Reagan Youth: Volume 1

Reagan Youth, Volume 1 Reagan Youth
Volume 1
(New Red Archives, 1989)

Some 1980s punk bands flirted with Nazi imagery; New York City’s Reagan Youth had unprotected sex with Nazi imagery, threw up on it, and forgot to call it the next day. How else could you describe this outfit that put a Klansman on the cover of their debut record, slapped on a track called “New Aryans”, and shouted “Sieg Heil!” 30 seconds into their opening number? The listener definitely has to connect the dots to figure out Reagan Youth is merely goading bigots in a half-baked parody, appropriating these shock tactics in an attempt to deflate and/or draw attention. Not the sharpest irony in the world, true. However, it was a personal one—singer Dave Insurgent (nee Rubinstein) was the Jewish son of Holocaust survivors.

Released in 1989, Volume 1 is actually an expanded version of Reagan Youth’s 1984 seven-song debut, Youth Anthems for the New Order (a release so lo-fi it initially came not in a sleeve but a neatly folded poster). The album is punctuated by Insurgent’s raspy caterwaul, which paints desperate lyrical pictures of suburban discontent (“Go Nowhere”) and healthy distrust of the American government (“U.S.A.”). All the while, guitarist Paul Cripple plays what sounds like a vacuum cleaner on top of the furious (and barely together) drumming of someone named Steve (there’s also some bass in there, in case you’re curious). Every once in a while, Reagan Youth’s mild cacophony of socially conscious punk hits upon something utterly transcendent; you can almost feel the walls closing in on the confused teen at the center of “Anytown”, and the tribal, almost pagan sounds of Volume 1’s closing track “In Dog We Trust” chills to the bone every time (the guitar in that one sounds like it’s melting).

Reagan Youth’s most famous song is probably “Degenerated”, the Dick and Jane tale of a “teenage zombie” named Johnny who “don’t care about this world, as long as he can fuck his girl.” It’s a pretty catchy number openly mocking drug addiction that also has the distinction of being a 1990s comedy footnote: “Degenerated” is the song Brendan Frasier sings with his band the Lone Rangers in the 1994 heavy metal hostage flick Airheads. It is my basic understanding that defunct NYC grime rockers D Generation (in conjunction with White Zombie guitarist J.) was somehow responsible for making this happen. According to Paul Cripple, Reagan Youth was put in a position where they were forced to allow “Degenerated” to be used in a screwball rock comedy co-starring Adam Sandler, David Arquette, and Judd Nelson. Oh, the humanity.

Far less funny is the fact that Dave Insurgent eventually took on the tragic role of “Degenerated’s” protagonist in real life. The end of the ’80s saw the disbanding of Reagan Youth and Insurgent’s descent into full-blown heroin addiction/drug peddling. A violent beating in 1990 at the hands of a rival dealer left the once lively singer in a wretched state; Insurgent’s injuries were so severe that he had to undergo a lobotomy in order to stay alive. Unfortunately, things went from pretty terrible to totally fucking awful for him—not long after this incident, he lost both his mother and his girlfriend. The former died in a car accident; the latter, a prostitute, was picked up and murdered by Long Island serial killer Joel Rifkin. This proved too much to bear for Reagan Youth’s plucky singer. On July 3, 1993, David Rubinstein injected himself with a lethal dose of heroin and bid goodbye to our unfair mortal world.

Reagan Youth attempted one more album before Dave Insurgent’s untimely end, 1990’s Volume 2. The results were vastly underwhelming, thanks to a handful of internal struggles and Insurgent’s continued drug use. It was a sad, cliché final note for an iconoclastic band whose rage and dissatisfaction with American society at large was at one time infectiously palpable. Still, Volume 2 did not retroactively hurt Volume 1, which stands as one of hardcore punk’s most satisfying achievements. If you can make it through Reagan Youth’s Volume 1 without once bobbing your head, smirking at youthful exuberance, or questioning some aspect of our culture at large, well, shit. Go rent Airheads and have yourself a blast.

Listen: “Degenerated” [at youtube.com]

Tags: Reagan Youth, punk, Airheads