The Nurses - Destroy Your Friends (Live & Demos 1979-1981) download free

"Pop with a nihilist streak a yard wide" is how bassist/vocalist/songwriter Howard Wuelfing has characterized the Nurses, the group he fronted in the years before Washington DC became synonymous with hardcore punk. It's an accurate description, one which nonetheless gives very little indication of Wuelfing's lingering influence on the DC music scene: if Iggy Pop is the godfather of punk, Howard Wuelfing is the godfather of what is now termed (gratingly and unfairly) "emo". The Nurses released a few singles and appeared on a handful of regional compilations before calling it a day when guitarist Marc Halpern died in 1981. By that time, sadly, the band already had fallen victim to the monopolization of their scene by the younger hardcore crowd, and in the ensuing years they have not been rescued from near-total obscurity. A few listens to "Destroy Your Friends", this collection of live recordings and demos, show what an unjust fate the Nurses suffered. These guys were fantastic, with consistently strong material which here and there borders on greatness (particularly 'Rubberheads', the should-have-been-a-minor-classic that is one of the few studio tracks here). The live stuff has its customary share of technical glitches but is very listenable overall and includes performances of superlative songs like 'Dead Man in Trenchtown', 'Hearts', and 'D.Y.F.'--the last two of which became singles. There's commercial appeal but the Nurses had an edge, too; Wuelfing, Halpern and drummer Harry Raab achieved the perfect balance of both. Essential for those who want to trace the mid-eighties DC aesthetic (Gray Matter, Rites of Spring et al.) to its roots, or just to hear what punk/new wave was like outside the major centers of New York, London, and Los Angeles. You'll be grateful that this music has been lovingly preserved and is still available to hear.