Sarcastic Orgasm

mini-LP, Synn's Allright Now Records, 1986

Here's an obscure mid-80's DC group that to my knowledge only put this record out and appeared in assorted compilations. I only remember ever seeing them listed as playing live in DC maybe once and I never saw them. I suppose among my peers at the time, I was about their only supporter if they knew anything about them in the first place. I think DC in the mid-80's was a hard place to be truly weird and maybe it still is. Of course, that made the Darwinian dynamic give rise to some great weirdo bands like 1/2 Japanese and No Trend and forced other wierdos like Psycodrama and White Boy even further into the underground.

This record consists of six mostly damaged art-punk songs that I suppose qualify as social critique whilst maintaining a veneer of fun or at least the type of fun a band that uses publishes a back-cover picture of nostril hairs in lieu of band photo.

Each side has what I would call two "concept songs" and one conventional song, if anything about this band can be labeled conventional. The concept pieces are mostly retarded Zappaish music beds or synthy Ur-plop that generally underscore a spoken word narrative such as a dry reading of a newstory about an African massacre ("Hebephrenic List"), a portentous recap of a soap opera story line ("Soap-Opera Hallucination") using the Young and Restless theme song for effect or a restless rendering of a Penthouse Forum Letter while the band merrily skronks out ("Name and Address Withheld").

The two "conventional" songs are circus-like juvenile lurch-pop with titles like "You Are What You Fuck" and the anti-authority "Why, Because I Said So." Due to a technical glitch, I was unable to get "You Are What You Fuck" in this go-round but I may post it later.


Band Members:

• Jerry Boner - Bass + Bkrd Vocal
• Brad Glosserman - Drums
• John Hoppe - Keyboards + Violin
• Scott Phillips - Guitar + Vocals
• Extra Hard Working Guest Artist: Synn

Songs:

• "Name and Address Withheld" - aka "Forum Letter"
• "Why, Because I Said So"

Links:

• Sarcastic Orgasm also appeared on the 1986 Mystic Records DC compilation: The Savages Are Loose with Madhouse and Motor Morons with "Name and Address Withheld" retitled "Forum Letter" ... see also Punk Vault for info on that comp although I would disagree with M. that SO were a "pretty standard fare hardcore band" (or Madhouse and Motor Morons for that matter).
  
• They also appeared on the Jersey Beat #2 compilation with Yo La Tengo(!) and SMERSH

Answer to Future 80's Underground Music Trivial Pursuit Question:

Sarcastic Orgasm are mentioned in Mike Watt's liner notes for Sonic Youth's The Whitey Album:

"However, death is not mocked and my big man D. Boon was killed December 11, 1985 in a van crash. I was tiny and stopped wrestling my bass, wouldn't touch it. Kira had to do some internship at Yale so I drove her to Connecticut. I stopped in NYC and stayed with Thurston and Kim for a week. Staying up late laying on the couch with a blanket on just talking and talking. Talking about everything, even silly band names out of Flipside like Sarcastic Orgasm. I must have drove them crazy. But it really helped me get over that hell of D. Boon Dying, I really owe them all I've done since the Minutemen."