Customer Reviews

Strong Reaction

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I first saw Pegboy open for Social D way back when, their energy nearly overwhelmed the main act! I was so impressed that the very next day I bought this CD. This CD has been in my player constantly for the past decade! Favorite tracks? Oh, let me count! Definitely "Strong Reaction", "Field of Darkness", "Hardlight" and my very favorite "My Youth". The music? Sublime, heady, chaotic and a tendency to stick in your head when you're trying to work. Word to the wise: NEVER listen to this CD whilst making spaghetti, you'll end up with a mess and NEVER think that you can drive the speed limit with this in your CD player...I've had more traffic tickets thanks to these songs. I can't stress enough how great this collection is! I've gotten every single friend of mine hooked on this CD so much to the extent that I've had several copies "borrowed" and never returned. No matter, this CD could be lifted from me again and again and I will ALWAYS get another copy. It's the soundtrack of my life!

I've been listening to Pegboy since about 1991, when I borrowed a tape of Strong Reaction from a punk girl in my high school. During the early 90's, there were very few bands that matched Pegboy's sound and energy. I had been a Naked Raygun fan earlier, but their breakup seemed imminent and it was difficult to say what the band members would do next. Crossover and thrash were going out of style, grunge was coming into the mainstream, and any type of decent melodic punk was virtually off the map. Pegboy was not only one of the few bands of the time to adapt this sound, but they were one of the few bands that did it well for at least the next six or seven years. Paving the way for an explosion of radio-friendly melodic "punk," Pegboy was way ahead of its time and Strong Reaction/Three Chord Monte is a much overlooked classic. I still listen to this record and get chills at the thought of their live shows that I saw, and their lyrics still dig right into my spine despite the fact that I have been listening to them since I was seventeen. If you prefer bands like Social Distortion, Dag Nasty and Jawbreaker over Blink 182, Green Day and Good Charlotte, Pegboy is for you.

When John Haggerty left the seminal punk band Naked Raygun, he took their spirit with him. Raygun's last album (without Haggerty) was a pale comparison to the four albums with Haggerty on guitar.

Then Haggerty resurfaced with Pegboy, and Raygun fans were ecstatic. With his brother on drums and a bassist who plays quite a bit like Raygun's Pierre Kezdy, this band was bound to be great. (Raygun fans were even more ecstatic when Kezdy later joined Pegboy). The singer Larry Damore sounds nothing like Raygun's Jeff Pezzati, but his style is classic punk nonetheless.

Strong Reaction is a must-have CD for any punk fan, and especially for Naked Raygun fans. This album takes the great elements of Raygun's music, and weds it to Damore's agnst- ridden lyrics. Add in Raygun's long-term producer Ian Burgess (who showed everyone who followed, including Steve Albini, how to produce great punk albums), and this is an instant classic.

The CD is an extra value as well because it includes Pegboy's first EP, Four Chord Monte.

This album came out when I was eleven years old. I first heard it when I was about 13. By the time I was 14 my band was covering "super star" at our very first punk rock show ever. That was almost ten years ago. This album pretty much changed the way I heard music. Very impressionable for such a young little punk. I've bought three more copies of this album over the years, and the songs still mean just as much to me as ever. I'll be listening to this album when i'm 65 years old, and telling my grandkids to "listen to this kids, it changed music for me". So like I said, i've been listening to this album for about 10 years now, bought three copies of it, due to time just ruining my other copies, and i'm soon to buy yet another copy..Yeah, I like this album, and this band.

I first encountered Pegboy in 1991 when they were opening for Social D. I went with a couple of friends down to the Button South in Ft. Lauderdale to see them. We ran into a few friends from high school out in the parking lot who told us that Pegboy was the show. They were correct. Social Distortion performed a great show, but Pegboy blew me away. The thing that stuck with me the most was seeing Larry Damore get into the pit and crowd surf during the Social D show. You can't get more authentic than that. The next day we searched all over town looking for the album. I don't remember where we found it, but I still have the cassette to this day.

Pegboy is a simple to the point rock band. Their music has been part of my life for so long. Some friends and I saw them at the Empty Bottle in Chicago recently and they still rock! Thanks for the tamales Larry, now go make a new album.

Pegboy is a simple to the point rock band. Their music has been part of my life for so long. Some friends and I saw them at the Empty Bottle in Chicago recently and they still rock! Thanks for the tamales Larry, now go make a new album.

Pegboy is one of the most underated melodic punk/hc bands. If they would have been from California instead of Chicago they might have become as big as Face to Face. Pegboy has all the great attributes of a melodic punk band without sounding generic or insincere like some less inspired bands. The heavy bass is one of the characteristics that really distiguishes the band's sound, along with the unmistakeable unique local stylings.

I was lucky enough to see this band twice in one night at Chicago's Riot Fest 2009 and at an after party bar show that same night which blew the earlier performance out of the water.

Strong Reaction is the album to get for this band. It includes the first EP Three Chord Monte and needs to be owned.

On a side note, if you like Pegboy check out an even lesser known band from NJ, Ex Number Five. This band sounds like Pegboy mixed with East Coast Hardcore.

This cd is by far the greatest in my collection of music. Growing up listening to pegboy created memories later in life for me the are hard to explain. Not too much music does that. Someone earlier had mentioned getting chills listening to this, and i would have to agree. I wouldent want to compare it to anything, because it is really and truely unique punkrock. Always reminds me of brisk fall weather in chicago.

sort of amazing debut from these guys...great guitar from the opening of the title cut to end...one of those albums that youre amazed how great it is from start to finish,includiing the extra 4 song ep that makes up the last 4 songs.also, they dont get more nicer than larry who's always been approachable as hes watched opening bands warming up with some brewage.