Blood, Sweat, and No Tears

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Template:Good article Template:Use mdy dates {{safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst-infobox||$params=italic_title,name,type,longtype,artist,cover,border,alt,caption,released,recorded,venue,studio,genre,length,language,label,director,producer,compiler,chronology,prev_title,prev_year,year,next_title,next_year,misc|$extra=italic_title,longtype,border,caption,language,director,compiler,chronology,year,misc|$aliases=italic title>italic_title,Italic title>italic_title,Name>name,Type>type,image>cover,Cover>cover,Border>border,Alt>alt,Caption>caption,Longtype>longtype,Artist>artist,Released>released,Recorded>recorded,Venue>venue,Studio>studio,Genre>genre,Length>length,Language>language,Label>label,Director>director,Producer>producer,Compiler>compiler,Chronology>chronology,Misc>misc|$flags=override|$B={{#ifeq:{{#invoke:Is infobox in lead|main|[Ii]nfobox [Aa]lbum}}|true|{{#if:Template:Has short description | |{{#if: July 12, 1989 | Template:Short description}}}}}}{{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox album with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y|italic_title |type |name |image |cover |border |alt |caption |longtype |artist |released |recorded |venue |studio |genre |length |language |label |director |producer |compiler |prev_title|prev_year|next_title|next_year|chronology|year|misc}}{{#if:{{#invoke:String|match|error_category=Music infoboxes with Module:String errors|A|1=Sick of It All1987We Stand Alone1991AlbumBlood, Sweat, and No TearsSick of it All Blood, Sweat & No Tears.jpgSick of It AllJuly 12, 1989Normandy Sound
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Blood, Sweat, and No Tears is the debut studio album by the American hardcore punk band Sick of It All, released on July 12, 1989, through the Relativity Records imprint label In-Effect Records. The band recorded and mixed the album in three days with engineer Tom Soares at Normandy Sound in Warren, Rhode Island. Blood, Sweat, and No Tears is a hardcore punk album marked by heavy guitarwork and lyrics addressing personal and political topics. KRS-One makes a guest appearance on the album; future Sick of It All bassist Craig Setari also assisted during recording and contributed to the lyrics of "Bullshit Justice" and "The Blood and the Sweat".

Sick of It All promoted Blood, Sweat, and No Tears through tours of the United States with Bad Brains, Leeway, D.R.I. and Agnostic Front, and a music video for "Injustice System". A surprise success, Blood, Sweat, and No Tears sold over 100,000 copies and is retrospectively regarded as a defining New York hardcore album, although vocalist Lou Koller considers it to be unlistenable due to the quality of the band's performances. After initially planning to re-record the album in its entirety, Sick of It All re-recorded a number of its songs for their tenth album XXV Nonstop (2011).

Background and recording

File:KRS-One in 2008.jpg
KRS-One (pictured) makes a guest appearance on "Clobberin' Time".

Sick of It All were formed in New York City in 1986<ref name=":3" /> by brothers Lou and Pete Koller. Lou initially started on bass before deciding to become the band's vocalist; Pete was the band's guitarist.Template:Sfn Following their first show, booked by future bandmate Craig Setari,<ref name=":10" /> the Koller brothers recruited bassist Rich Cipriano and drummer Armand Majidi.Template:Sfn In 1987, Sick of It All recorded and released their eponymous debut extended play through Revelation Records.<ref name=":3" /> In 1988, Sick of It All signed to Relativity RecordsTemplate:Sfn and their new imprint label In-Effect Records, co-founded by Combat Records salesman Howie Abrams and Agnostic Front guitarist Steve Martin.<ref name=":12">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=":9">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Revelation had expressed interest in releasing Sick of It All's debut album but told the band they would have to wait a year as they were planning to release an album by Gorilla Biscuits.<ref name=":12" />Template:Sfn The band's deal with Relativity was to last for seven albums; Lou said they signed as they thought they would disband after their first. "We were kids [...] we didn't think we'd be doing this forever."<ref name=":2">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Sick of It All recorded Blood, Sweat, and No Tears with engineer Tom Soares at Normandy Sound in Warren, Rhode Island. Lou said that the band wanted to record at Normandy Sound as they liked the sound of Leeway's debut album, Born to Expire (1989).Template:Sfn The band had three days to record and mix the album; Soares mixed all of its songs in a single twelve-hour session.Template:Sfn Setari assisted the band during recording, tuning instruments. He also worked with Majidi on the lyrics of "The Blood and the Sweat" and wrote the chorus of "Bullshit Justice".Template:Sfn "Clobberin' Time" features a spoken word intro by KRS-One of Boogie Down Productions, who briefly visited the studio after the girlfriend of Pete and Lou's oldest brother Steve told him the band were fans of his music.Template:Sfn

