Circle Jerks

Group Sex [Reissue] (2020)

John Gentile

This is as good as punk gets. Hell, it might even be as good as music gets. The funny thing is that Circle Jerks’ 1980 debut Group Sex is barely 15 minutes long. I suppose when something is this pure, that’s the most you can handle.

The story is well trod at this point. Keith Morris quit (or was fired?) from Black Flag after cutting the astoundingly good Nervous Breakdown EP. Driven in equal parts by competition, revenge, and simply having nothing else to do, Morris ran into Greg Hetson who was getting fed up in Redd Kross. They then pulled in Roger Rogerson and Lucky Lehrer and even brought a little bit of Black Flag/Redd Kross material with them.

The result was an album that might be a collage of new and old and wound up being the perfect synthesis of So-Cal punk rock. “Beverly Hills” spit at the plastic phoniness of jet-set mindset. “Live fast die young” saluted burning out instead of fading away. “I just want some skank” was about being young and horny. The lyrics were short and sharp and spoke to pretty much every punk rocker of a certain age. Yet, despite that these were timeless messages, they were presented with a manic L.A. edge which gave these messages a specific root, thereby making them more identifiable and more real, instead of just being a bland “I hate my parents” wail.

Hetson’s guitar was the perfect foil for Morris’ iconic bark. While Morris’ gritty scream cracked across these tracks with the unpredictability of David Johanson and the crazed misanthropy of Iggy at his (near) lowest, Hetson smashed out short, simple riffs that were catchy and dare I say, somewhat pop-adjacent. Many of the other hardcore bands simply sprinted forward with a non-stop thrash. By contrast, Hetson (who did not adopt a warped surfer sheen like many of his contemporaries) seemed to lean back to glam and maybe even early 70s hard rock- yet, whereas those influences leaned back on their influence – the blues- and would roll along with the soul, Hetson sped up the riffs and pushed them into quick, sharp strikes.

Credit also have to be given due to Lehrer for incorporating a jazz/reggae time signature on “Back Against the Wall.” Just as Circle Jerks either created, or at least solidified, the early 80s west coast hardcore punk sound, they pushed against that very template, moving the harder music into something artier- but importantly, they didn’t lose a sense of menace.

And that raises the point of perhaps why Group Sex is so outstanding. While Morris plays the part of a zagged out LA kid across the release- spitting at authority figures, lamenting being lonely, having no idea of what to do- there is a deep intelligence here. “Operation” is an ideal example. The track at first appears to be a funny song about vasectomies until it’s revealed why the focus wants to get snipped – he feels that society is so sick that the human race needs to end. Also look to the title track, co-written with Jeffrey Lee Pierce of the Gun Club. Whereas many other hardcore punkers were deadly literal – “I hate cops!”, “I’m going insane!” – the Circle Jerks were equally likely to add a certain… artsy-fartsy angle into their music. “Group Sex” is a warped take on a swingers ad. But, the band doesn’t seem to be mocking that lifestyle- if anything, they seem to be reveling in it, albeit with a tongue-in-cheek delivery. Is it a critique of “straight suburban” lifestyle and the underbelly of the same? Is it simply a silly tune? Who knows? The tune can be bent in many directions and that’s one of the genius strikes of the release. See also, “Deny Everything,” one of the greatest album openers of all time, or “Red Tape” one of the greatest album closers of all time. The tunes, 30 seconds and 60 seconds, respectively, are super quick and super punchy, yet they’re fully formed. But also, what are they saying? Did the Circle Jerks, broke punkers, really have to worry about taxes and permits? On “Deny Everything,” what are they being charged with? The tune is less than half a minute, but it’s a locked room puzzle with no answer. The fact that they don’t always spell everything out is a master strike.

Of course, there is the issue that maybe as much as half the album as jacked from other bands. For one, the material being jacked was mostly written by the jackers, as it were. And even if it wasn’t, there is something extremely ballzy and punk rock about so gleefully staling another band’s music who you are feuding with. See Ice Cube’s “Jackin for Beats” if you don’t believe me.

The fact is, Group Sex is perfect. It’s difficult to find any other hardcore release that so deftly encapsulates outsider frustration, that sets the template for this type of music, and that also pushes against that very template. On to boot, it rocks like hell and it’s funny and weird. Is it ironic that an album that has a title that sounds like pornography is actually fine art, or is that part of the art in of itself?

The Trust records reissue does an excellent job of presenting this release in its best form. Frankly, Group Sex sounded pretty good to begin with, and the label takes that to heart. The remastering pretty much just sharpens and punches up the hits here, thereby keeping the release’s core integrity. The associated deluxe booklet is a fun read regarding the history of the band and also includes blurbs from contemporaries and artists that were influenced by the record. The picture that was used for the album cover before editing is particularly cool. The bonus five demo recordings are raw and ragged and probably give you an idea of what the band sounded like live during this period. There are a few lyrical and stylistic differences here and there which are fun to identify. They also suggest that the band was pretty much dynamite from day one. Pre-orders came with a fanzine created with the band when the album was released, and include all of the album’s lyrics and a few other fun items.

This album is crucial for every music collection.