So why is Agent Orange’s Living in Darkness on this best 1,000 albums ever thing?
When I throw on “Bloodstains,” the opening track of Living in Darkness, the vibes hit.
It’s punk, it’s fast, it’s angry, it’s in no way “mainstream,” it’s raucous, and yet there’s a pulsing intelligence underlying the operation.
I don’t know what “Bloodstains” is about, really, but that’s fine. The vibes tell me there’s an anti-authority thing going on, and it hits me right in the chest. Which is to say it kicks ass, and there’s not much more you can ask of a punk song than that.
All Music actually dubs these guys as surf punk:
Orange county punk trio Agent Orange were the pioneers of surf punk, melding the guitar figures of classic surf music with the fast-and-loud attack of hardcore punk rock, and they became one of the truly enduring bands in the West Coast punk community.
Which makes sense when you get the really fun and punky cover of Dick Dale’s 1962 classic:
Living in Darkness is a lean album, coming in at an efficient and punk 21 minutes and change, and it’s remarkably consistent quality-wise throughout. Mike Palm’s guitar tone slices as sharp as Bruce Willis’ borrowed samurai sword in Pulp Fiction, while the rhythm section crashes like the swells coming in at Newport Beach.
This album also sounds like
I hear Black Flag here, which makes a lot of sense as both came up around the same time and in roughly the same kind of scene in Southern California. I’m also getting a dusting of Devo, and maybe throw in some Bad Religion and Descendents for good measure.
But the surf punk aspect sounds wildly original to my ears and adds an exciting element.
Personal stuff that’s somehow related to Agent Orange’s Living in Darkness
It turns out that not only is Agent Orange from Orange County, but they hail from the city of Fullerton. Which happens to be where my wife mostly grew up and a city I’ve spent a lot of time in over the years, at the fabulous house of my wonderful in-laws.
I grew up on Long Island, New York myself – we say on, not in Long Island where I grew up, dig? – and I’ve always found it fascinating that I grew up in the suburbs outside of New York City, whereas my wife grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles.
At some point it clicked that Orange County felt like the “sunny, well mannered” Long Island, which I think mostly holds up. Orange County has mostly incredible weather (especially if you have air conditioning), and reads as an ideal place to raise kids in a suburban environment. Whereas the weather is mostly not incredible on Long Island and, while the place as a whole has its charms, the tough guy attitudes I grew up around prompted me to want out and travel at a young age.
But back to Agent Orange and Orange County. I can also get how, if you’re a teenager growing up in Fullerton, “idyllic place to raise kids in a suburban environment” mixed with a strong dose of “Ronald Reagan’s 1980s” translates to “I need to form a punk band in which I can scream out an anti-authoritarian screed in the loudest and angriest way possible.”
That’s to say, it makes perfect sense that Orange County would go on to produce a range of incredible bands over the next several decades that are nonconformist, to say the least, ranging from The Offspring to The Aquabats to Reel Big Fish.
It’s a sound that reached me all the way across the country.
Some stats & info about Agent Orange – Living in Darkness
- What kind of musical stylings does this album represent? Punk Rock, Hardcore Punk, Rock, Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, New Wave, Surf Revival, Surf Punk, Punk
- Rolling Stone’s greatest 500 albums ranking – not ranked!
- All Music’s rating – 4.5 of 5 stars
- When was Living in Darkness released? 1981
- My ranking of the best 1,000 albums ever, the one you’re reading right now – #1,000 out of 1,000
Agent Orange’s Living in Darkness on Spotify
A lyrical snippet from Agent Orange’s Living in Darkness that’s evocative of the album in some way, maybe
Blood stains, speed kills, fast cars, cheap thrills.
What does the “best 1,000 albums ever” mean and why are you doing this?
Yeah, I know it’s audacious, a little crazy (okay, maybe a lot cray cray), bordering on criminal nerdery.
But here’s what it’s NOT: a definitive list of the Greatest Albums of All-Time. This is 100% my own personal super biased, incredibly subjective take on what my top 1,000 albums are, ranked in painstaking order over the course of doing research for nearly a year, Rob from High Fidelity style. Find out more about why I embarked on a best 1,000 albums ever project.