Composition and lyrics

Blood, Sweat, and No Tears is a hardcore punk album.<ref name="AM" />Template:Sfn The album has a running time of just under 30 minutes,<ref name=":6" /> with most of its 19 songs lasting less than two minutes in length.<ref name=":3">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The Encyclopedia of Popular Music called it "punishing, primal punk rock music",Template:Sfn whilst Mike DaRonco of AllMusic described its songs as "aggressive, start-stop hardcore".<ref name="AM" /> The Morning Call labelled it the "aural equivalent of a mugging".<ref name=":5" /> Its songs feature heavy,<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":7" /> "pummelling" guitar work,<ref name=":5" /> anthemic choruses,<ref name=":7" /> and breakdowns;<ref name=":4">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> no songs contain guitar solos.Template:Sfn Lou said that Sick of It All attempted to make a "heavy" sound without it being metal, in the vein of Negative Approach and Cro-Mags.Template:Sfn "Give Respect" and "Friends Like You" were both influenced by Oi! music.Template:Sfn Pete highlighted "Alone" and "Disillusion", the last two songs written prior to recording, for their metal and hip-hop influences; he and Lou viewed both songs as marking the start of Sick of It All developing their own sound.Template:Sfn

According to The Morning Call, the album's lyrics are "mostly about survival on the street and the hypocrisy of everyday life in America."<ref name=":5">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Mike Gitter of Kerrang! compared Sick of It All to D.R.I. in that they Template:Nowrap no time in getting to the point of matters, empathetically ranting 'gainst whatever they've got on their minds."Template:Sfn Citing the songs "World Full of Hate" and "Friends Like You", Jason Roche of The Village Voice described its outlook as being angrier than that of Sick of It All's later releases.<ref name=":7" /> Lou said the lyrics are "mostly personal"—"Disillusion" and "Alone" being particular examples—with some "political stuff" inspired by the English punk bands Crass, Discharge, and the Exploited.Template:Sfn The title of "Clobberin' Time" is a reference to the Fantastic Four.<ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> "Pushed Too Far" is about Lou's perceptions on the hardcore scene,Template:Sfn and dealing with harassment from outsiders.Template:Sfn He wrote "Bullshit Justice" after watching a murderer "get off on some technicality" on a crime TV show.Template:Sfn "No Labels" is about hypocritical people who claimed they were "super straight edge".Template:Sfn Likewise, "The Deal" is about bands who formerly criticized, but are now supported by, big record labels.Template:Sfn "Injustice System" was inspired by an incident in New Rochelle, New York, where the Koller brothers and Minus frontman Jason Krakdown were attacked by police after a riot broke out following a concert supporting Murphy's Law, with Pete being arrested for biting the fingers of an officer and held for three days before charges were dropped.Template:Sfn

Release and promotion

Blood, Sweat, and No Tears was released through In-Effect and Relativity on July 12, 1989.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The inner sleeve photo shows a "wall of death" at a Sick of It All concert supporting Warzone at The Ritz in New York City.Template:Sfn Sick of It All opted to not include a full lyric sheet with copies of the album to expand its reach and allow it to be sold in malls and chain stores, which usually did not carry albums with profanity.<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Sfn The band embarked on their first national tour in support of the album, as both a headliner and supporting act for Bad Brains,Template:Sfn joining halfway through Bad Brains' Quickness tour with Leeway,<ref name=":10">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and touring the West Coast of the United States with both bands for two weeks.Template:Sfn Thereafter, Majidi left Sick of It All to focus on his other band Rest in Pieces, and Max Capshaw was recruited as his replacement.<ref name=":3" />

On September 15, 1989, Sick of It All performed a showcase with Killing Time and Nuclear Assault at the Sundance in Bay Shore, after which they embarked on a headlining tour of the North Eastern United States in the fall of 1989.Template:Sfn The band also filmed a music video for "Injustice System". Lou was dissatisfied with the video, believing it was too censored and that Majidi should have been in it instead of Capshaw, since he performed on the record.<ref name=":1" /> Majidi ultimately returned to Sick of It All for a national tour with D.R.I.,Template:Sfn with Capshaw "[not working] out because he was too young", according to Lou.<ref name=":1" />

Prior to touring with Agnostic Front in 1990, Cipriano and Majidi both left Sick of It All. The Koller brothers decided to continue the band,Template:Sfn replacing both departed members with Eddie Coen and Eric Komst, respectively.<ref name=":1" /> Both members appear alongside photos of the old lineup in the liner notes of the We Stand Alone EP (1991), which Lou and Pete intended to show they were committed to continuing Sick of It All.Template:Sfn Coen left to join Cycle Sluts from Hell following the Agnostic Front tour, and Komst was later fired.Template:Sfn By the time Sick of It All recorded their second album Just Look Around (1992), Majidi and Cipriano had rejoined the band.<ref name=":3" />

Reception and legacy

Template:Album ratingsIn a contemporary review for Cashbox, Jannis Garza called Blood, Sweat, and No Tears a "tuneful, humorously cynical [album]" and a "paradise" for slam dancers.Template:Sfn Kerrang!Template:'s Mike Gitter praised the album's catchy songwriting and production and believed that "with a smidgeon of good fortune", Sick of It All would set "the standard of Thrash for the decade to come".Template:Sfn Ira Robbins of The Trouser Press Guide to '90s Rock called it a "clearly articulated" albeit unoriginal debut.Template:Sfn MusicHound Rock reviewer Brian Ives favorably considered the album to be "more explosive than any of [Sick of It All's] subsequent releases (though not by much)".Template:Sfn The album was nominated in the Heavy Metal category at the 1989 NAIRD Indie Awards.Template:Sfn

