Attitude Adjustment is an American

crossover thrash Crossover thrash (often abbreviated to crossover) is a fusion genre of thrash metal and hardcore punk. The genre emerged in the mid-1980s, when hardcore punk bands, such as Suicidal Tendencies, Cryptic Slaughter, Corrosion of Conformity and Dir ...

band from the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. Their debut album, ''American Paranoia'', is considered to be an early "crossover" between

hardcore punk Hardcore punk (commonly abbreviated to hardcore or hXc) is a punk rock music genre#subtypes, subgenre and subculture that originated in the late 1970s. It is generally faster, harder, and more aggressive than other forms of punk rock. Its roots ...

and

thrash metal Thrash metal (or simply thrash) is an Extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music characterized by its overall aggression and fast tempo.Kahn-Harris, Keith, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'', pp. 2–3, 9. Oxford: Berg, ...

Formation

The band was formed by

Chris Kontos Christopher T. Kontos (born December 10, 1963) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player. Kontos is best known for his nine goals in 11 playoff games while he was a member of the Los Angeles Kings and his franchise opening night four-goal per ...

, Eric Smith and Rick Strahl in early 1985, with Nick Koljian briefly on vocals. The lineup was changed with the addition of Kevin Reed on vocals. This lineup played a number of initial shows at Ruthie's Inn, the New Method, the

Mabuhay Gardens The Mabuhay Gardens, also known as The Fab Mab or The Mab, was a former San Francisco nightclub, located at 443 Broadway Street, in North Beach on the Broadway strip area best known for its striptease clubs. It closed in 1987. History The Ma ...

and other

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose. The Association of Bay Area Governments ...

venues. Several months later, Kevin Reed was replaced by Andy Andersen on vocals and Chris Scaparro joined as a second guitarist. They shortly went into the studio to record the "Dead Serious Demo" in 1985. The demo was recorded by Doug Piercy at the Turk Street Practice Pad.

Early tours and recording

In 1986 and 1987, Attitude Adjustment played frequent gigs throughout

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. They played alongside bands such as Forbidden (Known as Forbidden Evil at that time),

Vio-lence Vio-lence is an American thrash metal band formed in 1985 in the San Francisco Bay Area. Throughout its career, they have released demo tapes, three EPs and three studio albums. Vio-lence is best-known for their association with the 1980s Bay ...

Sacrilege Sacrilege is the violation or injurious treatment of a sacred object, site or person. This can take the form of irreverence to sacred persons, places, and things. When the sacrilegious offence is verbal, it is called blasphemy, and when physical ...

Possessed Possessed may refer to: Possession * Possession (disambiguation), having some degree of control over something else ** Spirit possession, whereby gods, demons, animas, or other disincarnate entities may temporarily take control of a human body *** ...

Hirax Hirax (often stylized as HIRAX) is an American thrash metal band from Cypress, California. Starting in 1984 under the leadership of vocalist Katon W. De Pena (the band's only original member left in the current line-up), the band played in Los ...

Death Angel Death Angel is an American thrash metal band from Daly City, California, initially active from 1982 to 1991 and again since 2001. They have released nine studio albums, two demo tapes, one box set and three live albums. The band has gone thr ...

, R.K.L., Dr. Know,

Suicidal Tendencies Suicidal Tendencies is an American crossover thrash band formed in 1980 in Venice, California, by vocalist Mike Muir. The band has undergone various lineup changes, with Muir as the only remaining original member. Their current lineup includes ...

Corrosion of Conformity Corrosion of Conformity (often abbreviated as C.O.C.) is an American heavy metal band from Raleigh, North Carolina, formed in 1982. The band has undergone multiple lineup changes throughout its existence, with lead guitarist Woody Weatherman a ...

, D.R.I., Discharge,

UK Subs U.K. Subs are an English punk rock band, among the earliest in the first wave of British punk. Formed in 1976, the mainstay of the band has been vocalist Charlie Harper, originally a singer in Britain's R&B scene. One of the first hardcore pu ...

Neurosis Neurosis (: neuroses) is a term mainly used today by followers of Freudian thinking to describe mental disorders caused by past anxiety, often that has been repressed. In recent history, the term has been used to refer to anxiety-related con ...

The Exploited The Exploited are a Scottish punk rock band from Edinburgh, formed in 1978 by Stevie Ross and Terry Buchan, with Buchan soon replaced by his brother Wattie Buchan. They signed to Secret Records in March 1981,

and

Operation Ivy Operation Ivy was the eighth series of American nuclear tests, coming after '' Tumbler-Snapper'' and before '' Upshot–Knothole''. The two explosions were staged in late 1952 at Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Proving Ground in the Marshall I ...

