V.A. It Came From the Pit

Punk Rock was prophetic: its forbearers were voices in the wilderness, its leaders reveled in ‘the-axe-is-at-the-root-of–the-tree’ proclamations and its followers envisioned a rule-less paradise wherein each believer wrought their own culture. But even fierce prophets struggle with local acceptance; since once their prophecies come to pass they’re left to explain the fall-out. Like that glut of cheap CD compilations that still clog up retail racks, those are punk rock's fault. Before punk, the compilation, soundtracks aside, was primarily an exercise in nostalgia, a history lesson. But punk and especially hardcore would turn those sepia snapshots of the good old days into blurry Polaroids of the near future. The Rodney on the Roq compilations envisioned LA punk’s long desert-march to the pop charts and Bruce Pavit and co.’s American Youth Report, besides being a near-perfect compilation, predicted the riotous growth of the American Underground.

It Came From the Pit, alongside Something to Believe In from California’s Better Youth Organization laid bare Canada’s contribution to this Revelation. Besides the requisite thrashy hardcore acts like Ontario's Problem Children, ICFTP featured the garage rock of Vancouver's Enigmas, the jazz-punk of Victoria's NoMeansoNo, the proto-riot grrl of Winnipeg's Ruggedy Anne’s (coming soon!) and Edmonton's S.N.F.U.' (more here) doing a ripping take on Warren Zevon's "Poor, Poor Pitiful Me So". By accommodating different musical sects, albums like this not only helped ease the underground schism of the mid-eighties, they also foretold a plague of budget-priced punk compilation CD's to come.


It Came From the Pit L.P.
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