Caustic Defiance/Negative Element

(Akashic) In the early 80s Chicago's Negative Element made the best kind of  harcore: silly, juvenile, no budget music that in a better world would have defined this American teenage punk movement. If every band was as adorable as Negative Element thousands of middle-aged New Yorkers would still have full sets of teeth and there'd be no Henry Rollins spoken word tours. Their amazing EP (featuring faux-political songs about Pac-Man, Elmer Fudd and the Pillsbury Doughboy) is a Chicago classic that more than balanced the intellectual goo ga lyrics Articles of Faith subjected the all-agers to. This album also features even rarer rarities and unreleased gems  by NE, plus a baker's dozen tunes from the post-NE band Caustic Defiance, a Peoria based 80s hardcore band that was more conventional but no less fun to skate to. Both acts get extra points for having song titles that are the band name.