Angry Samoans
Snotty, high-velocity 80s hardcore with a rock critic's cynical wit. Short, sharp bursts of garage-influenced punk for when you need to break something.
Snotty, high-velocity 80s hardcore with a rock critic's cynical wit. Short, sharp bursts of garage-influenced punk for when you need to break something.
Angry Samoans occupy a unique intersection in American punk history, bridging the gap between the 1970s first wave and the 1980s hardcore explosion. Formed in 1978 by rock writers Mike Saunders and Gregg Turner, the band brought a self-aware, intellectualized cynicism to the burgeoning LA scene.
Their sound is deeply rooted in 1960s garage rock (notably The 13th Floor Elevators) but played at the breakneck speed of their contemporaries like Black Flag or Circle Jerks. Their 1982 masterpiece, 'Back From Samoa,' is widely considered one of the greatest hardcore albums of all time, famous for its brevity and its confrontational, often politically incorrect humor. Critically, they are viewed as the 'smartest' band in the room, using the punk medium to satirize the very culture they inhabited. Their influence persists in the DNA of snotty pop-punk and the more melodic end of hardcore, maintaining a legacy of high-energy, high-IQ delinquency.
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