks, Bernie also made his presence and influence felt with immediacy given that the Mayor is considering removing the NYPD from his security detail and replace them with a private contractor, this not only will easily be rewarded to a donor Adams wants to reciprocate but also will make Bernard’s job easier considering being a rent-a-cop parking valet for nearly a decade by supervising a whole platoon of rent-a-cops protecting the Mayor wherever he goes. Can’t wait to see these hired goons on Citibikes!

But this is no fucking joke, these crony and nepotism hires are serious lapses of ethics and morals and a shit-stained middle finger at accountability, which was savagely emphasized by Hizzoner’s spox Stefan Ringel who told the press about Banks’ self-appointment that “we do things in a different way” in City Hall now, which got absolutely no follow up question from the press or any reaction from city officials.

Phillip Banks and Bernard Adams have also buttoned their lips since getting their plum positions, but it’s quite obvious that their presence has reduced the first Black Female NYPD commissioner in New York City history into a figurehead position, despite what Mayor Adams denials and protestations.

When Mayor Adams made his first speech to New Yorkers, he compared his constituency to Snapple soft drinks, saying they were made of the best stuff on earth. But in only a few weeks, Mayor Product Placement is already running the city like he’s the Burger King, because for the coming four years, he’s going to have it his way.

 

Scenes Of Queens: Donald Manes’s Vault

This scene takes place in Kew Gardens at Queens Borough Hall, office of the Queens Borough President, currently held by one Donovan Richards.

This was taken during the Winter Solstice and Christmas holiday, where there was an incident at the Umbrella Hotel across the street, but it’s being documented now because of the significance of today’s date. Marking the anniversary of the day the longest reigning Queens Borough President Donald Manes attempted suicide by the Grand Central Parkway.

Walking by the disheveled tree the Hall set up, there was a monument that caught my eye

It was hard to tell and photograph because it was taken near dusk, so after I was observing the weird shit going on at the Umbrella Hotel, I returned to this spot at dark to get a better and illuminated snapshot.

Looks like the long ago World’s Borough Prez left a time capsule here just a few years before his personal troubles and city scandals got exposed. And it’s got another 61 years until whatever contents will finally be found when the “world’s borough” turns 300 (!!!). It’s a wonder what could possibly be stored in here, but from the looks of the cracks around it maybe Donnie pried it open on intermittent weekends to store his cash bribes in here in the dead of night?…

Nah, back in the 80’s we had journalists like Jimmy Breslin, Wayne Barrett and Jack Newfield that never slept on these shady politicos and their corrupt machinations. The latter two legendary reporters wound up collaborating on a book of Manes and his elite appointed and elected cronies dastardly foibles called City For Sale, so there’s no way Manes would get his hands that dirty. Besides, he decided to snuff it for good two months later at his house by stabbing himself in the chest when his psychiatrist visited him on a house call, so he could avoid going to trial for his crime schemes.

But as the last mayor Big Bad Bill de Blasio has shown, the city is still for sale and even easier to loot and occupy with patronage hires. In fact, The Blaz even has his own time capsule in Park Slope at his 3 story townhouse that is currently under renovation. Since 2019. And it’s a sure bet he and his wife put a lot of filthy bribe and city taxpayer money buried somewhere in this makeshift vault.

The city is not going to wait as long as Manes’s time capsule to see what in the de Blasio’s money pit house, since it’s scheduled to be done and open about 5-6-7 months from now. Which is hysterical since this means that Bill and Chirlie (and probably Dante and Chiara) have no place to live since leaving Gracie Mansion over a week ago. New York City’s former first couple is currently squatting at a Marriot Hotel in Downtown Brooklyn, which makes it deliciously ironic given de Blasio’s own gerrymandering homeless policy of sending the destitute to hotels all over the five boroughs for 8 years and now the motherfucker and his tax boondoggle wife are homeless themselves.

Unfortunately for the memory of Donald Manes and the three aforementioned muckrakers that took him down, The Blaz managed to slither out of City Hall unscathed despite his two terms of brazen dirty deeds. Maybe it’s because Manes wasn’t as smart cunning as his sinister progenitor, but it’s also because local news media is entirely compromised, more concerned about access than accountability. But fate has a nasty habit of fucking shit up for even lucky bastards like de Blasio, although so much as been written about his graft, maybe it’ll take a couple of stories salacious enough to take him down and bring an abrupt end to his aspirations to serve in public office. Here’s hoping that Blaz’s Park Slope capsule will remain chained and locked for just as long as Donald Manes’s borough hall locker.

To quote Preet Bharara, the guy who got fired by Donald Trump as he was about to indict The Blaz:

Stay tuned…

 

 

New Bad Days 92: This is DeBlastopia

Bill de Blasio, leaves City Hall laughing at New Yorker’s expense and enabled rising crime waves not seen in 20 years.

The Blaz era is finally and mercifully over but his contribution to the New Bad Days of  will go down in history as the greatest regression of New York City in 50 years and will surely continue to plague this town for years to come.

With the exception of burglary which went down mostly because people are still home or not working because of the continuing pandemic (which the Blaz prolonged with his idiotic mandates but that’s another post for another day), all other felony index crimes went up, notably murders and shootings which have not reached these plateaus in nearly 20 years. Rapes and sexual assaults also saw distressing inclines as well as muggings and car theft. The biggest crime wave that enveloped the city were hate crimes with most of the bias attacks being committed against Asians and Jewish people by predominantly Black people, although most of the aggressors were emotionally disturbed.

