The ’80s were a great time for hardcore/punk. People “skanked.” People “thrashed.” Ye olde counter-clockwise circle was a viable form of movement. And there were awesome comps dropping from places that weren’t your nearest metropolitan hub or locations you’d probably never get to visit in your musical lifetime. It was like Hardcore Geography 101: You had the Not So Quiet On The Western Front comp for all your Northern California needs. Or you waited for the latest seven-inch installment of the Nice And Loud comps to get your fill of New York and Connecticut bands. Or get blown away by the Beantown bands on This Is Boston Not LA.

This 60-plus-track Ohio version of DC’s Flex Your Head is all about the Cleveland and surrounding areas’ punk/hardcore scene.

“Huh?” you ask. “There was a Cleve-o scene before Integrity?”

Hells yes. And if this comp indicates what was going on back then, it rocked pretty fucking hard. Originally put out back in 1983 on New Hope Records as a one-record slab, this reissue doubles that plus. And gratefully so. When you can start a comp with a band like The Guns fucking you up with their Jealous Again-era Flag sound, it’s gonna be a good time.  Bands that are on this mega-comp have that pissed off, “just do it,” first ’80s wave sound that has a whole mess of thrash spasticity all through it. Just crazed and angry fun. Bands involved include Starvation Army, The Dark, Zero Defex, No Parole, and many more. Even the dated mentions of preppies and other ’80s highlights don’t hinder this recording. It just adds to it. A metric shit-ton of historical fun. Buy it.