Desechables - Buen ser-vicio (1985) (Munster Records reissue, 2002)

They were called the Spanish Cramps, but they did succeed first nor in Spain, but on the other side of the border: in France, after they played at Rock de Lyon in 1983. Definitively, the Barcelona-based band Desechables wasn't the typical Spanish band. After their first 7", the guitar player Miguel died trying to hold up a jewelry store carrying a fake gun. Bad luck; the owner had a real one. Desechables disbanded, but the success of Golpe tras Golpe (1984) —a kind of posthumous LP made of live recordings— encouraged the band mates to look for a new axeman. The good feelings with, nor just one, but two new guitar players led the band to record their second album in concert, again, during a show at Rock-Ola —a mythical concert place located in Madrid. Buen ser-vicio (1985) was born, with a killer cover, by the way: a photo of Tere Desechable herself, who by then was eighteen years old, in a lustful pose serving us her own tits on a plate. The sound of the record is not the best in the world (hey, this is Spain in the early eighties), but we don't want a clearly, vivid sound. This is Cramps-like shit, and what we want is dirty and raw sound.

Siouxsie and the Banshees - Mittageisen b/w Love in a Void (Polydor, 1979)

Founded by Susan Janet Ballion (a.k.a. Siouxsie Sioux) and Steven John Bailey (alias Steven Severin, in homage to "Venus in Furs" by you-know-who), Siouxsie and the Banshees has been one of the most important post-punk/pre-Goth rock bands. They started in the middle of the English punk rock scene (vg. they first drummer was Sid Vicious) but they quickly evolved towards these dark sounds that influenced the future generations of the Goth rock bands (vg. Robert Smith was one of the band's guitarist). "Mittageisen" b/w "Love in a Void" (1.979) is they fourth single, and contains two non-LP tracks. The front cover is the John Heartfield's photo-collage Hurrah, die Butter ist Alle! ("Hurray, no more butter is left!"), which shows a family at a diner table eating metal pieces, an acerbic turnaround of the words of Luftwaffe Major and later Nazi Minister Hermann Göring: "Iron has always made a nation strong, butter and lard have only made the people fat". Turning back to the Banshees, "Mittageisen" is the German version of "Metal Postcard (Mittageisen)", included in the band's first LP The Scream (1.978). The song is an ominous post-punk theme, driven by the martial rhythm and the fine bass line of Mr. Severin. "Love in a Void" is a little more punk rock-esque with its noteworthy bass line (again) and the kickin'-ass guitars.