Reagan Youth (a play on Hitler Youth) was a band started by singer Dave Rubinstein (Dave Insurgent) and his friend and guitarist Paul Bakija in Queens in early 1980. They have been labeled peace punk as well as hardcore. An important group in the New York/New Jersey hardcore scene, they performed very regularly at CBGBs and toured the U.S. extensively, often with other early punk bands such as the Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains and the Misfits.
Though known for their use of Ku Klux Klan and Nazi Party imagery, Reagan Youth were a very anti-fascist/racist band, playing with such black bands as Bad Brains. The band expressed its political views through irony, using images from the two hate groups for their album/CD covers. Their intention was to draw the audience's attention to the perceived parallels between the policies of Ronald Reagan and the Religious Right and the beliefs of the hate groups. Their songs included "Jesus Was a Communist," a stab at the Christian fundamentalists in the United States, and "New Aryans," an anti-Ronald Reagan/yuppie and also anti-racist anthem. It should be noted that Dave Rubinstein was well aware of the irony and shock value inherent in these images and lyrics; several close relatives were Holocaust survivors. Musically, the band played hardcore punk, but other songs have more mellow rhythms with slower tempos, including guitar riffs and solos not seen in many other punk bands at the time.
After the band broke up, Dave had become a heroin user and occasional dealer. In a conflict with another dealer, he was severely beaten with a baseball bat, requiring weeks of hospitalization. In 1993 he began seeing a girl, Tiffany B., who supported both their drug habits by prostitution. Later that year his mother was killed in a car accident. Soon after, Dave and his girlfriend were on a Houston Street looking for customers and drugs. A familiar customer in a truck hired Tiffany and the two of them disappeared. A few days later, police on Long Island stopped the same truck and discovered Tiffany's body in the back. The driver was Joel Rifkin, later convicted as a serial killer responsible for the murder of several prostitutes. Despondent over his continuing drug addiction and the loss of his mother and girlfriend, Dave Rubinstein committed suicide in 1993. A Collection of Pop Classics was released after the suicide of lead singer Dave Rubinstein in 1993. The album is a compilation of the band's regular albums, Volume 1 and Volume 2.
Original Release Date: 1994
Label: New Red Archives
Bitrate: 128kbps
57.48MB
TRACK LISTING
1. Reagan Youth
2. New Aryans
3. (Are You) Happy?
4. No Class
5. I Hate Hate
6. Degenerated
7. Go Nowhere
8. U S A
9. Anytown
10. In Dog We Trust
11. It's A Beutiful Day
12. Jesus Was A Communist
13. Urban Savages
14. What Will The Neighbors Think?
15. Get The Ruler Out
16. Brave New World
17. Miss Teen America
18. Heavy Metal Shuffle
19. Queen Babylon
20. Acid Rain
21. One Holy Bible
22. Back To The Garden (Parts I-IV)
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