I guess a lot of kids that grew up on hardcore have a handful of bands that they hold close to their hearts forever, bands who's music got them through hard times, or inspired them, or shocked them into reality. Some people throw out names like minor threat, rites of spring, black flag, bad brains and the list goes on...

A lot of the bands I mentioned are bands that have inspired me but one band that blew my mind was 108. They were a "krishna-core" band on equalvision records, meaning that they were a bunch of punk rock kids who found themselves on a spiritual search in an unjust materialist world. This is the inner struggle that has historically inspired great art and thought and this was the backdrop to 108. I remember buying "songs of separation" when I was a teenager and the first song "opposition" left such an impression on me that I rewound it and played it over and over again about a dozen times before i continued on to the rest of the cd. I had the bad luck of getting into them when they were about to implode but the good fortune of seeing thier last show at CBGB's. It is a show I still remember vividly...irony of lightfoot, floorpunch, lifetime and 108. I went completely by myself and didnt know anybody. I was a total wallflower and stood on the couch watching them in awe. Rob cried and ran from the stage only to return and scream so hard that it seemed like he was going to die. The crowd went so nuts that I had that feeling of terror you get when you witness your first pile on or sing along or watch the floor of CBGB's open up and look like a sea of swing fists and flying bodies. I left that show exhausted but inspired and when I was about 19 I asked rob to write a little editorial on any topic he chose and he chose to write about what he felt were the ingredients to great music. At this time, 108 was a thing of the past and rob was focusing on his band "the judas factor" which has since broken up. The following essay never got released because my fanzine never came to life but here it is now-Shane Gill

By Robert Fish

Blah. Blah. Blah. What the fuck is there for me to write about today? What comes to mind is all of the things within music that I love. I have analyzed my taste in music and have come up with my sure fire criteria for what makes a good song and ultimately a good band. This criteria has everything to do with what makes me either love or hate something. It is also what inspired me to do a band again. After writing so many records that I have personally found uninspiring I took it upon myself to place this very criteria in front of me when writing the first The Judas Factor LP (Ballads in Blue China). What exactly is this criteria? Well, I break it down into three categories:

1. Make me want to fall in love. One punk band that always did this for me was the Descendents. The Descendents were outcast, they were awkward, they were horny, they were hopeless and most importantly they were just like me. There is nothing more fitting then driving a car in 80 degree weather, with the windows down, and the stereo on 10 singing along to Hope (The one thing that always killed me about the Descendents were those damn jokes songs. Thankfully I always had a dual cassette recorder and I could make a tape of all he the sappy Descendents songs that made my heart putter). What else can I say...I am a sap for a good love song.

2. Make me want to put my fist through a window. Now I am not talking about music that builds some stupid blind rage. I'm talking about the feeling you get when Greg smashes his guitar into the opening chords of Depression. I'm talking about the thoughts that raced through my mind when I first really got into the Dead Kennedy's. Sometimes the songs hit a chord with us in regards to our personal lives and our feelings of inadequacy and sometimes the songs are based on political and social observations. Regardless these songs make me want to just fuck shit up. The songs bring about this rage. Unfortunately some people use songs like this as a soundtrack to kick someone's ass. However, to me, song's like this are a soundtrack for change in my personal life or in how I viewed the world around me. At times they have had such a powerful effect that they made me commit to living my life with a certain sense of social or political activism.

3. Make me want to end my life. This one probably takes a little more explaining but it is also the one of the three that it is the most attractive element a song can have in my eyes. What I mean when I say, "Make me want to end my life" isn't that the song has to literally throw me into a suicidal situation. It means that the song taps into my feelings of depression and sadness. I know a ton of kids that found that in a band like The Smiths or Morrisey. They never did it for me. One band that comes to my mind is Smashing Pumpkins. Sometimes the feelings aren't brought on by the words but by the mood and emotion behind the music itself. A guitar riff alone can just take you on a trip into your own feelings of sadness and frustration. These songs may express feelings of hopelessness but they ultimately inspire me to look for more in life. These songs help me be myself and get in touch with what I am feeling. Sometimes they make me cry but when all is said and done they make relief to my life because I realize that I'm not alone in my sadness. They make me thankful for life and they make me hopeful.
I guess you can say that the common theme is that I need music that moves me. If the song doesn't bring about emotion then it does nothing for me. Actually it doesn't stop with just music. I look for the same feelings in a book, in movies, in relationships, and in life. I don't want to be distracted. I want to be inspired. Inspired to take all that comes in life and make something useful and productive out of them.

Recommended Records:
Black Flag The First Four Years SST Records
Smashing Pumpkins Any
Dead Kennedys Any Alternative Tentacles
Refused The Shape of Punk to Come Epitaph
Rites of Spring Self Titled Dischord Records
Low Any
Descendents Somery SST Records
Sunny Day Real Estate Diary Sub Pop
Three Self Titled Dischord Records
Lifetime Hello Bastards/Jersey's Best Dancer Jade Tree