The Formative Years – Poison Idea
There are few bands that quintessentially represent the ethos of “punk as fuck” at the band that was formed in Oregon in 1980. Poison Idea took the essence of the holy trinity of bands like Discharge, Germs and Black Flag and infused it with their idiosyncratic spirit, which was largely fueled by singer Jerry A’s fantastic lyrics and the riffage maestro that was Pig Champion.
From their debut 7” Pick Your King via the Record Collectors are Pretentious Assholes 12” to the Kings of Punk LP in 1986, one would be hard pressed to detect a ditty that is not a hit. Towards the end of the 1980s, the band evolved past the confines of all-out attack hardcore blasts to incorporate more hard rock elements without ever running danger of losing impact like so many of their peers did once they strayed from the tried and tested path they started out on.
The evolution of Poison Idea culminated in the masterpiece known to posterity as the magnus opus Feel the Darkness from 1990.
With the band living harder than their music would suggest, live performances resulted in exactly the debaucherous occurrences one would expect, including uncontrolled fire breathing in small venues and constituents of the band getting fat to the point of where they could only operate their instruments sitting down.
Their album Blank Blackout Vacant in 1992 was the highlight of their first and most significant incarnation, rounded out by We Must Burn before they split up for the first time in 1993.
The 2000s saw reformations with a reformed Jerry A remaining as the only original member still waving the flag of one of the greatest punk bands that ever roamed this earthround and a legacy that will never not reverberate in the pantheon of punk.
