THE CRUZADOS
The Cruzados were a 1980s rock band from Los Angeles, California. (More from Wikipedia)
Still, buying a box of albums even at a good price is something that I rarely do. I like to see what I am buying and make individual decisions. I was once at a flea market down here years ago where a guy was about to close down his stand. I had picked out a handful of CD’s already – two by the Cruzados, Terence Trent d’Arby, Shakespear’s Sister, Blues Traveler, David Cassidy (I had heard that this teen idol used to sing R&B songs during breaks in the filming of The Partridge Family, so I was going to see if any of that made it to disc) – when the man said, “I’ll sell you the whole rack for $35”. I figure that I had already picked out over $20 worth, so I said yes.
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The Cruzados, The Cruzados – The bandmembers in the Cruzados were previously in the Plugz, the first Latino L.A. punk rock band and one of the best L.A. punk bands, period. They showed up on New Wave Theatre more than once and also performed the score of the 1984 cult classic film, Repo Man. The Cruzados were more of a pure rock band that were being, er, plugged as the “next big thing”. I had heard of them already, and these two albums were what drew me to that CD rack at the flea market in the first place. The first track on this album is called “Wasted Years”; it is a good opening track on a good CD, but I have never been able to shake the feeling that this song was a comment on the band’s years as the Plugz, and that ruins the effect for me.
The Cruzados, After Dark – As it turns out, this is the only other album that the band made. I do not like it as much as the first album; Allmusic on the other hand gives this album 4 stars and the first album only 2.
(December 2015)
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Since I am down to a quarterly schedule rather than a monthly schedule, my annual list is a lot shorter, so I will try listing all of the people that I have discussed in some depth rather than just the Under Appreciated Rock Band and the Story of the Month. They are all punk rock bands of one kind or another this year (2015-2016), and the most recent post includes my overview of the early rap/hip hop scene that an old friend, George Konstantinow challenged me to write – probably so long ago that he might have forgotten.
December 2015 – 1990’s pop/punk band AMANDA JONES; Story of the Month on the early American singles by the Beatles; also, Rochelle Harper, Lisa Loeb, 3 Doors Down, Level with the Ground, Chris Stamey with Yo La Tengo, Meri Wilson, Bobby Brown, the Cruzados / the Plugz, Terence Trent d’Arby, An Emotional Fish, Bruce Hornsby and the Range, Hunters & Collectors, Looters, Shakespear’s Sister, Robert Tepper, Y Kant Tori Read / Tori Amos, Ugly Kid Joe, Paul Young, the Rolling Stones, Mandy Brix, the Joneses.
(Year 7 Review)
