This EP was my introduction to the world of music business and contracts while also reiterating how wild the weirdo rumor mill that really can drive punk and hardcore (to an extant) can be, but more on that later because the aptly named Steal This was also my introduction to The Explosion albeit it brief; and while the record was not necessarily earth shattering, it did pull me back from one of my jaded punk phases that was plaguing me at the time and reintroduced fun into my vocabulary.
While not the best recording (particularly in light of some of the other records from The Explosion), there are still some good additions to the recorded output of these punk rockers; “Blue” particularly shows the band laying out one hell of an anthem with enough awesome hooks to have it ranked higher in terms of people’s opinions as it can seem like a forgotten gem from the band (hell, it was for me until listening to it all over again for this), and, in some ways, is the first evidence that The Explosion was destined to drop some pretty awesome anthemic punk rock (listen to those group vocal choruses and the melody of the verse and then listen to later tracks like “Reactor”, “No Revolution” (the Flash Flash Flash version), “Sick Of Modern Art”, or hell, even “Here I Am” and tell me that the same musical DNA is not there). “E.X.P.L.O.S.I.O.N.” may be a throwaway to some people, but it is still a fun song to listen to (and seeing it live is even more fun as people bum rush the stage to scream along with the band), which is exactly what drew me to the band in the first place.
Steal This is a definite transition EP as songs like “Dotted Lines” ties the raw toughness of the self titled record to the anthemic records that they would eventually write (through the inclusion of “Blue” on here); even the slower paced “Turnaround” seems like a nod to future balladeering that The Explosion would dabble in from time to time as well. Ultimately, Steal This might be relegated as being for completists of the band or those special people that collect Revelation records, which is saddening because “Blue” might be one of the best non album tracks that are out there from The Explosion; still, take a listen and decide for yourself how good the EP is.
