With Negative Trend's only claim to fame being that the band was the opening act for the Sex Pistols' final implosion in San Francisco, We Don't Play, We Riot is a surprisingly powerful and gifted piece of American punk history. The four songs on the album seem to be the precursors to four different styles of American punk. The politically bent Mercenaries opens the record with a catchy chorus that has the whole band chanting. Mercenaries covers ground that the Dead Kennedys would later retread with their song Back to Rhodesia. The Meathouse follows with equal intensity, only adding more poetic lines coupled with some rather disturbing imagery. Negative Trend is shown to clearly have mastered the straightforward American punk that rose out of the ashes of the Sex Pistols' final American tour. Black and Red shows there is some diversity to Negative Trend's style of punk. This slow plodding song definitely foreshadows the music of the pioneering San Francisco pet rock band Flipper. After Negative Trend's dissolution, Steve Depace and Will Shatter would later form Flipper with Ricky Williams of the Sleepers and Vietnam veteran Ted Falconi. The record closes with a rockabilly revival tune called How Ya Feeling, a fast-paced condemnation of an amphetamine junkie reminiscent of a sped-up Eddie Cochran. It closes out an album of some of America's best punk rock, which unfortunately has only been heard by a select few. For punk historians, the album -- with its insert included -- is a true gem. The insert includes a picture of Negative Trend live with a family tree of related punk bands on the reverse side. The web of bands concentrates mostly on the Sleepers, Flipper, and Negative Trend, showing where each band member came from and where they went. Squiggle lines relate about 15 bands to Negative Trend and show how members have been traded throughout the scene. We Don't Play, We Riot is a complete package that puts one of America's least appreciated punk bands on display. ~ Matt Whalley, Rovi

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