Sink With Kalifornija

When a lot of early L.A. punk bands were giving into subcultural trends of nihilistic themes, Youth Brigade railed against apathy and complacency with political songs. They weren’t quite the upstarts that made San Francisco’s Dead Kennedys infamous, but founding siblings Shawn, Adam and Mark Stern held that the “youth” in their moniker was meant to represent a young attitude needed to change what is unjust. And from 1982’s Sound And Fury to 1996’s To Sell the Truth, the band always emphasized the integrity of strength for change through music. 1994’s Sink With Kalifornija is a thorough collection which plays like a compilation. Overall it does a great job of collaging everything that makes Youth Brigade one of old school punk’s best kept secrets.The title track opens with distorted guitars, varying time signatures, melodic hooks and politically charged lyrics. “Men In Blue (Pt. 1)” sticks it to the man with catchy gang vocals, but “Did You Wanna Die” is easily the catchiest song here, which may be why it was immortalized in 1984’s Bones Brigade Video Show, arguably the very first skateboard video.