Was NMA an "immediate" band for you?

[Ade of Cornwall]

quick answer:

Yes...as soon as i heard the bass riff from "Vengeance" 28 years ago

[Ethan]

Yes. Saw the "Stupid Questions" video on MTV's 120 Minutes in 1989 or so when I was around 15.  I bought the T&C cassette at a record store in Seattle on the way to a Love & Rockets and Godfathers show and have been hooked ever since. I'm finishing up an NMA half-sleeve  the Friday after Thanksgiving. (I booked the appointment for the final sitting back in June, but that was the first opening my artist had.)  It's been a work in progress since 1996. It may yet still become a full sleeve. :-)

 

[L.North]

quick answer:

Yes...as soon as i heard the bass riff from "Vengeance" 28 years ago

I will second that!

[Wyneaux]

I remember it every vividly, I was at my mom's house Thanksgiving 1986, watching MTV when NMA came on with 51st State... with those leather jackets.... I was mesmerized....  for more than a decade now, the cover of Ghost of Cain has been my desktop.... save to say, smitten at once!

[1900sr]

First heard NMA being played by the DJ in Retford Porterhouse and did n't think much to them, maybe because all the goths were dancing to them.

Then I saw them live, supporting Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers at Rock City in 84, and they blew me away.

[cam]

when i first heard Christian militia back in the early eightys i was 16 and in a  adolescence unit of a care home a freind who was also there his dad came to visit from Bradford and had a tape with christian militia and a few more NMA tracks we pinched the tape and the rest is history i was hooked my music tastes before were mainly punk but yes "immediate" band for me

[Willard]

Absolutely.

I heard bits of Ghost of Cain tacked onto the end of a tape from my older brother that also had the Dickies, Suicidal Tendnecies, Agent Orage, Circle Jerks.  Half of GoC on one side, half on the other.  How could Love Songs and Master Race not be immediate?  How could that have to grow on you?

First thing I could find in the shops of middle America to purchase was a tape of Thunder and Consolation, it had 125 mph inserted before Archway Towers, but no other from White Coats ep, or Nothing Touches.  When I got the cd of TandC it had all those other tracks mixed in, and I couldn't figure out why Archway Towers wasn't the last track, it seemd too perfect.  Of course, I later sorted out that it was, and that the others were added on.

Anyone else notice that those Thunder and Consolation extra tracks, including the White Coats ep, 125 mph, and Nothing Touches, never made it onto a Lost Songs/Abandoned Tracks compilation? I always thought that odd.

[Dac X Lee]

I first heard them through my brother, we share the music and we've got simmilar taste. They were okay to me, but I didn't care that much, I was quite young.
Then a few years later I rediscovered them amongst so many CDs, searching for something to listen to which is different from the usual stuff I pick, and that was when I got addicted.

[Stoney]

Absolutely.

I heard bits of Ghost of Cain tacked onto the end of a tape from my older brother that also had the Dickies, Suicidal Tendnecies, Agent Orage, Circle Jerks.  Half of GoC on one side, half on the other.  How could Love Songs and Master Race not be immediate?  How could that have to grow on you?

First thing I could find in the shops of middle America to purchase was a tape of Thunder and Consolation, it had 125 mph inserted before Archway Towers, but no other from White Coats ep, or Nothing Touches.  When I got the cd of TandC it had all those other tracks mixed in, and I couldn't figure out why Archway Towers wasn't the last track, it seemd too perfect.  Of course, I later sorted out that it was, and that the others were added on.

Anyone else notice that those Thunder and Consolation extra tracks, including the White Coats ep, 125 mph, and Nothing Touches, never made it onto a Lost Songs/Abandoned Tracks compilation? I always thought that odd.

They weren't added because they were already easily available on the Thunder & Consolation cd....... The Lost Songs album being an easy way to get all those vinyl only (mostly) trax on a cd, there'd be no point sticking the (truely fantastic) White Coats trax on there......  Plus in mainland Europe the White Coats ep got a cd realease with 3 extra live trax. 

[ruckedout]

I had an older brother who listened to the Clash, Damned, Exploited, Anti Nowhere League, Ruts, Pistols and the other usual suspect. It was a choice of either listening to my brothers taste in music or my mothers.....hmmmmm Joe Strummer or Elvis Presley?

Not that there was anything wrong with the king but Joe won hands down!!!

I can remember buying Sandanista as my first record and laughing so much when i heard Magnificent Seven (Cheesboirger). Still makes me laugh now!

In amongst all of that i borrowed a tape off my bro' called 'No Rest' and i was hooked. Whilst other albums by other punk bands at the time were good, this was something else.