A surprise success,Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn Blood, Sweat, and No Tears sold over 100,000 copies and became "a source of inspiration for many bands from [New York]", according to Rock Hard.Template:Sfn DaRonco of AllMusic credited the album, alongside releases from Gorilla Biscuits and Youth of Today, with popularizing the breakdown in hardcore.<ref name="AM" /> Chris Ingham of Metal Hammer called it a "blueprint" for New York hardcore in the 1980s,Template:Sfn whilst Joachim Hiller of Ox-Fanzine said it "heralded a generational shift in NYHC, establishing the tone for the 1990s and the growing popularity of the genre."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Kerrang! likewise said it "helped change the definition of New York hardcore as the world knew it" and ranked the album at number 28 on its 2019 list of the "50 Best Albums of 1989".<ref name=":4" /> Hit Parader named it the greatest hardcore album of all time in 2007,Template:Sfn whilst The Village Voice ranked the album at number 16 on its 2013 list of the "Top 20 New York Hardcore and Metal Albums of All Time".<ref name=":7">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Revolver ranked the album at number 18 on their 2018 list of the "50 Greatest Punk Albums of All Time",<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> later including it on their 2021 list of "10 Essential New York Hardcore Albums".<ref name=":6">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Noisecreep also listed it as one the "Top 10 New York Hardcore Albums".<ref name=":8">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Keith Caputo of Life of Agony,Template:Sfn Vinnie Caruana of The Movielife,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Thomas Sheehan of Indecision and Most Precious Blood,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Strife,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Dennis Lyxzén of Refused,<ref>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref> Bryan Kienlen of the Bouncing Souls, Joe Principe of Rise Against, and Brandan Schieppati of Bleeding Through have cited the album as either an inspiration or an influence.<ref name="TFULiners">Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>

In The Blood and the Sweat: The Story of Sick of It All's Koller Brothers (2020), Lou said he found Blood, Sweat, and No Tears unlistenable because of Sick of It All's "weird" performances on the album, which he attributed to the band's limited studio experience prior to recording.Template:Sfn He also believed fans who called it their favorite Sick of It All record liked the "era" surrounding it more than the album itself.Template:Sfn In 2011, Sick of It All released their tenth album XXV Nonstop, which features re-recordings of "Rat Pack", "World Full of Hate" and "Injustice System".<ref name=":11" /> Sick of It All had contemplated re-recording Blood, Sweat, and No Tears in full prior to deciding they would only redo a certain amount of tracks, alongside those from their other albums.<ref name=":11">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Lou considered the re-recorded tracks representative of how the originals would have sounded if the band had more time to record; "We played them at way better tempos, and everything just sounded better. We executed them much better."Template:Sfn KRS-One reprised his appearance on the re-recording of "Clobberin' Time".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> According to Lou, Template:Nowrap asked Sick of It All to send him three XXXL Template:Nowrap and a copy of the finished album before doing his part; Lou does not remember whether the band fulfilled Template:Nowrap request.Template:Sfn

In 2014, Sick of It All played both Blood, Sweat, and No Tears and their third album Scratch the Surface (1994) in their entireties at the Fun Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, Texas.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Track listing

Template:Track listing Notes

  • Track 2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 15 and 18 are re-recordings of the songs from their first EP, Sick of It All (1987).

Personnel

Personnel per liner notes.<ref>Template:Cite AV media notes</ref>Template:Col-beginTemplate:Col-2Sick of It All

  • Lou Koller – vocals, backing vocals (4)
  • Rich Cipriano – bass
  • Peter Koller – guitar
  • Armand Majidi – drums, backing vocals (4)

Additional personnel

  • KRS-One – spoken word intro (2)Template:Sfn
  • Sick of It All – backing vocals (1–3, 5–19)
  • Craig Setari – backing vocals (1–3, 5, 6, 8–19)
  • Howie Abrams – backing vocals (1–3, 5, 6, 8–19)
  • Anthony – backing vocals (7)
  • Paul – backing vocals (7)

Template:Col-2Production

  • Sick of It All – production
  • Tom Soares – engineering, mixingTemplate:Sfn
  • Jaime Locke – assistant engineer
  • Bryan Martin – remixing engineer
  • Mike Rhode – remix assistant engineer (at Power Play)
  • Chris Gehringer – mastering (at The Hit Factory)

Artwork

  • David Bett – art direction
  • Patricia Lie – design
  • Tim Boiling Point – photography
  • Dave Muller – photography
  • Zack Muller – photography
  • B.J. Papas – photography

Template:Col-end

References

Template:Reflist

Bibliography

Template:Sick of It All

Template:Authority control

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