Not listed on COMPSTAT is people killed by fires in the last year which went up by 16%. 

The Blaz’s continuing abdication of his role in keeping mass transit running smoothly led to the rise of subway crime and violence. His indifference to his persistently dangerous homeless shelters led to another rise of homelessness sheltering in subway trains and stations and his failed mental health farce run by his tax boondoggle wife has led to a blowback of suicides that also went up in the subway as well. To illustrate how dangerous the rails have devolved to, a woman made a viral video locking herself to a pole with a cheap bike chain and lock to avoid getting randomly pushed to the tracks (it was on an elevated platform too), even though she was already making her vulnerable to getting mugged or even killed by other means by trapping herself.

This woman wasn’t the only one taking preemptive measures to somewhat protect herself, the fine folks running Bank of America in their tower lair in Bryant Park advised their employees to loosen their ties and leave their suits at home when they commute to work, fearing their attire would make them easy marks for muggings, turning casual Friday to casual everyday.

Speaking of being trapped and living in fear, with former mayor de Blasio’s maniacal insistence and persistence to reopen the schools full time, NYC schools had to deal with the double threat of coronavirus and gun violence (with the remainder the usual bullying that still traditionally goes on in public and parochial schools) during a deleterious period of under-staffing of school safety officers on account of de Blasio’s extortion vaccine mandate. While a handful of guns confiscated were reportedly gang related, a lot of students are bringing myriad weapons to protect themselves to add to the 28% rise in confiscations compared to 2 years ago. Also speaking of being trapped and living in fear, the last month at Rikers under de Blasio’s reign and his shit lib buddy interim D.O.C. commish Schiraldi continued to mire in chaos and decay as another 3 inmate died inside the prison complex, surely enhanced by a sharp drop in C.O. personnel that didn’t comply with the extortion mandate.

But de Blasio saved his best worst for the last on the streets of New York (besides his monstrously illegal destruction of East River Park). As if he was suddenly reminded that there was a mass drug abuse crisis with over 2,000 people dying of drug overdoses from heroin and fentanyl, seemingly forgetting all about it because he was busy ignoring the rise in crime and homelessness while shilling vaccines and trying to machinate an economic recovery for the city, The Blaz got the gumption to open two doping intake centers in two predominantly BIPOC neighborhoods in East Harlem and Washington Heights.

While these facilities have proven to be effective to prevent overdoses in other nations, The Blaz still found a way to fuck up another progressive program by also permitting junkies to smoke crack, meth and K-2 in them as well. Another thing he royally fucked up was placing these smack/crack houses by grade schools and day care centers. This has set off alarm bells among the small business owners and residents of these communities, that even Al Sharpton returned to the streets to protest against them like he did when he painted scarlet letters on crack houses in Brownsville and Bed-Stuy back in the 80’s. And as with everything Bill de Bacle touches it comes with his recidivist corruption, as he circumvented state laws to approve permits to turn to uptown neighborhoods into Hampsterdams and like with the Department of Social Services and the city’s dangerous homeless shelters, the city’s Department of Health is letting the non-profits who are running these smack/crack houses monitor themselves regarding the treatment of the junkies and the budgeting as well.

And of course when talking about the streets, lets not forget de Blasio’s other massive failure that is Vision Zero, which has led to rise in casualties and accidents despite the city’s hostile and spiteful street redesigns and infrastructure all to punitively abolish the existence of cars from the streets.

To top it all off, de Blasio’s heinous indifference and insouciance to over 100,000 criminal actions under his watch last year as led to the crushing low morale in the NYPD, that a majority of cops don’t even want to patrol and protect and serve in NYC anymore, a collective dismaying despondence that has New York’s finest turning their backs on the citizenry like they turned their backs to The Blaz 7 years ago.

Bill de Blasio spent 2021 lamely trying to bring a recovery for all of us, but the city of New York begins 2022 in a state of deBlastopia.

Manhattan

In Morningside Heights, a man stabbed another man to death in a random attack in the park as the victim was heading home to after having soccer practice with his team. The victim then bled to death on a nearby street corner. The deranged gangbanger then went 13 blocks south to randomly attack another man by stabbing him twice in the back. Then he tried to continue his bloody streak by Central Park where he tried to attack a couple and swung his knife at the man. The man and his girlfriend continued to flee from the killer, which was enough time for the cops to catch him in the act and arrest him to stop his bloody spree.

Also in Morningside Heights at the 116th St. Station, a man pushed a Citibike he stole into a woman on the platform and yelled bigoted remarks at her. The perp assaulted another person with another Citibike at the 96th St. Station a month earlier as he tried to force himself onto an elevator. Following his arraignment for that assault, a judge let him off without bail.

In Midtown, a man holding a sawed-off shotgun under his chin got into a hour-long standoff with militarized cops in front of the entrance of the United Nations. NYPD also deployed snipers to stand by. Security at the UN let the distraught man to turn in notebooks he was carrying to an official and then he went back outside and surrendered.

Also in Midtown at the 49th St. Station, a man beat another man to a bloody pulp following an argument on the platform.

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Again in Midtown at the 59th St./Lexington Ave. Station, a man yelled bigoted slurs at a woman and threatened to stab her with one of his two shivs he made from pieces of wood.

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And again in Midtown, a man got stabbed in the leg following a chase and during a brawl with a man who tried to steal a handbag from his vendor table.

