Sugarcult - Don't Ignore Where You Came From

"Everybody's talkin' 'bout blowin' up the neighborhood."

So I'm just sitting down listening to my limited vinyl edition of: 

'Start Static'

by American punk band Sugarcult. It's their third album, and I guess in my opinion, it's a pretty good album, which is why I still listen to it quite a bit. But also in my opinion it's not their best. Don't get me wrong, I do like a lot of it, but it just has quite a few misses here and there.

But I digress, I didn't mean for this to be a review.

For a long time since becoming a Sugarcult fan, reading up on their history, listening to the back catalogue, as well as their latest release, *sigh*, 'Lights Out', I've been somewhat baffled, if that is the correct term, as to why their first two releases: 

                       'Eleven'                                  and                          'Wrap Me Up In Plastic'

the latter probably being my favourite album, are hardly ever mentioned in the band's history, their Wikipedia page, their website or anything. It makes me wonder, what has made them literally disregard their first two albums, to the point of actually pointing out that 'Start Static' is their first album, when in fact it isn't, it's their third.

What confirmed this realisation to me further recently was a tweet I read on the lead guitarist of Sugarcult, Marko DeSantis' twitter page. Something about that day being the day they released their 'second' album,

                                                  'Palm Trees and Power Lines'

which is actually their fourth, after 'Eleven', 'Wrap Me Up In Plastic', and 'Start Static'.

I actually just tried to find the tweet but it isn't there anymore for some reason. Interesting.

But really the band have no reason to disregard their first two albums, they are good albums in my opinion, and they're still listed in their discography on several websites. But it's as if someone is constantly holding them all at gun point saying: “DON'T ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR FIRST TWO ALBUMS OR I'LL WASTE YOU.”, or as if the memory of their first two albums has just been completely wiped from their brains, and any mention of 'Eleven' and 'Wrap Me Up In Plastic' to them just causes mass confusion. I really don't know. It could just be the band simply being ashamed of their early work so much they don't care to mention it, but still, I don't see why they would.

One other possibility, and I'm still unsure how possible this could ever be, but it could be a label decision. Maybe labels Fearless and V2 decided “We don't want their fans hearing this sh*tty old music that doesn't sound as 'clean' and 'perfect' as their other albums, let's try and make them cut it out.” I'm unsure as to how much integrity either label have, but I'm just making speculation after speculation here really. 

The only way I'd ever find out the answer would be by personally asking the band, 

“Why does it seem your older music doesn't matter anymore?”, 

And whatever the response should be, as a fan, I will respect it. 

But also as a fan, I will continue to respect their first releases, and where they came from.

Thanks for reading.

Ben