Corrosion of Conformity

Corrosion Of Conformity出道已有20年之久。乐队经过从一开始的变卖血本录制首张专辑到如今90带中期转透大公司的奋斗历程，以为广大听众所知晓。在朋克和金属成为与不共戴天的两大音乐流派的年代时，Corrosion Of Conformity就成为在音乐中同时融合两者的先驱，当时让歌迷又惊又喜。从Black Flag式怪异的音乐专辑Eye For An Eye到从Black Sabbath中得到灵感的专辑Deliverance，乐队几乎囊括了所有的音乐风格——朋克，金属，还有许许多多其他的风格。
 
故事的起因已众人皆知——Woody在六年级时碰到了Reed，并在高中时组建了Corrosion Of Conformity，乐队原先叫No Labels，但Mike以及Eric是怎么加入的，Eric做完专辑又为什么离队而去的，而紧接着剩下的三人怎么会发行一张由Mike领衔主唱的EPSix Songs With Mike Singing——这些都不得而知。不管怎么样，乐队随后又发行了一张专辑Animosity，并在乐队的第三张专辑Technocracy中找来Simon Bob担当主唱。可不知道Mike Dean是自动离开还是被踢出乐队，总之他随后离开了Corrosion Of Conformity并据说加入了一个叫Ugly Americans的乐队之中，并92年里在Raleigh的一家音响商店工作，随后又重新搬回北卡。到乐队的第四张专辑Blind时Mike Dean已经走了。但这张Blind却一炮打红，让Corrosion Of Conformity从此名声大燥。而关于Mike离去的原因据Corrosion Of Conformity官方主页所说——“那个时候我们的巡演票绩相当糟糕，我当时离开是因为对此是否应该恐吓一下我们的债主还是削减开销从头开始这个问题上大家互相指责。但我后来又回来了，因为在录制随后一张Deliverance时乐队意见仍四分五裂，而我仍和乐队保持着联系。我有时候做做调解人，但听说我的建议对乐队相当管用——这就象是在开玩笑一样，而且那个时候我听到了乐队当时的一些录音材料，觉得相当出色，所以我边回到了北卡，回到了乐队身边，而且回去之后感觉还相当好。就这样我们录制完成了这张Deliverance。”
 
Pepper Keenan以前在新奥尔良的一个叫Graveyard Rodeo的乐队里，这个乐队在90年里还和Corrosion Of Conformity一起搞过演出。Corrosion Of Conformity很喜欢Pepper，并把他叫到北卡去试音，于是Pepper随后便加入了乐队。然而随着时间的推移，唱片公司为了维生把Corrosion Of Conformity以及公司里乐队所有的朋友都开除了。紧接着，Sony签下了乐队，因为Sony公司缺少一个硬核朋克的骨干乐队。同时乐队也经历了一次重大调整，Karl Agell被踢出乐队同时由Pepper担当主唱一职，Karl被开除的同时Phil Swisher也宣布退出了乐队，这两位前Corrosion Of Conformity旧将随即组了一支名为Loose Cannon的70年代硬摇滚乐队，这支乐队就是现在Roadrunner旗下的Leadfoot。而幸运的是Mike Dean当时仍留在Raleigh，因此他重新回到了Corrosion Of Conformity。
 
对于乐队的历史，Corrosion Of Conformity一个成员为Convulse杂志写的文章中总结道：
 
Corrosion Of Conformity的内幕到底怎么回事？
 
“我们1982年成立，我们是一支硬核朋克乐队，因此我们的音乐快速而具有冲击力，还有不少政治见解。我们的音乐完全受着象Minor Threat和Black Flag,Bad Brains,Discharge以及Black Sabbath等等这类乐队的影响。因此当人们谈起我们的新唱片——‘嘿，你们听起来象Black Sabbath’的时候显得相当可笑，而事实上我们也在不断向Black Sabbath靠拢。我们曾经历了许多次不同的人事变动，也出了许多唱片，同时也有点小名气，因为我们是那些开创硬核与金属的融合的乐队之一。在美国，朋克和金属乐迷简直是与不共戴天，但我们属于那些少有几个真正结合了这两种音乐风格的乐队。最近我们和Metal Blade签了协议，但乐队内部和外部仍有不少问题——人事调整就是其中之一。我们的经理Dick曾与唱片公司和售票代理大吵一顿，结果使得乐队在走了不少人并在87年宣告解散，但一年多后乐队又回来了，发行了一张新专辑，还带会来一个吉他手和新主唱——Karl和Pepper，就是这两个新来的家伙。”
 
Corrosion Of Conformity因为单曲“Drowning In A Daydream”而获97/98年Grammy大奖，而这张专辑Wiseblood还获得提名，但非常不幸地还是给Tool拿走了最佳专辑称号。
 
在Sony炒了Corrosion Of Conformity鱿鱼之后，Sanctuary/BMG迅速接住了他们，并由Sanctuary发行了乐队2000年的专辑America's Volume Dealer。但Reed无法参加乐队的巡演，由Jimmy Bower顶替了他，紧接着Reed宣布退出Corrosion Of Conformity并集中尽力去完成他自己新乐队Brown的工作，于是Jimmy Bower从此接替了Reed并一直工作至今。乐队最近录制了一张现场专辑Live Volume，发行于2001年四月，这张专辑的DVD及录象带版发行于2001年9月。
 
One of the first punk/metal fusion bands, Corrosion of Conformity (C.O.C. for short) were formed in North Carolina by guitarist Woody Weatherman during the early '80s. In their early years, C.O.C. became known for their aggressive sound, intelligent political lyrics, and willingness to break away from both hardcore and metal conventions. In the '90s, their shift to a more stripped-down, deliberate sound — sort of Black Sabbath filtered through the Deep South — brought them enough in line with the alternative metal zeitgeist to bring them a measure of mainstream popularity.
 
C.O.C. debuted in 1983 with the thrashy, Black Flag-influenced Eye for an Eye, featuring a lineup of Weatherman, drummer Reed Mullin, vocalist Eric Eycke, and bassist Mike Dean. They began to build up a cult following with 1985's Animosity, which featured additional guitarist Pepper Keenan and new vocalist Simon Bob. However, their label at the time, Death, grew tired of the band's internal instability and dropped them following 1987's Technocracy. It took several years for a new lineup to come together — featuring Weatherman, Keenan, Mullin, vocalist Karl Agell, and bassist Phil Swisher — but when it did, the result was 1991's Blind, a powerful, focused, more metallic record which increased their audience by leaps and bounds. Agell was fired following its success, and he and Swisher went on to form Leadfoot; meanwhile, Keenan became the full-time lead vocalist on 1994's even more Sabbath-esque Deliverance, which also featured the return of original bassist Mike Dean. During 1995, Keenan took a short detour into the Southern metal supergroup Down (which also featured Pantera's Phil Anselmo and members of Crowbar). Thanks to a shift in popular taste in favor of the ultra-heavy brand of alternative metal the group had helped pioneer, C.O.C. found themselves with a larger audience than ever before when they released 1996's Wiseblood, which continued and expanded their rock radio success. After a lengthy break from recording and a world tour with Metallica, C.O.C. returned with a new album in the fall of 2000, titled America's Volume Dealer. Another break ensued, resulting in the release of the live recording Live Volume in 2001. It wasn't until April of 2005 that the band regrouped for the hard-hitting and complex In the Arms of God.