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The Proletariat - Punk Hardcore from United States - Biography & Full Album Download MP3


The Proletariat


Punk Hardcore Band from United States


The Proletariat are a punk rock band from Southeastern Massachusetts, whose heyday was during the 1980s, when they were active in the early Boston hardcore scene, sharing the bill with many of the best punk and hardcore punk acts of the time, despite their recorded output having a decidedly non-hardcore aesthetic; the Proletariat show more strongly the musical influences of early British post-punk bands such as Wire and the Gang of Four in their fractured guitar sound and Marxist-themed lyrics.

History

Early years (1980-mid-1982)

Formed in early 1980, the Proletariat started as a cover band playing at hardcore punk shows in the Boston area, just as the local scene was breaking. Belligerent British-sounding American singer Richard Brown fronted the group with two friends, both former classmates of his at Apponequet Regional High School: guitarist Frank Michaels and bassist Peter Bevilacqua. The three had enrolled at Southeastern Massachusetts University together, where they studied history, finance, and industrial relations, respectively, but, after exposure to left-wing politics, and despite having no previous musical experience, all dropped out of college during their senior year to form a punk band, which Brown would name the Proletariat. In wanting to align themselves with the working class, Brown took work as a delivery truck driver, and Bevilacqua as a supermarket clerk; Michaels, for his part, devoted himself to managing the band.Brown initially played snare drum standing up while he sang, until the slightly younger high-schooler Tom McKnight, who worked as a gas station attendant, completed the band as their drummer in September 1980, occasionally accompanied by Brown on cowbell. After a few months of practicing at Brown's parental home in Assonet, the group played their first gig on February 14, 1981 at the Lafayette Club in Taunton. By mid-1981, after playing a few shows in Southeastern Massachusetts, doing mostly Sex Pistols covers, the Proletariat evolved a new sound that melded the straight-ahead sound of early records by the Clash with more angular rhythms, and agitprop political rhetoric under the influence of the Gang of Four. They grew into a sound unlike other Boston punk or hardcore bands, characterized by drums holding an almost militaristic steadiness while guitars alternated between jarring upstrokes and overdriven chords. People drew comparisons of the band's music to that of the anarchist group Crass and post-punk group the Fall, bands that the Proletariat's members only listened to after fans tipped them off to it.Between November 1981 and March 1982, they recorded material at Boston's Radiobeat Studios with producers Jimmy Dufour and Lou Giordano, and brought a couple of songs as reels for airplay on local radio, making some stations' top-ten lists. In July 1982, after the group gained national exposure via the hardcore punk audience on This is Boston, Not L.A., a compilation of bands from the local scene just released in May of that year by Newbury Comics' Modern Method Records label, they self-released a limited edition seven-song cassette EP called Distortion, which received positive response from local critics and DJs. In the late summer of 1982, the band would appear on Unsafe at Any Speed, the six-song follow-up compilation EP to This is Boston, Not L.A.

"The Proletariat were a Hardcore band that had a backbeat you could dance to, the most slam-danceable — they had that serious marching beat down. They were given the Hardcore tag because they wrote short songs and kinda fit in."

Repute and Soma Holiday (late 1982–1983)

As a live band the Proletariat were making a name for themselves after becoming finalists in the 1982 Rock 'n' Roll Rumble competition hosted by Boston commercial radio station WBCN, and haranguing the oppressive management of Boston's Paradise Rock Club. Because of their proximity to Rhode Island, they gigged more frequently in Providence and Pawtucket, where they had a devoted following. The group also received monetary contributions from benefactors who wanted to support the Proletariat's music and politics.Four songs from the Proletariat's earlier demo tape surfaced on vinyl along with 14 more songs to comprise the band's first LP, Soma Holiday, hailed by rock critic Robert Christgau as "the hardcore debut of 1983", even as Christgau noted their sound was not hardcore per se. Named for the drug in Aldous Huxley's Brave New World, the album demonstrates the band's art punk roots, with lyrics examining social issues from Brown's distant Marxist perspective, critiquing capitalism without embracing determinist revolutionary dogma. The band's members were themselves members of the working class, most of whom had dropped out of college to drive trucks and labor elsewhere.In the 1983 Boston Rock magazine's year-end poll, the Proletariat placed first as best local band, second for best record, and fourth as best national band.

"The Proletariat played offbeat post-Punk with Hardcore intensity and a radical twist. Frontman Richard Brown wrote oblique lyrics, part Ginsberg, part Mao ... 1983's Soma Holiday LP ... came off light years ahead of its time..."

Breakup and Indifference (1984-85)

In 1984, the Proletariat returned to Radiobeat Studios to record another album with Dufour and Giordano, assisted by Josiah McElheny. An early version of "An Uneasy Peace", a song composed for the upcoming album, brought the band international attention via its inclusion on the P.E.A.C.E. compilation, a hardcore punk collection released on Dave Dictor's R Radical Records label that included more well known bands like the Dead Kennedys, Crass, and MDC. On June 30, 1984, the Proletariat performed what would be their final show with their original lineup at Chet's Last Call in Boston, sharing the bill with the Volcano Suns and fellow Radiobeat labelmates Sorry. Later that year, before their second album was completed, Brown quit the band, as did McKnight who was studying engineering at Bristol Community College. The two would be replaced by female singer Laurel Ann Bowman and drummer Steve Welch; both of whom performed on recordings of two songs for the new album. This lineup was short-lived, and the Proletariat disbanded shortly after performing a pair of shows on July 1, 1985 with Italian band Raw Power and the local act Rash of Stabbings, at the Living Room rock club in Providence, Rhode Island.

