Premier Rock Forum

Scratch Acid, to me, is the kind of band that comes around very very rarely. At their best they sound almost magical (yes, I know how gay this sounds). The first time I heard them I'd never heard anything like them in my life, including the Jesus Lizard. It's like they came up with their own aesthetic.

Rapeman? They certainly weren't as good as Big Black or Shellac... I sort of look on their album as a failed experiment, but whatever. 'Dutch Courage' is a fantastic song, though.

It's scratch acid, folks, by a long shot.

For me, it's Rapeman by a mile. Scratch Acid was good, but nowhere near as good as Rapeman.

Ace wrote:It's scratch acid, folks, by a long shot.

see, i heard the birthday party long before i ever heard scratch acid. when i did, i thought, "wow, this is like a much crappier birthday party."

when i heard rapeman, i was like, "holy shit. this kills." i think had they not imploded rapeman would've blown scratch acid and the jesus lizard out of the water, as well as big black and shellac. as it stands, they are much better than the "magical" scratch acid. not just because rey and dave's skills got better. not just because as a unit they played so fucking tight, much tighter than they had before. not just because the records sound fucking brutal. not just because steve blows brit(is it?) away on tone alone, let alone the explosive, violent fucking playing. not just because steve writes funnier lyrics than yow. i can seriously go on for twenty reasons.

to be fair to shellac, action park still does it for me. i need to get myself another copy of that.

rapeman. though scratch acid did have a better name.

also, figure this: how long did scratch acid exist? how long did it take rapeman to get together and make that record?

so good was the rapeman, i'm sure if they made a second album it'd probably be my favorite record of all time.

that damned fly wrote:

Ace wrote:It's scratch acid, folks, by a long shot.

see, i heard the birthday party long before i ever heard scratch acid. when i did, i thought, "wow, this is like a much crappier birthday party."

I never understood this comparison, although it's obvious to pretty much everyone else. I don't know, maybe I don't have the right ears or something, but whenever I hear scratch acid there's a distinct american, texas feel to the music. I know the Birthday Party had the whole spaghetti western thing going on, but to compare the two bands just seems sort of ridiculous to me.
Plus, although I love the Birthday Party, Nick Cave brought a theatrical, almost cabaret/ art/ pretentious essence to them that is attractive, but that Scratch Acid just don't have. In the same areas where TBP are "arty," Scratch Acid are "earnest"... I find both appealing.

All this talk about scratch acid makes me want to listen to them again... I'm going to go turn them on right now...

that damned fly wrote:

Ace wrote:It's scratch acid, folks, by a long shot.

see, i heard the birthday party long before i ever heard scratch acid. when i did, i thought, "wow, this is like a much crappier birthday party."

Yup. Although I just said "crappier." Not "much crappier."

that damned fly wrote:

Ace wrote:It's scratch acid, folks, by a long shot.

see, i heard the birthday party long before i ever heard scratch acid. when i did, i thought, "wow, this is like a much crappier birthday party."

when i heard rapeman, i was like, "holy shit. this kills." i think had they not imploded rapeman would've blown scratch acid and the jesus lizard out of the water, as well as big black and shellac. as it stands, they are much better than the "magical" scratch acid. not just because rey and dave's skills got better. not just because as a unit they played so fucking tight, much tighter than they had before. not just because the records sound fucking brutal. not just because steve blows brit(is it?) away on tone alone, let alone the explosive, violent fucking playing. not just because steve writes funnier lyrics than yow. i can seriously go on for twenty reasons.

The records sound brutal with Scratch Acid as well (I might be one of the few people who like that really reverbed, almost distancing production sound that they have on the early stuff) and I probably like Brett's guitar tone better than Steve's. I'll give you Rey and David playing tighter in Rapeman, though, but tightness isn't everything. Still, Rey's drumming on "Monobrow" is fucking phenomenal.

There should be a ToneDome. Steve's tone versus everybody else's.

Oh yeah, Steve wins.

I've spent two decades (+/-) with these two bands in my brain.

Each one is unique.

Each once illustrated and informed new territory to me.

Both are equals.


With this understanding, and for the sake of this poll, at gunpoint I say Scratch Acid, but only because there was more recorded output.

And I actually got to see them live, albeit decades after the original run.


The error, in this man's opinion, is in regarding them through any other lens.

Rapeman kind of bores me. I don't remember how any of their songs go. But I like Scratch Acid a lot.

tinycorkscrew wrote:

SecondEdition wrote:Rapeman had one style while Scratch Acid had many.

When I lived in the suburbs of Chicago, I would walk by a restaurant every day. On the menu: Chinese and Japanese food. I never ate there, and there's not a doubt in my mind that it was CRAP.

There are maybe three or four Scratch Acid songs that have stood the test of time for me. Perhaps I only like one of their many styles?

Verdict: Rapeman

Americanized Japanese and Chinese foods are very similar. I wouldn't really consider that restaurant to have many styles.

There have only been a couple C/NC threads with results that have baffled me, and this is one of them. I didn't expect Rapeman to receive substantially less votes than Scratch Acid, but I knew for sure Scratch Acid would be in the lead. It's a good thing I didn't put money on this one.