Stuck In The 90's: Part 5 - 1995 Buzzy Trip

One of the things that I love about 90's Hardcore/Punk was the variety of sounds. Bands were doing their own thing, and in the early part of the decade, it seemed like every band was pushing the boundaries of Punk and Hardcore, and creating new styles. These days, I don't know if I'd have the understanding and patience to hang with new bands that were that adventurous, but back in the 90's, that shit was king.

Bad Trip were one of those bands that were difficult to pin down when describing their sound. Sure there is a touch of Quicksand in there, but really, Bad Trip just seemed to do their own thing. While on the surface, it could be easy to think that they didn't really fit in anywhere, but still, it was the early to mid-90's, so maybe that means they fit in with everyone.

I've always preferred the first Bad Trip album, Fear And Loathing, over their second, Buzzy...and because of that, I've dragged my feet on picking it up. Not that Buzzy is bad, but it just doesn't have that immediate punch that the first album delivered. With the 90's obsession at full steam, it seems like the right time to finally cross this one off the list.

Still Trippin'

Last March I started heavily listening to Bad Trip. I also began to routinely search for their vinyl on eBay, and I scored two different pressings of the Positively Bad 7 inch. Still, I kept coming up short on both the Fear And Loathing and Buzzy LPs. Six months later, I'm still listening to this band like crazy, and I'm happy that I've finally added one of their LPs to my collection.

While I assumed that Wreck Age had pressed the Fear And Loathing LP on colored vinyl, I'd never actually seen one, so I couldn't be sure. Discogs showed that there was a yellow vinyl pressing of Buzzy, but there wasn't any info listed on colored vinyl for their first LP. Thankfully, Marcus spotted one on eBay, and pointed it out to me. With one other bidder, I managed to grab it for fairly cheap at $12.00.

Grey marbled vinyl. I'm not sure how many pieces of colored vinyl Wreck Age typically pressed...500???

Taking A Couple Bad Trips

I kind of stumbled upon Bad Trip when I was on an early 90's kick recently. I only had their split with Go!, and the Elevator 7 inch, and while I enjoyed them when I picked up those records 20 years ago, I don't think they ever really made much of an impression on me. After listening to those songs recently, I suddenly found myself very interested to check out what else they had done.

Even after releasing two full length albums in the 90's, I don't believe that Bad Trip ever really generated much attention from the Hardcore scene. Hell, it's obvious that I'd never really been too interested in checking them out when they were around. Because of this, I figured that eBay would be flooded with cheap vinyl for the band. To my surprise, the pickings were pretty slim, and after months of searching for the Fear And Loathing LP, I was still sitting here empty handed. There were a couple copies of the Positively Bad 7 inch floating around with Buy It Now options, but I was holding out for the first Bad Trip LP. It finally got to the point where I couldn't take it any more, and I pulled the trigger on one of those Positively Bad records.

As soon as I sent my paypal payment, I noticed that the 7 inch that I bought was on Wreckage records. Hold on. I seem to remember seeing another copy with different labels. I did some research and discovered that the Wreckage pressing was not the original.

The original pressing of the Positively Bad 7 inch was on Bell Bottom Records. I found a recent auction on eBay that ended with zero bids. I took a chance and messaged the seller, asking if he'd be interested it throwing it back up on eBay with a Buy It Now option. He agreed, and I couldn't resist owning an original pressing. So within a couple of days, and for a total of $8.25, I now had two different copies in my collection.

I don't know if I'd say that this 7 inch is better than the Fear and Loathing LP, but damn, this record is really good. A nice surprise that I find myself spinning every couple of days.