1980 compilation album by Various artists
Bullshit Detector was the name of a series of compilation LPs put together by the anarcho-punk band (and art collective) Crass and released on their Crass Records label. Three editions were released between 1980 and 1984, consisting of demo tapes, rough recordings and artwork that had been sent to the band. The sound quality of the Bullshit Detector series was mixed, and was often very basic or poor as Crass would master the tapes directly to record without any additional production or enhancement. For Crass, the expectation of a polished performance was missing the point of the DIY punk ethic :
"Don't expect music when the melody is anger, when the message sings defiance, three chords are frustration when the words are from the heart"
– Sleeve notes from Bullshit Detector Volume 3
The title Bullshit Detector was derived as a reference to the Clash song "Garageland" from their first LP The Clash , a song covered by Chumbawamba guitarist Boffo on the second volume.
The series is notable for marking the first appearance on vinyl of both Chumbawamba (on the second volume) and Napalm Death (on the third).
The POWER sleeve with marker pen art was designed by Haggis, AKA David Hargreaves lead singer of Youthanasia PX.
A fourth, unofficial Bullshit Detector , this time an international compilation, was released by the Swiss independent anarcho-punk record label Resistance Productions in 1994.
There have also been records released in a similar style and with similar sentiment such as the 'Bullsheep Detector' compilation of Welsh punk bands released in 2012.[ 1]
Bullshit Detector Vol 1 (1980)
Bullshit Detector Vol. 1
Crass Records. Catalogue no. 421984/4
Andy T – "Jazz on a Summers Day"
Counter Attack – "Don't Wanna Fight For You"
The Alternative – "Change It"
The Pranx – "2 Years 2 Late"
Reputations in Jeopardy – "Girls Love Popstars"
Crass – "Do They Owe Us a Living? (Drums and vocals only)"
Amebix – "University Challenged"
Sceptics - "Local Chaos"
The Sinyx – "Mark of the Beast"
Frenzy Battalion – "Thalidomide"
Icon – "Cancer"
The Speakers – "Why"
A.P.F. Brigade – "Anarchist Attack"
Fuck The C.I.A. – "Right or Wrong"
Caine Mutiny and the Kallisti Apples of Nonsense – "Morning Star"
The Sucks – "Three"
Porno Squad – "Khaki Doesn't Go with My Eyes"
S.P.G. Murders – "Soldiers"
The Eratics – "National Service"
Red Alert – "Who Needs Society?"
The Snipers – "War Song"
Armchair Power – "Power"
Disrupters – "Napalm"
Andy T. – "Nagasaki Mon Amour"
Action Frogs – "Drumming Up Hope (Ferret Skank)"
Bullshit Detector Vol 2 (1982)
Crass Records - 221984/3
Disc one
Bullshit Detector Vol. 2
Waiting For Bardot – "Voice of U.K."
Omega Tribe – "Nature Wonder"
The Suspects – "Random Relations"
Your Funeral – "Think About It"
Kronstadt Uprising – "Receiver Deceiver"
Deformed – "Freedom"
No Label – "Let's Get It Right"
The Rejected – "Same Old Songs"
Boffo – "Garageland"
XS – "Fuck the System"
Polemic Attack – "Manipulated Youth"
A. Gardener – "A. Gardener's Song"
Toxic – "Tradition of Slaughter"
1984 – "Break Up"
"Insert"
Toxik Ephex – "Police Brutality"
Sic – "Low"
Molitov Cocktail – "Ain't Got a Clue"
Naked – "Mid 1930s (Pre-War Germany)"
Disc two
Capital Punishment – "We've Realised the Truth Now"
Anthrax – "All the Wars"
Endangered Species – "Slaughter of the Innocent (Curiosity Kills)"
Pseudo Sadists – "War Games"
Total Chaos – "Psycho Analysis"
Dougie – "War Without Winners"
St. Vitus Dancers – "The Survivor"
Stegz – "Christus Erection"
Metro Youth – "Brutalised"
Normality Complex – "Black Market Shadow"
Youth in Asia – "Power & the Glory"
Riot Squad – "Security System"
Destructors – "Agent Orange"
The Pits – "U.K. in Dreamland"
The Bored – "Riot Style"
Toby Kettle – "Theatre Comment"
Chumbawamba – "Three Years Later"
Passion Killers – "Start Again"
Amerikan Arsenal – "Get Off Yr Ass"
Bullshit Detector Vol 3 (1984)
Crass Records - 1984/3
Disc one
Avert Aversion – "Oh What a Nice Day"
Awake Mankind – "Once Upon a Time"
A Nul Noise – "Hibakusha"
Animus – "Nuclear Piss"
Peroxide – "Ministry of Death (M.O.D.)"
