"Tomorrow Belongs to Us..."

The Forgotten Rebels were my favourite band in high school, and well, still are one of my faves. I've seen them live a bunch of times and they never disappoint. For whatever reason, in one of my hometowns this band was incredibly popular. They even played the high school. Firstly, how in the fuck did this band get a play to perform at a high school? (Sample lyrics, Surfin' on Heroin: I'm so fucked up I can't remember my name/Tried it once, I'll never feel the same/I'm swimming in a sea of puke/Lend me a quarter, play myself on the juke/Got my kid brother hooked yesterday/Pimping him pays for my habit today). Let's just say god bless the 80s or something because only in an alternate universe would that happen today. But play they did. And they came back and played an outdoor show in '87 where I helped them set up their gear. For that I got to sit on the side of the stage and a t-shirt to boot. Pretty nice for a bunch of degenerate drug addicts. I've still got the t-shirt.

The last time I saw the band was at Laurentian University in 1992 when they played the Pub Down Under, which I guess is a clever name for a bar located underground. Anyway, I decided since the band was so popular, I better hit the pub early, like noonish. I also decided it would be prudent to start drinking early, like about 9ish, you know to save money, and not have to drink as much all afternoon and early evening until the band came on at 7pm. To take the edge off, right? Well, as far as bright ideas go, it wasn't one of my best. I was pretty well knee walking by mid-afternoon, passed out at in the bar at some point as well. How I didn't get bounced remains a mystery but I think my roomate helped. The entire afternoon was pretty hazy, but things perked up after it seemed there might be Rebel action occurring. And it did happen, and rock and roll did occur.

The show was brilliant, as I remember. I got up and jumped around like an idiot. One of the last coherent thoughts I had was being cracked and seeing my sunglasses flying, looking up and seeing Mickey DeSadist wearing them during 'Time to Run'. Seeing him wearing my shit, I jumped up onstage and grabbed at it. Well, Mickey cracked me good and I ended up with my shades, still present by the way, and on my ass. After that, I ended up getting my ass kicked six ways from whenever with the pogoing. Particularly when the signature closers 'Fuck Me Dead' and 'Surfin' on Heroin' came on. I honestly don't remember much after that. But I've got photographic evidence that will be posted shortly.

All I've got of this band on CD is their debut In Love with the System (1979) and The Pride and Disgrace (1986). Sadly, I lost my LP of This Ain't Hollywood in when my parents initiated the Great Vinyl Purge of '96. Now when I want the latter album, Boys Will Be Boys or Surfin' on Heroin I have to go to a dubbed cassette tape that is literally 22 years old as of this writing. I'm frankly afraid to play it. If anyone has those albums, a vinyl rip would be my holy grail. I'll probably end up buying the LP again on ebay even though I won't be able to play it. After writing this, I'm probably gonna have to go and dig up the dub and play it on my old Walkman.

This version of 'Surfin' on Heroin' isn't as good as the original on This Ain't Hollywood, but it's still pretty great. 'Time to Run' is just nasty. Think a punkier version of 'She's Just 14' by John Philips.

Surfin' on Heroin

Time to Run

There are times when I wonder if I still love this band for purely nostalgic reasons. Then I play the music and it's still pretty awesome.