And again in Midtown, a homeless man climbed to the top of a Christmas tree in front of the Fox News Network building and set it on a fire, burning the tree to a crisp. The man got released on his own recognizance following his arrest the next day because arson is not a serious enough crime unless someone perishes and dies from the flames, even though he was having malicious thoughts all day long about burning it. Fox’s Tannebaum homage costs a half of million dollars to set up.

A week before the pyromaniac declared a war on Christmas against FOX, the kook flashed his penis to a gaggle of reporters who were outside of the courthouse where the Ghislaine Maxwell trial was going on Downtown.

And again in Midtown, a man got caught lifting a wallet out of a woman’s purse by cops patrolling Rockefeller Center by the big ass tree. He was easy to spot because the pickpocket thief has been arrested 30 times before for petty larceny and was let go with desk appearance tickets every single time.

And again in Midtown at the 7th Ave. Station, a man slapped another man in the face after borrowing his cellphone because he saw a picture on it that looked gay to him.

In Times Square, a man punched a store owner in the face after he was asked to put on a face mask.

Also in Times Square, a man shoplifted women’s clothes and accessories from a clothing store and then injured a cop who was trying to arrest him after catching him trying to flee. The owners of the retail fashion chain ordered the store manager to drop the case because they didn’t want to contribute to the “carceral” system by putting another man in jail, even though the crook had a long record of arrests for petty larceny.

In East Harlem, at the 125th St. Station, a man pulled out a gun and shot at two other men multiple times as they boarded the 4 train. Their assailant is still on the loose.

Also in East Harlem, a 14-year-old girl caught a stray bullet in the leg while she was walking to her cousin’s apartment on the grounds of the Wagner Houses. A man ran away from the crime scene.

In Harlem, cops confiscated over 50 cars with illegal temporary license plates and found three loaded guns during searches of them.

Also in Harlem, a man shot at another man after he failed to car-jack him as his mark hit the gas and fled, who happened to be an off-duty cop.

Again in Harlem, a man got shot in the shin while walking on the street.

And again in Harlem, a young man shot another man to death in front of a barber shop in broad daylight. The killer had a few hit rap songs on the Billboard charts.

In Inwood, two men got shot in front of an apartment building, one of them died from a point blank blast to the head.

Also in Inwood, two men got shot on the street from a drive-by.

In Washington Heights, a body cam caught on fire while a cop was wearing it inside his police station and then it exploded when he took off his jacket, leading the NYPD to recall 2,000 of them.

Also in Washington Heights, a man barged into a barber shop and yelled at a man inside and then shot him to death when he came outside to confront him.

In the Upper West Side, a homeless man walked up to woman on the sidewalk and punched her in the face after petting her dog, knocking some of her teeth out. Then he randomly punched another woman in the face in front of a kosher supermarket. The judge let the maniac loose without bail following his arraignment for the two assaults and another assault he committed in the summer that he had an arrest warrant for.

Also in the Upper West Side at the 79th St. Station, a man committed suicide by jumping in front of the arriving 1 train.

Again in the Upper West Side, a man stabbed a 71-year-old man with a screwdriver multiple times and robbed his wallet inside a deli.

And again in the Upper West Side, a homeless man sucker punched another 75-year-old homeless man from behind inside a bank ATM area and kicked him on the floor while he was down because the elderly man accidentally pissed on him while he was sleeping rough on the sidewalk.

In the Upper East Side, two men and a woman were caught by cops squatting inside a  multi-million dollar townhouse that was abandoned by a high end fashion designer a decade ago.

Also in the Upper East Side, two off-duty firemen beat the hell out of another man at a bar following an argument.

Again in the Upper East Side, a man killed himself when he collided into the back of a delivery truck on his mini-motor scooter.

And again in the Upper East Side, a food delivery man lost control of his truck and hit and killed two men who were on the sidewalk. One of them was an app-food delivery guy on an ebike.

And again in the Upper East Side, a man pushed a stack of milk crates on a woman who was coming out of a store.

In Central Park, a man robbed and assaulted three men while exploiting kids to run a candy sale scheme when he and an accomplice lifted a man’s wallet during a bogus sale, punched two other men in the face in two incidents where his marks refused to buy sweets off him. Cops found him loitering in the park again and arrested him

In the East Village, a man was caught trespassing in a NYCHA building wandering around the hallways with a katana sword and trying to get into tenants apartments.

Also in the East Village, a man blew up his apartment at the Jacob Riis Houses by charging nine e-batteries to scooters and mini-bikes at once, which caused an explosion and a two alarm fire that left his wife with critical burns and that forced her teenage son and daughter to escape to safety by climbing out the window and using a pole outside the building to slide down.

The kids and their mother had no other escape from the apartment because the lock on the front door was broken, which the tenants made five previously complaints to NYCHA management to get it fixed. The mother wound up hospitalized in critical condition.

Again in the East Village, the Department of Transportation painted speed limit notifications on the street and misspelled MPH.

And again in the East Village, a man shot at someone on the street and shattered the window panes on a bus stop.

And again in the East Village at the Astor Pl. Station, a man got arrested for waving around a Bat pistol on the 6 train.

In the Lower East Side, an argument between two gangs on the street escalated when a man shot at another man at the notoriously violent Sara Roosevelt Park and a stray bullet penetrated the third floor window of a charter school.

