Murphy's Law
Murphy's Law

New York, around the mid-80s, seemed to be the paradise of the hard and fast sounds typical of the rawest hardcore punk; while the other main American punk scene, the Californian one, was indeed more melodic and sunny, the New York scene had made violence and frontal assault its own credo. Bands like Agnostic Front, Madball, Sick Of It All, Cro-Mags, Ludichrist, Reagan Youth, but also the "brothers" from nearby Washington (Bad Brains, Minor Threat, Scream, to name a few) vied for the title of the zone's greatest propagators of violence (oddly, however, the "cousins" of the local thrash metal scene, such as Overkill or Anthrax, were lighter compared to other bands of the same genre).

Murphy's Law, however, deviated from this trend, presenting themselves as the band closest to Californian sounds among those mentioned. Guided by singer Jimmy Gestapo, the single constant in a band that would see countless lineup changes over the years (members of Agnostic Front, Hanoi Rocks, Dog Eat Dog, Danzig, and many others would pass through its ranks), they formed in '82, and after releasing a demo the following year, they reached their self-titled debut album in 1986. The lineup at the time consisted of Gestapo, Alex Morris on guitar, Petey Hines on drums, and Pete Martinez on bass.

The album is a true manifesto of the Murphy's Law sound: fast and hard tracks with mosh breaks, as per New York tradition, combined with the party attitude typical of bands like Gang Green. Eminent in this regard is "Fun", which starts as an advertising jingle ("Hi my name is Jimmy, we're Murphy's Law, we all gathered here today to have fun") and then races away in the chorus and returns to the starting point in the verses; in the background, you can hear the audience's cheers and various shouts and belches. The album contains some of the group's most well-known tracks: "Care Bears" with its rock n' roll pace, "Crucial Bar-B-Q", "Beer", the "ballad" "A Day In The Life", "California Pipeline", the anthem "Murphy's Law", the ironic "Sit Home And Rot", the Stooges cover "I Got A Right", all future mainstays of their performances that make this first album their best and most celebrated work.

Not exactly a masterpiece, but a well-made record, without too many pretenses except to have fun by making fun. 3.5 rounded to 4 for charm.