Sunday, April 8, 2018

Blogging the Dischord Records catalog



It was never my intention to abandon this blog. It's not like I don't have the time to write a thing or two once in awhile. I like writing about music, I like discussing it, I like putting my thoughts out into the world, whether it be to generate a conversation or just to reflect upon later on down the road.

What I realized I needed was a project. Something to keep me focused. So this is the homework assignment I've given to myself.

Dischord Records is, deservedly so, one of the great independent record labels of all time. They have become synonymous with hardcore punk from Washington, D.C. and since 1980 have put out close to 200 records, many of which have become all-time staples in any record collection where independent, underground rock is of importance.

It probably would have been smart to have read any of the handful of books that have come out in recent years which have documented the D.C. scene, but I haven't read any of them. The only book I own that documents that period is 'Banned in D.C.' by Cynthia Connolly, Leslie Clague, and Sharon Cheslow. It's a wonderful book filled with quotes, photos and show flyers from a time that must have been incredibly exciting.

There are those who love these records more than me and those who have much more knowledge about these records. My hope - my ideal scenario - is for the comments sections to become a crucial part of this project. I would love for these posts to evolve into a conversation about these records. What they mean. What they're about. What they're about to you.

My guess is that I will not need to revisit many of the records in the earlier part of the catalog more than once before finding some words for them. A big part of this for me isn't to reflect on records I've grown up with, but rather discover all the bands that Dischord thought worthy that never came across my radar. I'm not sure how deep into the discography we'll get before I find a record I'm utterly unfamiliar with, but there will come a point where I'm utterly unfamiliar with most everything that follows.

Since I'm also a bit of a math guy, and love stats, there are some things I want to keep track of - if just for curiosity sake. I want to know how many releases these bands appear on, I want to know how many releases the people in these bands appear on, I want to know the length of the records (I've always been weirdly obsessed with things like that....like - how long would it take to listen to every Beatles record back-to-back?).

I hope you enjoy this....and please chime in....get the conversation started or continue one.

10 comments:

  1. Looking forward to this and chiming in when I can. Will 1/2 releases (Dischord/Fountain of Youth for example) be included?

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  2. Great idea! Look forward to your updates.

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  3. Looking forward to reading this blog. Please use tags etc to make the content more easy searchable.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the suggestion - you're 100% right.

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