"break down the walls"Year: 1986
Country: US
City: Brookyn , NY
Label: Revelation
Format: CD, LP
Tracks: 16
Time: 30 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Hardcore
Arguably
one of the leaders of the second wave of straightedge in the mid-'80s,
Youth of Today was a New York-based band started by ex-Violent Children
members Ray Cappo on vocals and John Porcelly on guitar. Rounding out
their lineup in 1985 with Graham Philips on bass and Darren Pesce on
drums, Youth of Today recorded and released their debut EP, Can't Close
My Eyes, on Positive Force, a well-known straightedge mainstay. Philips
and Pesce exited shortly thereafter, and lineup changes abounded until a
five-piece settled long enough to record the band's first full-length
offering, 1986's Break Down the Walls. Again, the band had more lineup
changes after the release and subsequent tour for Break Down the Walls,
and in 1988 a four-piece Youth of Today consisting of Cappo, Porcelly,
Walter Schreifels on bass, and Sammy Siegler on drums went into the
studio to record their follow-up full-length, We're Not in This Alone
(1988). By 1990 Youth of Today had decided to call it a day and released
a farewell 7" EP on Revelation (soon to become the leading light in the
next wave of straightedge). Now known as Ray 2 Day, Cappo formed the
Krishna-core band Shelter, which Porcelly eventually joined as well. In 2010 the band returned until nowadays (2016).
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"we are not in this alone"Year: 1988
Label: Revelation
Format: CD
Tracks: 13
Time: 28 min.
Genre: rock
Style: Hardcore
Style: Hardcore
Musically this second album is identical to mythical "Break down the walls", but is less bright, was recorded with substandard conditions and has less force. About the personal evolution of Ray Cappo (vocals) what can we say? in 1988 he claimed to be Buddhist, to make yoga, gymnastics and be totally intolerant with people who drink alcohol, smoke or eat meat. I personally find this position as totally absurd, nonsense and I do not know what is its relationship to "straight edge" ideology invented by Minor Threat in 1982. Bands like Minor Threat and other first generation of "straight edge" spoke about optimism, pacifism and tolerance (7 seconds, SOA, Teen Idles, etc..).
