Most New York punk histories skip from the original CBGB-era (circa 1974-1977) to hardcore (starting around 1983). Less covered, but crucial, was a six-year connecting scene, led by The Stimulators with close friends The Mad and—coming from DC monthly, then relocating—Bad Brains. Headlining CBs, equally fabled Max’s Kansas City, Trax, Hurrah!, Danceteria, TR3, and dozens of dives, the Stims were so thrilling, their audience of 100-200 regular kids would knock aside tables and dance like maniacs the second they began. I was stunned at 17 when I first encountered them at Max’s in 1979, opening for ex-Dead Boy Cheetah Chrome & the Casualties, to see a boy, 12-year-old Harley Flanagan, ferociously beating the skins, two mini-skirted women leaping and shouting backing vocals—Denise Mercedes lacing hard rock leads into whipping guitar runs and Anne Gustaysson belting bouncy basslines—and bug-eyed, wild, skinny gay poet-singer Patrick Mack stage-diving while crooning a la lggy, when that wasn’t done. Hooked and danced-out, I saw them and Bad Brains literally 70 times each; seeing either once, you’d never miss them. I co-launched our magazine The Big Takeover around then, June 14, 1980, and I’m still at it. And this self-released (the majors having lost interest in punk) “Loud Fast Rules!” b/w “Run Run Run,” recorded that 1979, remains the true document of what was so exciting; my heart still races at its sheer giddy propul-sion and exhilaration, launched in sound and feral attitude, at a time when older punks thought the genre had shriveled. Too, I’m pleased to have preserved a sole-copy test pressing that manager Donald Murk gave me of a third song recorded at that session: You Will Never Break My Heart,” released here 39 years later, because I owe the band a debt I can’t repay. All three songs remain jaw-dropping.

–Jack Rabid, editor and publisher Big Takeover, drummer, Even Worse