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Freeplay: TSOL
By Billy Schear
wschear@mscd.edu

TSOL TSOL (Poshboy Records, 1981)

When four burly surf jocks from Orange County dress in drag, pick up stolen instruments and cut open their bleeding hearts, the results are True Sounds of Liberty.

As well-known for their poetry and politics as they are for their propensity for petty theft and grave robbing, TSOL were more than just a criminal novelty act, they were the underrated leaders of a musical and cultural phenomenon.

Decades before the likes of Alkaline Trio, TSOL experimented with elements few would have dared to tamper with. Marrying political commentary with shredding guitars was nothing new, but adding a dark romantic atmosphere akin to Edgar Allan Poe and playing on horrific themes such as murder and necrophilia propelled TSOL into the underground consciousness and, at the same time, ostracized them from the very community with which they had identified.

Their first EP, a self-titled five-song masterpiece with bargain-basement production value, is the embodiment of hip. Stampeding drum beats lead a seemingly disorganized march of rubbery bass loops, staticky guitars and melodic, haunting vocals that inspired legions of bands since to abandon conventional formulas for a chaotic approach to noise-making. Their music allowed the anarchy to dictate its own unique order, invoking the improvisational feel of early jazz.

“Property is Theft” is one of the more special tracks on the album as it utilizes a slogan that served as a battle cry for the left-leaning youth movements of the ’60s. What makes TSOL’s use of the title an anomaly is that most of their contemporaries in the early ’80s were deliberately trying to distance themselves from hippy culture, viewing it as a failed revolution, whereas TSOL refused to sever their ties to a rebellious spirit whose immortality is guaranteed as it’s passed on from generation to socially conscious generation.

From the hypnotic buildup of “Superficial Love” to the cynical patriot-baiting of “World War III,” the agenda is clearly laid out in a shameless and stunning display of raw power wielded by a revolutionary youth movement armed with recording contracts instead of guns.