New Wind

The great irony of hardcore punk is that for a style that claims to be so fervently about breaking rules and fighting oppression, few music fans come down so hard on bands for stepping outside of the accepted stylistic norms as hardcore fans. For 1987's New Wind, 7 Seconds took a giant step away from hardcore orthodoxy, and paid the price in terms of the band's diminished standing in the hardcore community. The pointed thank-you to U2 in the album's credits was only the first warning sign, although the album sounds as if it was inspired more by the positive message of albums like War and The Unforgettable Fire than U2's actual music; these are not big rock anthems with one-chord guitar drones, but straight-up pop songs with hardcore roots, not really all that far from what bands like the Replacements or Soul Asylum were doing. (The downright bouncy "Tied Up in Rhythm" sounds a little like the Young Fresh Fellows!) The only real misstep is the botched closer, "Colour Blind Jam," a nearly eight-minute electronic dub experiment that's vaguely amusing for a couple of minutes and then supremely annoying. Other than that, New Wind is actually one of 7 Seconds' most underrated and appealing albums.