Also in the Lower East Side at the Delancey St./ Essex St. Station, a man punched an MTA custodian in the face and then he took his dustpan and smacked him with it, knocking him out on the platform.

Again in the Lower East Side at the East Broadway Station, a man got into an argument with other men on the platform and then shot at them and ran away.

And again in the Lower East Side, a man got rowdy inside a bodega and punched a 77-year-old worker in the face as he was trying to get him out the store.

In Murray Hill, a man grabbed and molested a woman from behind as she was walking on the sidewalk and then he stole her cellphone.

Also in Murray Hill, a man punched a cop in the face and knocked her to the ground after she tried to stop him from shoplifting products from a chain pharmacy he already looted from before.

Again in Murray Hill, two teenage girls jumped a 75-year-old woman as she came out of her apartment building and knocked her down to the pavement and robbed her designer bag and her cellphone. Then they used her bank cards to buy shit at a store in the Upper East Side.

In Herald Square, a store at Macy’s got smashed into and a mannequin got stripped of over $1,000 worth of clothes and the thief left the dummy for dead lying on the sidewalk.

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In Irving Square, an off-duty C.O. pulled out his gun in the middle of a concert at Irving Plaza during an argument with his girlfriend.

Also in Irving Square, two people got jabbed with an syringe on their asses during a rock concert.

In Alphabet City, a man fired his gun five times on the grounds of the Jacob Riis Houses.

In Tribeca, a roof blew off a restaurant shanty and landed onto the bike lane during a windy evening, causing injuries to a patron sitting inside.

Also in Tribeca, a man robbed the same department store nearly thirty times and finally got pinched by the cops after he fled with a case of red bulls.

Again in Tribeca at the Chambers St. Station, a man attacked and stabbed a woman in the stomach twice on the platform after she refused to open the emergency gate for him so he wouldn’t pay the fare.

In Chelsea, a man tried to torch two police cars parked in front of a precinct by pathetically trying to light rags on the gas caps. The fool arsonist previously got caught trying to light a patrol car ablaze at a precinct in Hell’s Kitchen back in August.

Also in Chelsea, a man grabbed a woman walking on the sidewalk under a scaffolding and pinned her to the pavement and tried to rip her clothes off but his rape attempt was thwarted by cops who caught him in the act.

Again in Chelsea, a homeless man attacked another man in front of a dollar slice  pizzeria and stabbed him in the guts twice to steal his cellphone. Then the man ran down the block and tried to hide in a homeless shelter building where the provider’s main offices also are located.

In Penn Station, a garbage can caught on fire from sparks coming from the ceiling in the PATH station’s concourse corridor.

In Downtown Manhattan, a man drew swastikas on a column at the entrance of city hall and the big charging bull. The homeless fascist also tagged swastikas on a construction site wall in the area.

Also in Downtown Manhattan at the Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall Station, a man shoved a woman down the stairs from behind. Then he punched her in the face after she landed on the ground and tried to strip her clothes off but was stopped by a Samaritan before he got to rape her. But the deviant managed to flee.

In Chinatown at the Canal St. Station, a man attempted suicide by standing on the tracks as the 6 train arrived and ran him over but he was able to survive.

In Union Square, an off-duty cop drove his car the wrong way on the street while driving drunk.

In Washington Square Park, an actress who’s been playing a cop on TV for over two decades told a man to stop singing so she and her crew can shoot a scene for an episode of SVU.

A rapper is arranging freestyle rap videos on the subway trains on social media. I wonder how Omicron spread so fast?

In Greenwich Village at the West 4th St. Station, a man in his birthday suit walked on the trackbed and came close to frying himself on the third rail.

Meanwhile on the subway, a man takes a fountain piss on the C train.

 

Queens

In Astoria, vandals set a ring of fire around a tree at a playground.

Also in Astoria, an off-duty cop broke down the door of her girlfriend’s apartment during an argument.

Again in Astoria, a man shot another man in the leg on the street following an argument.

And again in Astoria, a woman got killed and another woman got wounded when two men shot at each other after a fight over the victim escalated in front of a niteclub where she was celebrating her and her twin sister’s birthdays. The victim worked as a school safety agent for the NYPD and her boyfriend, who also got wounded during the shootout, wound up arrested for gun possession. Her ex-boyfriend killer is still on the loose even after he got pulled over for speeding by cops in New Jersey, meaning the NYPD never put an APB on him.

In Woodside, an off-duty cop got jumped by a gang of three men in front of a nite club and got into a shootout with them when they tried to rob jewels off him. The cop managed to kill one of them while taking a bullets to his leg and chest during the fusillade exchange. The two others managed to flee, but one of the thugs got caught by cops at a Bronx hospital as he went to get his wounds treated the other suspect is still on the loose.

Also in Woodside at the 61 St. Station, a man fell on to the tracks and got stuck underneath the 7 train.

In Jamaica at the 169th St. Station, a homeless man grabbed a woman from behind and attempted to rape her on the stairwell and then fled when a witness caught him in the act.

Also in Jamaica, a man shot another man to death and wounded another man from point blank range at the front door of a house as three of his accomplices robbed the place during a home invasion robbery.

Again in Jamaica, a man strangled a woman and then shoved a gun in her face inside her apartment during a domestic dispute. The thug did this after he posted bail for savagely beating down a 68-year-old man to the concrete in East New York last summer.

And again in Jamaica, a man shot another man in the hand during an argument over a parking space in broad daylight.

