The Consumers - All My Friends Are Dead (Cover Artwork)

The Consumers

All My Friends Are Dead (2002)

In The Red


So little is known about this Texas/California band, which is sad considering that the 11 songs they recorded in 1977 (1978 according to some sources) are some of the best of the era. This is their album that never got published.

Musically, this is like good Black Flag (Keith Morris days, guys) with a bit more musicality... Non stop, hammering proto-hardcore. Their vocalist obviously wishes he was Johnny Rotten, the drummer keeps the beat simple and the guitars sound like buzzsaws, making the most of their evidently rudimentary playing skills (well, by 70s rock standards).

You can only guess at what these songs are about from the titles, and the infrequent amount of times you actually understand the singer's ultra snotty voice. They seem to be anti everything ("Anti, Anti, Anti", "Concerned Citizen"), out to shock ("Teen Love Song", "Ballad of the Son of Sam"), and POLTICALLY anti everything ("Media Ogre", "Punk Church").

The liner notes explain the motives of the band, and their all too brief history, and, I believe, are written by the only two surviving members of this five piece.

All of these elements come together to create one hell of a record. If this had come out in '77, you can bet the Germs (musically, not lyrically), Circle Jerks, and Black Flag would all have been deemed copycats.

Anybody with a taste for punk rock should try to find this, or order it. I found my copy in a used section.

Note: My score means nothing, I don't judge albums by how many stars they get, so don't complain about it.