Cro Mags Best Wishes

Cro Mags - 'Best Wishes' (Profile, 1989)

'Best Wishes' is quite rightly overshadowed by its incendiary predecessor 'The Age of Quarrel', but it doesn't deserve to be overlooked as it is still an excellent example of crossover and one of the foundations of metalcore.

Bass player, New York Hardcore legend and all round tattooed maniac Harley Flannegan takes over vocal duties from ex Navy Seal, John Joseph, and does an excellent job spitting out the lyrics to classics like 'Death Camps', 'Crush the Demoniac' and 'Age of Quarrel'. Unfortunately, he croons very averagely on 'The Only One' and 'Fugitive' which are worrying indications of what was to come on following albums like the awful 'Alpha Omega'.

On 'The Age of Quarrel' Cro Mags took the frenetic punk of their heroes Bad Brains and added a hefty dose of street urchin anger and aggression, on 'Best Wishes' they add the metal and the huge production ensures the heaviness is amped up to the max.

Despite their pro animal liberation lyrics and being devoutly Hare Krishna, the band are responsible for 'Krishna Core' becoming a legitimate sub genre of hardcore, Cro Mags were the first hardcore band to truly cross over into metal's consciousness because of their palpable aura of threat and violence. It was this side of the band and the fact that I viewed them as a gateway band for the more macho aspects associated with hardcore that led to them never really clicking with me.

The band has become a bit of a soap opera over the years with schisms between Harley and nearly every other member leading to the unseemly dilution of the band's legacy due to two different bands touring under the same moniker. We had tickets to see John Joseph's Cro Mags a few years ago, but the 'Meat is for Pussies' author cancelled and our trip was abandoned; I wasn't that bothered.

Even as far back as the early 90s I remember Pringle, Jon and I speaking to Sick of it All's Pete Koller outside The Venue and being regaled with stories about Harley being a 'pussy' and how Bloodclot (John Joseph's pseudonym) was going to beat him up. This ire and the recriminations finally exploded in a recent backstage spat which ended with band members being stabbed and Harley breaking his leg. Much to Lu's delight his made it to the pages of the Daily Mail's gossip website!

One of the most important bands in the history of hardcore and one of the most important albums in the progression of what would become metalcore.

Peace