Nervous Gender
emerged as part of the L.A. punk scene in the late '70s, presenting a synth-heavy, borderline-industrial sound and a highly confrontational attitude, taunting their audiences and challenging conventional standards of religion, sexuality, and taste. 1981's
Music from Hell
was the first and only full-length by the original incarnation of
, and already by this point, co-founder
Phranc
had left the group, later to resurface as a groundbreaking queer folk icon. The remaining co-founders --
Gerardo Velazquez
and
Edward Stapleton
-- were joined by
Don Bolles
(ex-
Germs
, later of
45 Grave
),
Paul Roessler
of synth-punk legends
the Screamers
, a brief guest appearance by
Alice Bag
, and others. Fully living up to its title,
is an ugly, disgusting, depraved monster preoccupied with all manners of vile subject matter, including masturbation, bodily mutilation, child molestation, and drug abuse -- not to mention blatant, unapologetic mockery of the Catholic church (just witness the horror of the self-explanatory "Exorcism"). Recorded and mixed within 36 hours, the album is a sloppy, bashed-out mess, with deliberately out-of-tune, alien-sounding electronics and murky fidelity matching the sickening lyrical content. While music this revolting is clearly not going to appeal to most listeners, something about the group's commitment to its putrid aesthetic holds the album together in a so-wrong-it's-right way, and if one has a wicked sense of humor, it's as hilarious as it is shocking, not unlike an early
John Waters
movie. An influence on both the synth-punk and queercore scenes,
has resurfaced a few times in various formats, with the most extensive, definitive version being
Dark Entries
' 2023 reissue. This edition adds a full LP's worth of additional material, including demos, unreleased songs, and live recordings, some of which originate from a split compilation with
Factrix
,
Flipper
, and
uns
(aka
Z'EV
). "Praise the Lord" is a brief excerpt from a Christian television broadcast, noticing the upside-down cross design on the back cover of
's album and observing that punk promotes satanism as well as violence. Other bonus tracks feature
Brad Laner
(
Savage Republic
Medicine
Michael Ochoa
, and eight-year-old drummer
Sven Pfeiffer
, as well as utterly unrecognizable covers of songs by
Sex Pistols
Carly Simon
Lou Reed
. ~ Paul Simpson