And again in Jamaica, a man shot at two men from his car at a street corner during a drive-by, killing one of them in broad daylight.

In South Jamaica, a man shot a woman to death from across the street as she was about to enter her car following an argument.

In Elmhurst, a man walked into a grocery store and easily stole $72,000 that was left inside the cash register and waltzed back out to the street. Could be an inside job.

In Briarwood, a young man sneaked into a public school and cornered an 11-year-old boy inside a restroom and held him at knifepoint and stole a bottle of water from him. Then the kook randomly attacked a man on a street corner nearby and slashed him twice but only causing tears to his jacket.

Parents at school found out about the brazen holdup a week after the holdup by officials. Which entirely falls in line with how the Board of Education run by Bill de Blasio and Chancellor Porter has been informing parents of COVID-19 infections, by keeping everyone in the dark to maintain the Blaz’s illusory “gold standard”.

Also in Briarwood, a man stabbed his girlfriend to death inside his apartment with a sword during a domestic dispute. After he stuffed her in a closet, he called 911 and tried to fool cops into thinking her death was caused during a home invasion robbery.

In Ridgewood at the Seneca Ave. Station, a man grabbed a 64-year-old woman by her handbag as he tried to rip it off her, then he pulled her back as she tried to get on the M train and punched her in the head.

In Middle Village, a man held up another man at gunpoint in front of a corner store and stole a bag off of him in broad daylight.

Also in Middle Village, an argument and a brawl between two men at a homeless shelter escalated when one of them stabbed the other multiple times at the front door of the facility.

Again in Middle Village, a 79-year-old woman got killed by a hit-and-run driver as she was loading Christmas presents into her car.

In East Elmhurst, a man broke into his ex-girlfriends house through a window and shot another her current boyfriend to death after a tussle with him.

In Ozone Park, a rookie cop used taxpayer funded surveillance technology to stalk his ex-girlfriend.

In South Ozone Park, a man shot another man to death in the middle of a block. The victim survived a gang related mass shooting a year earlier.

In Long Island City, a woman died from a fire inside her apartment at the Queensbridge Houses. She was found with her wrists slashed when her body was recovered after the blaze.

In St. Albans, a woman got shot in the arm while she was sitting in a parked car at 1 a.m.

In Rockaway Beach, an 8th grade student threatened to shoot up a middle/high school and officials didn’t notify parents of the potential attack.

In Flushing, an elderly couple died in a fire that destroyed their apartment in the early morning hours as they slept.

Also in Flushing, a fugitive cow tried to escape on the 7 train.

Again in Flushing, a man walked into a Sikh temple and stole 50 bucks that was left on an alter and then pulled a gun on a man who caught and tried to stop him.

In Forest Hills, a man threw two boulders through the glass doors of a church.

Also in Forest Hills, a man stalked a woman to her apartment building and then grabbed her and held her at knifepoint inside the elevator but the woman fought back as he was trying to reach into her pockets and he ran off. Then the man stalked another woman to her apartment building and then got into the elevator with her and also held her up at knifepoint, compelling her to empty her purse. When the woman showed she had no money to give him, the man decided to sexually assault her when he tried to remove her pants but gave up when the woman resisted and he fled the building. The man was a registered sex offender who was dwelling at a hotel homeless shelter in Corona where the Department of Homeless Services placed him after serving time for raping a teenage girl and another woman along with other charges for robbery.

In Jackson Heights, a man got killed when he got hit by a city bus as he was jaywalking.

Also in Jackson Heights, a fight between two gangs on the street escalated when one man pulled out a gun and shot two men, killing one of them with a blast to the head.

In Rochdale Village, two men shot three men in a car during a drug deal gone wrong at a shopping mall parking lot and got away with his accomplice driving an SUV.

In Hollis, two men stabbed another man to death on the sidewalk nearby the victim’s house, then the suspects stabbed another man to death on the street in Jamaica about 90 minutes later. One of the killers was found by the cops and arrested at a hotel in Manhattan that was being used as a homeless shelter for people recently sprung from prison.

In Kew Gardens Hills, two men broke into a man’s house, held him up at gunpoint and then pistol whipped him and snatched his car keys and stole his Benz.

In Queens Village, a man got shot to death on a suburban block after midnight.

In Richmond Hill, a man drove up next to a parked car in his fancy car and shot at a man sitting inside in broad daylight as stray bullets spread all over the vicinity and fortunately did not hit anyone or anything.

In Willets Point, a man beat up a 17-year-old boy on the 7 train and then flashed a gun at him in an attempt to steal his cellphone.

On Roosevelt Island, a homeless woman attacked another woman with a pair of scissors and slashed her in the stomach on the F train.

In Murray Hill, a city council crony found three of his cars tagged with the word “refund”, meant to be a slight on his decision to cut funding from the NYPD last year. The actual real criminal offense here may be that a city official owns three cars.

In Corona, a woman left her two sons, ages 2 and 4, outside alone in front of her apartment building.

Car thefts and stolen car parts have doubled during the holidays in Southside Queens.

On Rikers Island, an inmate headbutted a C.O. on his nose after he refused to relinquish a razor blade he was hiding in his mouth inside an intake center.

In Rego Park, dozens of cops responded to an emergency call from a chain restaurant after they refused service to forty customers of not having vaccine passports (known here as the “Key To NYC”) and arrested six people for “trespassing”.

