Jeremy Roscoe, Music Express and Circle Jerks VI.

The following is something I wrote for a book I am working on. This as of yet untitled project is envisioned as mixture of music reviews and memoirs. A collection of short reads.
This entry is on my first Circle Jerks album, VI


If every town has one guy who is ‘the punk’, then that title would go to Jeremy Roscoe where I grew up. In his middle school yearbook picture, he wore a Circle Jerks shirt. That shirt is the first I ever heard of the Circle Jerks. While Jeremy directly or indirectly got me into lots of bands, its the Circle Jerks I am giving him credit for here.
My all time favorite record store is Music Express. Music Express was on the corner of West Main and Drake, in Kalamazoo. Although long gone, I discovered a lot of music there, and have plenty of good memories of the place. They had a row of CD players with headphones in front of the used CD rack, so you could listen to used discs before you paid for them.

Jeremy Roscoe, Music Express and Circle Jerks VI.

One day while browsing the used rack at Music Express I noticed a copy of Circle Jerks VI. I recognized the name from Jeremy’s middle school yearbook picture. Around this time I had been discovering all sorts of new music. Black Flag, Dead Kennedys, Minor Threat, Ramones. All the classics. I popped in the Circle Jerks CD and liked it right away. I purchased the CD, and although I would end up take a fair amount of shit for my choice, the Circle Jerks quickly became one of my favorite bands.
VI is the fifth album from the Circle Jerks. Recorded 7 years after their debut set, the music had progressed much at this point. The band fell stagnant after this recorded, and after several years touring on this album and not recording anything new, the Circle Jerks split (they would reform, tour, record and split again eventually). VI is widely regarded as a weak followup to 1985's metal influenced Wonderful. It’s all punk to me.
Kicking off with Beat Me Senseless, the same track that kicks off the live album Gig, VI is off to a great start. A great riff from guitarist Greg Hetson sets both the mood and the pace.
Casualty Vampires, Tell Me Why, and Protection are solid tracks, leaning towards the social commentary that seems an undercurrent to the whole album. I’m Alive, along with Living and I Don’t, takes a more introspective approach. A positive song from a band that was borne from the drug fueled nihilism of the circa 1980 L.A. punk scene, now growing older and less capable of living a self destructive lifestyle.
The Circle Jerks sound right at home with Fortunate Son, a CCR cover. Their version really fits both the band and the album. All Wound Up, the album’s shortest track, would have fit in nicely on the bands third album Golden Shower of Hits. While a few songs seem like filler, none are out of place or hard to listen too. The album ends on a high note, with the aforementioned I Don’t, a fast track and a personal favorite.
Although some, perhaps even Morris himself, dislike what the Circle Jerks sounded like on VI, it is a solid album. Perhaps less punk to some ears, I found it at just the right time in my life.

It didn’t take long for me to get the rest of the Circle Jerks catalog. From the controversial but blistering 15 minute debut, to the equally blistering live album Gig, I fell in love with every album. Keith Morris remains to this day one of my favorite vocalists, although my least favorite Black Flag frontman. There was always something just right about his raspy talk/yell style.