The band's new recordings were released as the album Indifference and its lead single titled "Marketplace" on Homestead Records in 1985. Both the album and single showed another side of the band, including layered melodies and featuring a guest appearance by Roger Miller of Mission of Burma playing piano on an updated version of "An Uneasy Peace", as well as Laurel Bowman's soft-toned voice in sharp contrast with Brown's staccato pronouncements.

Churn and reissued discography (1995-1998)

In early 1995, after ten years of not playing together, Brown, Bevilacqua, and Michaels, with new drummer Jack Prascovics, formed a new band called Churn. By mid-1996, McKnight joined them to replace a previous drummer, with the result that all the original members of the Proletariat got reunited in Churn, albeit for a short time. In 1997, after continued lineup problems, the group broke up, having only released a five-song CD titled Heated Couplings in the Sun in 1995.In 1998, all of the Proletariat's recorded material, including four previously unreleased tracks, was compiled on Voodoo Economics and Other American Tragedies, a double CD collection released on Taang! Records.

Reformation (2016-present)

After a three-decade hiatus, the Proletariat reformed for a series of shows in the fall of 2016. Original members Richard Brown, Peter Bevilacqua and Tom McKnight were joined by guitarist Don Sanders, former member of the Providence early hardcore punk band Idle Rich. The band's return was accompanied by the vinyl reissue, on Sacramento-based label Ss Records, of their 1983 debut album, Soma Holiday.In the spring of 2017, the Proletariat performed a handful of shows in the United States and Canada, including an appearance on March 25 at the fifth edition of Bleak Outlook, the annual citywide weekend music festival of Tacoma, Washington.Recently, the band have confirmed tour dates, including a festival appearance in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for the second half of 2017. Also, they have announced the recording of a new EP in August, and a new studio album in the works for early 2018.

View full biography






- Biography -

7 albums

Proletariat - Move

Move

2018 - United States
House, Techno, Industrial
Vinyl 12"4 Tracks
Clone Classic Cuts


Proletariat - The Murder Of Alton Sterling

The Murder Of Alton Sterling

2018 - United States
Hardcore, Punk
Vinyl 7"2 Tracks
Bridge Nine Records


Proletariat - Voodoo Economics And Other American Tragedies

Voodoo Economics And Other American Tragedies

1998 - United States
Punk, Hardcore
CD Album Compilation47 Tracks
Taang! Records


Proletariat - Indifference

Indifference

1986 - United States
Hardcore
Vinyl LP15 Tracks
Homestead Records


Proletariat - Marketplace

Marketplace

1985 - United States
Punk, Post-Punk
Vinyl 7"2 Tracks
Homestead Records


Proletariat - Soma Holiday

Soma Holiday

1983 - United States
Punk
Vinyl LP18 Tracks
Non-u Records


Proletariat - Distortion

Distortion

1982 - United States
Punk
Cassette Single Sided7 Tracks





- Videos The Proletariat -

29 Videos

Indifference (Full Album)
The Proletariat
The Proletariat | Soma Holiday LP [full]
The Proletariat
Events/Repeat
The Proletariat
The Proletariat - No Lesser of Evils
The Proletariat
Hollow Victory
The Proletariat
Splendid Wars
The Proletariat
Torn Curtain
The Proletariat
Bread & Circus
The Proletariat
Death of a hedon
The Proletariat
The Proletariat ‎– Marketplace (full 7'')
The Proletariat
White hands
The Proletariat
The Proletariat
The Proletariat
Ten Years
The Proletariat
Proletaryat - ziemi sól
The Proletariat
The Murder of Alton Sterling (Official Video)
The Proletariat
PROLETARYAT - Szajba (Oficjalne Video) (2023)
The Proletariat
Proletaryat - Bol
The Proletariat
Proletaryat - Hej Naprzód Marsz (clip)
The Proletariat
Proletariat - FMR Jarocin-91
The Proletariat
Proletaryat - Przemijanie
The Proletariat
Proletaryat - Srajmy
The Proletariat
PROLETARYAT - Ząb za ząb (2023) (cała płyta)
The Proletariat
Proletaryat - Pokój z kulą w głowie
The Proletariat
Proletaryat - Oko Za Oko 2015r. [Full Album]
The Proletariat
Proletaryat - Nie masz nic
The Proletariat
Proletaryat - Proletaryat
The Proletariat
PROLETARYAT - " Tour 93 " Live
The Proletariat
Proletaryat - Nie wyrażam zgody (Official Video)
The Proletariat
Proletaryat - Nie Masz Nic
The Proletariat









The Proletariat

Punk shows announcements




Last Update : 01 Mars 2024                   4,802 views