Also in Rego Park,, NYPD deployed over three dozen cops to enforce former Mayor Bill de Blasio’s key to NYC vaccine mandate at the Queens Center Mall. Where they bounced out a 5-year-old boy out of a restaurant for not having a vaccine passport.

After kicking the little boy and his mother out, the vaccinated and masked vaccine mandate gestapo proceeded to kick out other patrons lacking the key to NYC vax pass and arrested 5 others for refusing to leave.

Brooklyn

In East New York, a man stole a school bus and rammed into a half dozen cars parked on a street while fleeing from the cops in pursuit and as citizens wailed and yelled in outrage at the leniency being displayed by the cops on the sidewalk, watching the demolition the thief caused.

Also in East New York, a man shot another man in the face following a dispute on the street.

Again in East New York, a MTA official got caught with a comical blow up doll inside his car.

And again in East New York, two men attacked a cashier and punched his face multiple times at a fast food restaurant because they didn’t get their food order fast enough.

In Bed-Stuy, a man shot his friend to death on the street where they both lived on.

Also in Bed-Stuy, a man shot another man to death from behind in the middle of a  courtyard at the Henry Houses in the dead of night.

Again in Bed-Stuy, a man shot two men in their legs on the street in broad daylight. Both victims claimed they did not know who their assailant was.

And again in Bed-Stuy, a man died from a fire inside his apartment at the Breevort Houses.

In Prospect-Lefferts Gardens, a man walked up to four men hanging out in front of a bodega and shot at all of them.

In City Line at the Grant Ave. Station, a man shot at another man on the A train.

In East Flatbush, a man shot a bodega worker to death when he went behind the counter and started brawling with him after he demanded $500. The killer was a regular customer there and had an argument with the worker over the price of a sandwich he ordered from them before he decided to rob the store later on. The victim was running the store for his father who was planning his wedding in Yemen.

Also in East Flatbush, a gang of boys surrounded a 67-year-old man on the sidewalk after bullying him on a city bus that they just got kicked off of and then they threw a hammer at him and pummeled him to the pavement.

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Again in East Flatbush, a man got shot in the back in front of a niteclub.

And again in East Flatbush, a couple drove all the way from Georgia to a nursing home where they attempted to drop the woman’s father off at and threatened to shoot him if he didn’t get out of their car. Cops arrived and searched the car and found two loaded 9mms and three other guns with 100 rounds of ammo in their trunk.

In Canarsie, two men got shot in the middle of the street, one died and the other wounded man who survived wouldn’t identify their assailant to the cops.

Also in Canarsie, three men got shot on the street, one fatally from a blast to the throat in front of a Jamaican restaurant.

Again in Canarsie, a woman got into a brawl with cops and choked one of them when they tried to arrest her son to her house after he ran to hide there after stole beer from a bodega.

And again in Canarsie, two men got shot in front of a chain Carribean restaurant, one of them died from his wounds.

In Ocean Hill, a man got shot twice on the street in broad daylight.

In East Williamsburg, two cops responding to an emergency call at the Bushwick Houses went up to an apartment where they interviewed a man at the front door and then two shots went off. Instead of rushing in, the cops awkwardly asked him to enter the apartment with his permission, but the man immediately demurred a refusal and the cops turned their bodycams off and walked away.

The two cops did return when police backup came to answer a call about the shots they heard and ignored and arrested a man who attempted to escape out the second floor window. The other cops arrested the other man during an actual search and found the gun used and also a credit card duplicating machine and scales to measure cocaine. The cops had their badges and guns taken away from them, but transferred them to desk duty assignment, allowing them to keep their jobs as do nothing city workers.

In Williamsburg, a man got shot to death from a point blank blast to his chest during a drug deal gone bad on the street in front of a NYC Transit staircase.

Also in Williamsburg, a paraprofessional instructor pushed a student from behind then fondled her breast in the hallway at a high school.

In Bushwick, three men held up an electronics store at gunpoint and robbed it of $14,000 in cash, jewels and merchandise after they pistol whipped a worker and a customer and all three got away in a Benz.

Also in Bushwick, a homeless man was found dead and bleeding on the sidewalk with his throat slashed.

Again in Bushwick, a man shot another man in the shoulder on the street near midnight.

In Brownsville, a man shot another man to death on the street in broad daylight.

Also in Brownsville, a man got shot to death in front of a church.

Again in Brownsville, a man shot another man to death in front of an apartment building in broad daylight where a homicide occurred inside an apartment there a few months earlier.

In Crown Heights, an emotionally disturbed man got shot to death by the cops when he charged at them with a knife. The man initially called 911 on himself and when the cops arrived, the man disobeyed their orders to relinquish his knives and decided to run into the nearest subway station where the cops shot their tasers at him and they had no effect and then he ran back onto the street where he met his fate.

The cops had two previous altercations with the man in other incidents when he jumped out a window and stabbed himself. Being that this was the third and last time the cops had to handle this man’s issues (is there a three strikes and your dead rule for the mentally disturbed in NYC?), where were the so called mental health social workers from Bill de Blasio’s tax boondoggle wife’s THRIVE municipal office that were supposed to aid the NYPD to avoid deadly ramifications like this? The family of the man felt that the NYPD’s used excessive force.

Also in Crown Heights, a man shot another man in the foot inside the lobby of an apartment building.

In Midwood, a gang of ten men chased a man down the street and then caught up to him and beat him down to the pavement as one of them smashed a chair over his head. Then they rifled through his pockets and robbed whatever belongings or cash he had on him.

