Quarter Stick
1983
Basement Screams
About This Album
With a total running time of eight minutes, the original six songs on Basement Screams are little more than the average in-your-face, post-punk gristle. Screaming vocals, piercing guitars, rolling drums, and snapping basslines show up in each take. Despite the apparent simplicity, there are hints of what lie ahead in Naked Raygun's future. "I Lie" features a catchy outro that completely subverts the song's original tempo in favor of an advanced and defined melody -- a strategy the band would use on all but its final album. "Tojo," a ditty about the ruthless dictatorship of a Chinese emperor, is brave and light years ahead of what most other American punk bands were singing about. Basement also has a penchant for the witty on "Swingo," with lines like "Go swing/Like the pendulum do/Go swing/Like John Wilkes Booth" throwing open the cellar doors that lead to political and social commentary -- the EP makes it plainly clear that Naked Raygun had something to say. It is doubtful that the stop-start, smooth-rough passages that provide the frame for "Potential Rapist" could be pulled off by anyone else, save for an artist like Gang of Four.
Track List (try tracks 1,3,4 and 5)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.