The Big Apple Rotten to the Core
The Big Apple Rotten to the Core is a hardcore punk compilation album that was released in 1982. It was the second release by S.I.N. Records, and distributed internationally. Produced by Bob Sallese. It was one of the first hardcore punk compilations from New York City (along with New York Thrash from the same year), and included six bands who regularly performed at A7, a Lower East Side after-hours dive bar that gave the new hardcore bands a forum. The compilation's cover photos and PR were provided by Scott Eisner, one of the first writers to use the expression "hardcore punk" (in a review of The Mob). (Eisner later jumped off the Throgs Neck Bridge, which links Queens to The Bronx.) The popularity of the album prompted WLIR to start a weekly broadcast called Midnight Riot, which featured the other bands on the album as well as many other local hardcore bands. It also prompted the station to put other hardcore songs into regular rotation, such as Black Flag's "TV Party." The bands Ism were from Queens. Their songs "John Hinckley Jr. (What Has Jodie Foster Done to You?)" and "Moon The Moonies," both of which were featured on the album, were put into regular rotation on WLIR, and were the first hardcore songs to receive commercial airplay in the New York metropolitan area. "John Hinckley Jr. (What Has Jodie Foster Done to You?)" was nominated for two weeks straight for the station's "Screamer of the Week" award. Frontman Jism ended up spending five years in a New York State prison after a somewhat controversial arrest. Butch Lust & The Hypocrites were from Brooklyn and Manhattan. Lenny Steel of the punk band Pure Hell appeared on the album as a member of Butch Lust & The Hypocrites. Another member, Ace in the Hole, later died in a car crash. The Mob, also from Queens, went on to release the 7-inch EPs Upset the System and Step Forward (1983), and the album We Come to Crush (1986). They influenced many of the later New York hardcore bands that wanted to move away from the early punk rock influences and create faster thrash sounds. The Headlickers, who often played at A7, were the only band that did not reside in one of New York City's five boroughs, but instead came from Nassau County. Killer Instinct were from Queens and Manhattan, and were composed of guitarist Jet Suicide, drummer Bobby Skull, bassist Kitty Hawk, and vocalist Carolyn Lengel. Their two songs, "Killer Instinct" and "Torture You First", were recorded at the band's rehearsal studio, Rock Bite. Killer Instinct's first gig was at A7 in January 1982, and the band broke up six months later, before The Big Apple: Rotten to the Core had even been released. They later regrouped (with Meryl "Lynch" Hurwich replacing Suicide) as XKI, whose song "I Hate Everything" appeared on the 1983 7-inch compilation EP Big City Aint Too Pretty. Squirm were from Brooklyn. Their song "Fuck You Brooke