In Sunset Park, a man snatched a bag containing $5,000 from a trading outlet store from a worker and then he shoved her to the pavement when she tried to grab him and ran down the street.

Also in Sunset Park at the 36th Station, a man randomly pushed another man onto the tracks.

Again in Sunset Park, two men loitering inside an apartment building followed a tenant heading up the stairs and they both held him up at gunpoint in front of his apartment and proceeded to pistol whip him and shoot him in both legs.

And again in Sunset Park, a man loitering and pacing in front of building talking to himself randomly lashed out at a woman walking with her daughter and son on the sidewalk by him and then flashed a knife at them because he thought the boy called him a crackhead. Then the man tried to stab him and his sister, but their mother jumped in their way and got slashed in the stomach protecting them.

In Coney Island, three men feigning to be maintenance workers doing COVID tracing broke into a man’s apartment and beat the resident down to the floor and one of them slashed him with a knife just to steal his cellphone. Then the thugs went into a bodega to get bandaids because one of them slashed himself during the robbery.

In Brighton Beach, a man got shot to death and another man got wounded during a pot deal gone bad inside an apartment being rented by an Airbnb host.

In Sheepshead Bay at the 16th St. Station, a man committed suicide when the Q train ran over him as he was lying on the tracks.

Also in Sheepshead Bay, a man broke into the same synagogue on three occasions during Haunukah and robbed $2,000 from the donation box.

In Bensonhurst, a man lit up a fire inside a bodega with a cigarette lighter.

Also in Bensonhurst, a man failed to rob a bank when he feigned to have a gun by gesturing with his hand.

Again in Bensonhurst, a man shot another man to death over a woman inside a rowhouse. The killer also attempted to shoot his ex-girlfriend during the home invasion.

In Downtown Brooklyn, 38 weapons consisting of guns, knives, tasers and pepper spray were confiscated from students who tried to sneak them into school when the Board Of Education sent a metal detector there a few days after a student got caught with loaded gun and a bag of 30 g’s in cash in class.

Also in Downtown Brooklyn at the Atlantic Ave/Barclays Center Station, a man randomly punched a man in the head on the platform and then pushed him onto the tracks.

Again in Downtown Brooklyn at the Court St. Station, a man slapped a woman’s face after she yelled at him for filming other passengers with his cellphone on the R train.

And again in Downtown Brooklyn, vaccinated and masked cops responding to an emergency call at a Burger King arrested five customers for trespassing without a Key to NYC vax pass.

In Bay Ridge, two men confronted two other men and called them anti-Semetic slurs because they were wearing hoodies they didn’t like and demanded they take them off, then one of the bigoted thugs punched one of the men twice in the face.

In Red Hook, a man stabbed another man to death in front of an apartment building at the Red Hook Houses, making it the third homicide on the NYCHA property.

In Gravesend, a man taped up flyers around a high school containing narratives denigrating Black people.

In DUMBO, a man washing windows of a luxury condo building under development died after falling 10 stories and landing on a balcony.

In Brooklyn Heights, a fire broke out in a townhouse building that was being gut renovated as it spread into a neighboring building.

Bronx

In Mount Eden, a man got shot to death and a young woman got shot in the hand during a drive-by when three gunmen blasted their vehicle from the sunroof and the passenger windows.

Also in Mount Eden, a man shot another man to death in the hallway of an apartment building over an argument about his sister who the victim was going out with at the time.

In Morris Heights, a man impersonating a UPS worker forced his way into a couple’s apartment and held them and their two grandchildren at gunpoint. Then another man came inside and helped his fellow bastard zip tied them and then cracked open their safe and broke open the kids piggy bank, making off with over $7,500 that they were planning on using to move to a new neighborhood. The bastards also stole two cellphones and an ipad.

In Morrisania, a man shot another man to death at point blank range on the grounds of the Morris Houses. And got caught by the cops when he went to visit his probation officer.

Also in Morrisania, an app-food delivery man got clocked in the head from behind with a brick and got beaten down to the floor by two men who then rifled through his pockets and robbed his cellphone and wallet.

Again in Morrisania, a fire in the basement of a nail salon led to the floor collapsing, causing injuries to three people inside.

In Wakefield at the 241 St. Station, a man stabbed another man to death to settle an argument on the platform that started in a bodega earlier.

In Mott Haven, a man shot another man to death in the lobby of an apartment building at the Mill Brook Houses.

Also in Mott Haven, a young man got shot in the leg inside an apartment building.

Again in Mott Haven, a man stalked a 79-year-old man on the sidewalk and grabbed his wallet as he was counting money from it. Then the thief dragged the elderly man on the sidewalk and got away with his wallet.

And again in Mott Haven, a man got killed in a car wreck when he lost control of his jeep while merging and smacked into another car driven by a drunk driver, causing him to go over the side of the highway and land upside down on the adjacent street.

And again in Mott Haven, an app-food delivery man got confronted by a man on an e-bike who rolled up towards him going the wrong direction and then another man sneaked up behind the delivery man and punched him in the head twice, knocking him to the ground and then he robbed his motor scooter and rode away with the aggressive ebike rider.

And again in Mott Haven at the 138th St. Station, a man shot fluid from his water bottle all over a token clerk as she was leaving  her booth.

And again in Mott Haven, a man mugged an 85-year-old woman inside an elevator at an apartment building and stole her purse.

In Norwood, a man got shot in the hip at a house where he tried to crash a party he wasn’t invited to.