I'm no musician and don't pretend to be. I didn't understand the politics behind the songs or the musical talent(at the time i was 14), but let me tell you that album was well used. I even persevered with pencil in hand to try and save the tape post it being chewed up by my cassette player(what a ball ache that was when that happened).

My first concert at the Hummingbird was when i was 16. It was a life changing moment. I have been an NMA fan ever since!!!

[Aoede]

Totally... a guy I was madly in love with (that always helps) introduced me to T&C on cassette first in 1990 at UC Santa Barbara, my first year away at college.. I was so drawn in by Justin's voice-didn't really know why it compelled me-loved the feel, how tight the band was, the political nature-making a statement without shoving it down my throat-the repetition of his choruses, the raw emotion inherent throughout.. Green and Grey blew me away-it became an anthem of sorts for my friends and I. To this day I can't listen to that song and not be reminded of the group I hung out with at the time-the guy I later married and stayed with for 10 years.. When I listened to Impurity in 1991 I couldn't get enough NMA... and my treat was when they toured in the US and played in Berkeley I believe at an intimate venue in 1995-Berkeley Square perhaps?? I was there front and center with my group of friends all in disbelief that we were at a small NMA show.. then years later.. with my then boyfriend and now husband and total NMA fan too-we ran into that old circle of friends at an NMA show in SF Highlight for me though was watching Justin-NMA stripped down, acoustic I think with minimal accompaniment-maybe he played the Independent in SF-2005? Being at that show was a watershed moment-I knew Justin-Slade the Leveler as this hard exterior guy.. he showed up in all black leather, bad ass on stage-even shut up someone in the crowd for TALKING during his song, mosh pit going etc etc-- but as we all know.. he was dreaming of oceans... inspired me to write "Paper Tiger" on my 2008 CD "Push and Pull" https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/push-and-pull/id425919852  Track 1: totally dedicated to Justin.. "you're screaming out war.. but dreaming of oceans..."   it is a snapshot moment from my past.. but one that may have changed me as a singer-songwriter.. realizing what compelled-the raw emotion Justin brought to each and every gig-not holding back and sharing his soul with strangers through the beauty of song...
so maybe that's more than this question asked... but somehow your muse-that's me Aoede-was... inspired..

and since 2008 was such a long time ago musically for me, here's where your muse is today:
www.reverbnation.com/aoede

love to connect with NMA lovers-glad to part of the community!
Aoede
www.aoedemuse.com
www.twitter.com/aoedemuse
www.facebook.com/aoedemusemusic

[Master Ray]

'You're screaming out war but dreaming of oceans'...

Damn fine lyric, Aoede!

[Shush]

Hello Aoede,

I liked your posting, welcome to the forum. The first part of it reminded me of when I got my wife into NMA. we moved in together March 1991. Before that she was a Stranglers fan, but I managed to wean her off and onto better things. She heard my NMA albums and instantly took a like to T&C. After that, I remember she used to play T&C every Saturday night upstairs in our bedroom as she was getting ready to go out. I at the time used to think that she delayed the process of make up, etc., so she could hear the whole album, but she tried to assure me that girls really DID take that long to get ready on a Saturday night. !!

When I listen to T&C now it reminds me of two things. - this is one of the best albums of all time, and of being young and in love. What else could you possibly hope for from a listening experience.

[Aoede]

Thank you Master Ray! and to you Shush too-great story-believe it or not, I got inspired b/c of this forum to listen to Ghost of Cain and T&C tonight as I was making some coconut curried vegetables, so as I write White Coats was just finishing... I am so back in 1990 at my college dorm right now-a time when I was just getting CDs but mostly still listening on cassettes. Do you still have your NMA cassettes if you had any? I liked hearing about your wife getting ready.. it definitely would get you pumped.. not like Get Me Out did though for me.. want to hear something strange? I recall the NMA show in the 90s I think having very respectful mosh pitters... like they wanted to dance and had attitude and all-but sang loudly with Justin and probably even shed a few tears...   anywho.. nice to meet youse! I live in San Francisco-where are you from? 

p.s. it was f'n hilarious that it took me opening 3 NMA CD cases tonight (Raw Melody Men, Impurity and another Ghost of Cain copy) before I actually found an NMA album WITH its CD! It is telling-probably in a car somewhere without its case... can you relate?

Aoede

[Shush]

Hello Aoede, I am in Nottingham. I did have the first four albums on cassette, but in late 1989, a good friend of mine called Dean started to show an interest in the band, so I gave them to him. Pretty much straight away he became and instant dedicated fan, and still is. Thankfully he updated his format to disks, thus making sure the royalties for the first four wonderful albums went where they were due. 

Not seen Dean for some time now, he has a young child to take care of - and pay for, but efforts will be made to drag him to one of the UK November dates, Dean a regular NMA gig goer in the past.