Untitled – "We Are Taught How to Kill"
Xtract – "(Waiting For The) Genocide"
Verbal Assault – "Not Yet Ron"
Fifth Column – "Counterfeit Culture"
Potential Victim – "People"
7th Plague – "Rubber Bullets"
Rebel – "Genesis to Genocide"
Alienated – "Living in Fear"
Barbed Wire – "Weapons of War"
Rob Williams – "Lies"
Reality Control – "The War is Over"
Youthanasia PX – "Power"
Sammy Rubette + Safety Match – "The Ballad of Maggie the Maggot"
Politicide – "51st State"
Markus Abused – "The Killing Machine"
Disc two
One Man's Meat – "Your Country Misleads You"
Direct Action – "Death Without a Thought"
Crag – "Voice Your Protest"
Attrition – "In Your Hand"
Napalm Death – "The Crucifixion of Possessions"
The Impalers – "Sun, Sun, Sun"
Health Hazard – "Picture Show"
Phil Hedgehog – "Radio Times"
Malice – "Faceless"
Michael Kingzett Taylor – "Paranoia"
Brainwashed Pupils – "The Demonstration"
No Defences – "Work to Consume"
A.N.E.E.B. – "Berlin Wall"
Carnage – "Carnage"
Warning – "Beasts of Fiction"
State of Shock – "Excess Youth"
Neale Harmer – "Hard Nut"
Dead to the World – "Action Man"
Dandruff – "Life in a Whiskey Bottle"
Richard III – "Will You Care?"
Funky Rayguns – "The Hare and the Tortoise"
Bullshit Detector Volume 4 (1994)
Jointly released by Resistance Productions (cat. no. RIP 120), Örmaal Records (ÖR 1), Mass Media Records (MMR 8) and Loony Tunes Records (TUNE 31)
Disc one
Hated - Gesundheit
Orange World - Disneyfuck
Necrosis: Show Me the Pure
Pille Allein - No Fun
G.U.R.K. - Ausbeuten
Putang-I-Nas - Radioactive Survival
Eric D. Thompson - An Honest Pledge
Little Zomki - Copies Conformes
Valtiokontrolli - (untitled)
Cheese Police - Arseholes
Nallekerho - Oikeutta Alkuperäiskansoille
Recusant - Organised Murder on a Conveyor Belt
Shadowed Veil - America the Beautiful
Katastrofialue - Päätä Vailla
Freak Show - Handled World
Autumn Poison - Utopia: A New World in Our Hearts
Primitiv Bunko - Certifié Conforme
Agente Laranja - Racista
Disc two
Homo Erectus - Anarchy
Faster Than Sheep - Bitch
Pichismo - Ne Ricevos Ŝtato Ĉuron
Yan - Heavy Metal Music
Mash'm - U.N.
Inokentijs Mārpls - Demokrátiska Dziesma
Marichuana - Mes Pritariam Visiems Antifašistiniams Apsireiškimams
Protest - War
Steine Für Den Frieden - Free?
Antitude - Hey, Mister President
Armed Revolution - Corporate Slave
Gruuthaagy - Start Insane
Headache - Die!
Love, Chips & Peace - Royal Family
Apatridi - Camino Para Guerra
Parkaj Mental - Soldat Amerikkkain
Naked A's - You're a Disgrace
Miasma: The Dirtiest Game (War)
References