Also in Norwood, a woman walked up to a cop standing in front of his precinct and punched him in the face.

In University Heights, a man got shot to death on a bench when two men tried to mug him on a sidewalk promenade.

Also in University Heights, a butcher caught a man shoplifting packages of meat inside his store and let him go after the perp flashed a gun at him.

In Fordham Manor, two men held up a jewelry store at gunpoint and stole a bunch of dookie rope gold chains worth over 200-300 large.

Also in Fordham Manor, a man driving a car with expired temporary plates evaded cops who tried to pull him over and engaged in a high speed chase with them, at one point where he mounted the sidewalk to get away. When the cops approached the skel’s car, he hit the gas and dragged one of them on the asphalt and ran over her leg and hip in another getaway attempt.

In Crotona Park East, a man stabbed another man in the leg during an argument in front of a bodega. The victim wound up dying from his wound a week later.

Also in Crotona Park East at the 174th St. Station, a man walked up to a woman on the platform and smacked her face and called her a racial slur.

In Crotona Park, a gang of six boys attacked a 14-year-old boy on the sidewalk and then robbed his cellphone after beating him down on the pavement with kicks and punches.

In Claremont Village, a man shot at another man who was fleeing from him on the street and a stray bullet hit a woman on the ear while she was commuting nearby.

Also in Claremont Village, a man got shot to death at point blank range on the grounds of the Morris Houses.

Again in Claremont Village and Eastchester, a woman duped two men into hooking up with her on social media and then her two accomplices held them up at gunpoint and robbed their belongings and one of their cars.

And again in Claremont Village, a man shot two men to death in the middle of the street in the dead of night.

In Allerton, two men shot a man to death on the street in broad daylight.

In Morris Park, a man killed himself and critically injured another man with him after he crashed his fancy car into a light pole after speeding down the streets and running red lights.

In the South Bronx, a man used a couple of bricks to smash the windshields of police cars parked on the sidewalk by a precinct.

In Melrose, three men carpooling to a job site got chased down by a man driving an SUV who got pissed off at them for passing his vehicle to close, then the SUV driver took out a gun and shot at them, killing a man who was sitting in the back seat.

In Belmont, a man slashed a woman multiple times with a box cutter following a dispute in front of her apartment.

In Fordham, a boy and two girls causing mayhem in a department store threw a trash can at a security guard who tried to stop them and broke her teeth.

In Westchester Square, a man got shot in the chest multiple times during a street fight.

In Soundview, a man got killed by a hit-and-run driver after he stepped out his pick up truck on the highway.

In Kingsbridge Heights, a woman died in a fire inside her apartment that started in her kitchen.

In Van Nest, a four-alarm fire engulfed three row houses, leaving multiple families homeless. The FDNY had difficulty putting out the blaze because the hydrants were frozen.

In Jerome Park, a boy stabbed another boy in the back multiple times with a pair of scissors in a high school hallway.

At Yankee Stadium, a cop decided to quit the NYPD after her supervising officer repeatedly sexually harassed and raped her on and off duty and forced her to do errands and chauffeur him.

Staten Island

In Manor Heights, two men attacked two students in front of their high school as one of the them pummeled one student with kicks and punches as he laid on the pavement and the other man pinned the other student while sticking a gun to his face and then he pistol whipped him.

Days after the horrifying incident, students at the high school assembled a walkout in protest of the violence that de Blasio and the Board Of Education continued to doggedly ignore because they were too enamored with themselves about the “gold standard” they were setting keeping COVID infections down in public schools. Which everyone and their dogs knew was a lie.

In Concord, a man confronted another man at his apartment over a woman they were both seeing and got into a brawl with him while holding a knife while the resident’s wife and kids were home.  The other man then got the upper hand after getting slashed in the face and strangled him to death. Then he dragged his body into the hallway lobby and left him there for the cops to pick him up. After initially being charged with homicide, the man was released when it was found he acted in self-defense.

In Concord, a man got strangled to death following a brawl with two men inside his apartment.

In New Dorp, a man killed himself when he crashed his car into the front of a bus while speeding on the street.

In Greenridge, two men broke into a man’s house and then one of them shot him to death after they stole a gold chain from their victim.

In West Brighton, a man broke into a coffee shop by cutting through the metal roll down gate and made off with $1,000.

Also in West Brighton, cops busted a man possessing a loaded gun and a taser during a traffic stop as the perp desperately claimed innocence.

In Mariners Harbor, a man held up a gas station at gunpoint and robbed money from the register.

In Midland Beach, a man beat down a man with a baseball bat and robbed him with a gang of accomplices.

In Rosebank, a man shot his son in the chest with a shotgun inside his house during a domestic dispute and the victim stumbled outside and bled to death on the sidewalk.

In Meiers Corners, a man whipped out a gun and pointed it to another man’s face to settle an argument.

In Brighton Heights, cops caught a man walking on the street with a loaded gun.

In Eltingville, a man killed himself after crashing his car into a pole after speeding down a street. His passenger also got injured from the wreck.

In the South Shore, an off-duty firefighter beat a man to a bloody pulp on the street following an argument.

In Willowbrook Park, a man got pulled over by Parks Police for driving his car fast around the Greenbelt Recreation Center and then the man yelled racist remarks, spat at them, threw dirt in one of the cops faces and violently resisted arrest while citing the U.S. Constitution of his right to be a bigot.