Dropkick Murphys and the Business
Mob Mentality
Label: Taang! Records
Released: 2000

Mob Mentality (Business, Dropkick Murphys) – 2:04
In the Streets of London (Dropkick Murphys) – 1:12
Informer (Business) – 1:56
Going Strong (Dropkick Murphys) – 2:27
Keep the Faith (Business) – 2:54
Freedom (Business) – 1:45
Boys on the Docks (Dropkick Murphys) – 2:26
Borstal Boys (Ian McLagan, Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood) – 2:43
The Kids Are Alright (Pete Townshend) – 2:30
Hang up Your Boots (Slapshot) – 2:21
Knock Me Down (The Outlets) – 2:46
Mob Mentality [7 Version] (Business, Dropkick Murphys) – 2:21

Dropkick Murphys

Al Barr – vocals
Ken Casey – bass
Rick Burton – guitar
Matt Kelly – drums

The Business

Micky Fitz – Vocals
Johnny Rioux – Bass
Steve Whale – Guitar
Mick Fairbairn – Drums

In September of 1983, the start of my senior year in high school I was put into journalism class. I was required to take an English elective; journalism class fit the requirements, so I took it.

The teacher was a guy named Mr. Clyman. Mr. Clyman was an eccentric old guy that was on bad terms with the head-honchos at the school, and had some weird magic trick that he’d show some of the students, he’d make his leg disappear, I never saw it, but had something to do with the angle of the desk.

Anyway, Clyman hated it when seniors took his journalism class. He felt that you should take it in 10th grade and devote the rest of your high school years to his newspaper. 12th graders only have one semester to devote to the paper prior to graduating. So, Clyman would mention this 12th grade situation EVERYDAY. I usually tried to block out this cranky old dude, but one day I asked him what his beef with seniors was?! He started to rant again, but I cut him off by saying:

“Fuck the paper.”

I don’t know where this came from, but immediately the class fell very quiet. Clyman quietly repeated what I said then the bell rang, and I booked out of there. Within 15 minutes 80% of the school knew about my little outburst. Funny thing was . . . I didn’t get in trouble, and it was never mentioned again.

At the end of the semester Clyman came up to me and said that with my shocking mouth I should consider writing stories for the paper that would shake things up a bit. I thought about and decided to take the plunge.

A couple of years prior a few of the guys that were in the deaf and hard of hearing program at the school had tried out for the football team and were cut for being deaf. So I combed the DHH department and found several guys that had the same problem.

I wrote the article and Clyman loved it. But the football coach, Mr. Sink let me know that if I wasn’t a student he’d whip my ass.

The good thing about this is, after the article ran a deaf student named Sean became the first deaf guy allowed on the football team. So, sometimes a foul mouth can get things accomplished.

On to the review . . .

Mob Mentality is an album by Dropkick Murphys and The Business. Originally, the bands had previously put out a split 7″ single with the name Mob Mentality. This single consisted of three songs, two which were each band covering one of the other band’s songs, and the third was an original song performed by both bands together.

A year later, they released a full-length album with the three previous tracks and nine more. Of the twelve tracks, each band does four covers (two of which were covers of the other band’s songs) and one reworking of a song they originally recorded. The other two tracks are two versions of “Mob Mentality”, an original song performed by both bands together, credited to McBusiness.

Tracks 9, 1 and 4 are about the strongest.

Thanks again to Curtis over at TAANG for passing this one to me!

If you get the chance to get a copy of this, check them out.

Rating: **** * Four out of five stars.

On a separate note, I’m going to be putting on the Los Angeles Punk Con June 6, 2009. I am looking for vendors, and sponsors. I have contacted some of the biggest names from the world of American Punk to be guests, Henry Rollins (Thanks to Henry for responding within an hour of our request) and Jello Biafra are a maybe until the beginning of the year. Razorcake fanzine is looking to get involved. We have Lisa Fancher founder of Frontier Records, and Dr. Strange Records coming out, so make sure to browse their great selection of merchandise. Danny of Warning Label Records is trying to bring a couple of bands from his label. Check out the site, http://lapunkcon.com. Any questions, feel free to write: punk.con@gmail.com

Currently:
Reading: Back to the Batcave by Adam West
Listening: TSOL – Dance With Me
Watching: We Jam Econo directed by Tim Irwin