Discharge – Realities Of War

They claim to have recorded this in three hours which might not sound like much, but it's enough time to play the entire record thirty six times. Presented with such an opportunity it's difficult to imagine how they managed to get it to sound as bad as it does. 'Hear nothing see nothing say nothing' is peak Discharge; the earlier tinny, badly-produced crap and the later Very Metal records aren't worth your time.

This is a really loud and bassy cut, I couldn't get my turntable to track it properly :(

The first release of the legendary hardcore punk group which has influenced many bands around the world with their music, attitude and outlook.
The band was formed in 1977 Stoke-on-Trent in Great Britain,
Their first lineup was Terry "Tezz" Roberts - vocal, Roy "Rainy" Wainwright - guitar, Tony "Bones" Roberts - guitar, Nigel Bamford - bass and Tony "Akko" Atkinson - drums.
Initially, the group played punk rock in the style of '77 under the influence of The Sex Pistols, The Damned and The Clash.
In this lineup the band recorded only a demo containing recordings from March-June 1977, but I will write about it elsewhere.
With time Atkinson and Bamford left the band, then new singer Kelvin "Cal" Morris appeared, Tezz sat behind the drums and Rainy jumped on the bass.
After Cal joined the Discharge, they abandon their Sex Pistols style and change their whole sound.
Bones began to play the guitar very hard and with distortion and Cal wrote laconic lyrics that he shouted instead of singing.
Then becomes the era of the so-called "UK '82", or "The second wave of British punk rock" which began with for e.g. Discharge, Charged G.B.H, The Exploited,
The Varukers, Chaos UK, Amebix, English Dogs and lots more appeared on punk scene.
They turned melodic punk rock into an overdriven furious wall of sound, a strong beat of the percussion, whose characteristics later opened the door for new genres such as D-beat or Crust Punk, and there were accretions of the sound of "New Wave of British Heavy Metal" bands like for example Motörhead.
The lyrics dealt with nihilism, violence, counterculture, critique of war, capitalism, politics and totalitarian attitudes while being full of fear and anxiety, they also had an anti-social and anti-conformist overtone.
In the new line-up and with the new sound Discharge played their first concert at Northwood Parish Hall. The local record store owner Mike Stone happened to show up to the gig, and at that time he founded the new record label, Clay Records.
Cal, while writing Discharge politically charged
lyrics,mainly discussed the horrors of war at an anarchist and pacifist premises, nihilism and critique of capitalism, as well as conformism and anti-social attitude.
Short, laconic lyrics in the form of a Japanese haiku thrown in to a pool of distorted heavy and fast music quickly found fans among a mass of british punks.
The band displayed their political and social attitude on the covers of their albums - nightmares of war in black and white photos, and the iconography, logo and image of the band in a similar tone, Martin H is the author of "Realities Of War" sleeve.
In 1980, the band signs a contract with Clay Records and record the first single "Realities of war" in February 1980.
The first Discharge single is quite an interesting release, on the one hand their music between "Realities of War" and the album "Hear Nothing, See Nothing, Say Nothing" released in 1982 is not much different from each other but the form of expression they chose was later brought to perfection. It's amazing to me how much the band managed to achieve and how they refined their uncompromising simple and expressive style in just two years.
What characterizes the songs is the severity and short duration of them. The whole sound of the songs is pretty aggressive and energetic, sometimes even primitive, attacking the listeners with a furious vocal, Tezz's distinctive drumming style, fast guitar chords and a low bass line.
Unfortunately, the low quality of the production of the first single has left its mark, the bass is much less audible than the rest, the drums take on the role of the most coherent instrument, despite this the band performs really well against other releases from this period and determines the form of a supply group for the next years.
Still releasing this single they were even one of many bands than orators of the whole movement.
The lyrics are about political and social issues and contain pacifist and anarchist as well as anti-political overtones what of course can be expected from the song titles themselves, "Realities of war" and "They declare it" carry an anti-war message, while "But after the gig" describes the counterculture in a nihilistic way. The last song "Society's Victim" is critical towards society, it also contains anti-political premises like "That's your concern and I don't vote".
On the bottom line: What best describes this single
There is pure energy, rage and well constructed minimalism contained in the music and lyrics - a dirty, studded leather punk from the early 80s is a young and hungry band that intends to burn the punk scene!
Not surprisingly, Great Britain was in a rather unstable situation in the early 1980s. Thatcher privatized everything and closed the mines. The country was a mess full of unemployment and disappointment with the current state of affairs. Teenagers growing up in the late 70s and 80s possessing their music and counterculture as a form of rebellion discovered that their punk rock legends from the 70s "sell out" and abandon their original ideas.
In conclusion- they were furious and this feeling is perfectly visible in the fervour of this band.
They express their contempt for politics and society, although their texts don't any purely pro political message.
Despite the lower quality and weaker form than in later singles and albums, "Realities of War" still remains as a great EP and sets the direction that the band will take in the following years achieving perfection in the style they play.

I don't care what anyone says, this is the first true Hardcore Punk record, loud, angry, distorted, and nuclear.

Anyone know where Martin H is now? the sleeve designer? He was my friend at college and we hung out with Discharge a lot.

Iconic record cover

hi,here are now pics from the true 1st pressing !

The start of something big. Before Discharge, nothing sounded like this. And then came the attack of the clones. But these guys broke a lot of ground and probably a lot of wind, too. Primitive and pounding punk perfection.