Published in Sounds, 3rd July 1982

Total Chaos | Punk 45s Reviewed by Garry Bushell | THE PARTISANS: ’17 Years Of Hell’ (No Future); RED ALERT: ‘Take No Prisoners’ (No Future); INSTANT AGONY: ‘Think Of England’ (Half Man Half Biscuit); CHAOS UK: ‘Loud, Political And Uncompromising’ (Riot City); THE VARUKERS: ‘I Don’t Wanna Be A Victim’ (Tempest). Further proof of the unhealthy influence of the Indie Chart on British punk. Originally a good indication of the sheer numbers of flourishing punk bands, the Indie Charts have now become a talent-stifling trap, a breeding ground for complacency and laziness.

The Indie Mentality is too easily satisfied. “Oh look at us mummy, we’re in the Indie Top Ten.” SO F***ING WHAT? The Indie Chart is a fake, a gumbie ghetto that drains bands of balls and energy and makes them smug instead of angry. You should be aiming to blow up in the face of the music biz, not to be part of a small time black leather side-show!

Not even the best punk bands are spared. The young and promising Partisans come nowhere near to achieving their potential here. Sure it’s a good song with a growling Sabbath riff and embittered teen-angst lyrics set to a strong mid-tempo singalong, but all the stuffing’s kicked out of the number by a production weaker than a shaved Samson.

Total Chaos | Punk 45s Reviewed by Garry Bushell

On the other hand Red Alert are a tight, powerful band doing their best with an average song that sounds like a ’78 Clash out-take. They need a good producer to coax their talent out of them.

Instant Agony are a Birkenhead band with a nice line in American-style thrash. This is already a listeners’ fave on Noise The Show, mostly ‘cos it’s thrash with a bit of thought, but for all its singalong qualities and neat raging guitar it’s so feebly produced it might as well have been recorded in a septic tank.

Chaos UK and the Varukers corner the sub-Discharge end of the Brit-thrash along with sulky Disorder. Chaos UK provide a suitably rabid 100mph outing but their claims to political status are hindered by a vocal delivery roughly as coherent as a British Rail public address system. Meantimes the Varukers manage a good guitar sound and seem happy to give up there.