, among others. The band finally released their debut album, ''American Paranoia'', released by Pusmort Records, is considered to be an early "crossover" between

and

Line-up changes

* In 1987, Andy Anderson, Chris Scaparro and Rick Strahl joined up with former Condemned to Death Bassist /vocals Keith Chatham, after his return from Australia playing in bands Death Sentence and

Vicious Circle A vicious circle (or cycle) is a complex chain of events that reinforces itself through a feedback loop, with detrimental results. It is a system with no tendency toward equilibrium (social, economic, ecological, etc.), at least in the shor ...

. With Vicious Circle guitarist-Les Rumincik/Guitar, Dave Ross/Drums(Vicious Circle/Civil Dissident) and Keith Chatham Bass/Vocals they record "Condemned?-Humanoid or Biomechanoid?"(Reactor Records/Nuclear Blast). When Keith returned to San Francisco Slade Anderson/Drums (Mercenary/Mordred)joined Condemned? This is when the 3 Attitude Adjustment members from the East Bay merged with Condemned? in San Francisco at Turk St studios this became "Condemned Attitude". They recorded first at Peter Miller's two songs with Slade Anderson then Paul Birnbaum/Septic Death joined to finish the "What's Yours?" Demo and record "Kein Schlaf bis Deutschland" (We Bite Records)which would have Rick Strahl on guitar and Keith Chatham back on Bass the band was later renamed just Attitude. Keith and Paul left the band in 1987. Keith formed Something Scaley 1988–98. 2009 Condemned? Record Jungle fever demo with Rick Strahl/Guitar returning and Slade Anderson/Drums, 2011 Condemned? record a double disc on Nuclear Blast-Condemned 2 Death/C2D2, 2015 SteamedPunks EP * Attitude released an LP and an EP, taking a more

-like style, with Andy Andersen returning to his initial style of singing. Rick Strahl and Chris Scaparro became the new guitarists with Eric Brecht on drums during this time. * Chris Kontos, Eric Smith and Kevin Reed continued on with Attitude Adjustment and in 1988, this new lineup released the EP ''No More Mr. Nice Guy'', again on Pusmort Records, which is very different from ''American Paranoia''. * By 1990, former members Andy Anderson, Chris Scaparro, and Rick Strahl formed a new band with former Piranha guitarist Ron Shipes that had a more

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

direction. The band was called Two Bit Thief they released an LP "Another Sad Story...In the Big City" They kept it alive until 1995. Subsequently, Ron Shipes forged Fueled. * Kontos and Reed returned to the name "Attitude Adjustment" in 1991, but with another new lineup to record their last studio album, ''Out Of Hand'', again mixing hardcore with thrash metal. * In 1993, the ''American Paranoia'' LP and the ''No More Mr. Nice Guy'' EP were re-issued on CD. The LP version includes the "Dead Serious" demo. * Chris Kontos joined

Robb Flynn Robert Conrad Flynn (born Lawrence Matthew Cardine; July 19, 1967) is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for heavy metal band Machine Head and also the only member to feature all Machine Head releases. ...

(who left ''Vio-lence'') in 1993 to form the post thrash band

Machine Head A machine head (also referred to as a tuning machine, tuner, or gear head) is a geared apparatus for tuning stringed musical instruments by adjusting string tension. Machine heads are used on mandolins, guitars, double basses, and others, and ...

. * The band reformed in 2007.

Current lineup

*Walter Ryan (drums) *Kevin Reed (vocals) *Eric McIntire aka Eric "Bobo" Smith (guitar) *Ray Vegas (guitar) *Greg Orr (bass)

Former members

*Andy Andersen (vocals - Condemned Attitude, Attitude, Two Bit Thief) * Paul Birnbaum (drums) *Tezz Bones (guitar - Discharge, Broken Bones) *Eric Brecht (drums -

Death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

, D.R.I.) *Keith Chatham (guitar/bass/vocals- Attitude/Condemned Attitude, Condemned to Death/C2D, Condemned?, Something Scaley) *Nick Koljian (vocals - Scoopy's Clownhouse Revenge) *

(drums - Forbidden ,

Verbal Abuse Verbal abuse (also known as verbal aggression, verbal attack, verbal violence, verbal assault, psychic aggression, or psychic violence) is a type of Psychological abuse, psychological/mental abuse that involves the use of Oral language, oral or w ...

) *Keith Medeiros (bass) *Chris Scarparo (guitar) *Bryon "Yapple" Ruelas (guitar) *Rick Strahl (Bass/Guitar - Condemned Attitude, Attitude, Two Bit Thief) *Sean Sutton (guitar) *Ray Vegas (bass -

, Social Unrest)

Bands influenced by Attitude Adjustment

Napalm Death Napalm Death are an English grindcore band formed in Meriden, West Midlands, in 1981. None of the band's original members have been in the group since 1986, but since ''Utopia Banished'' (1992), the lineup of bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mi ...

recorded "Dope Fiend" off of "American Paranoia" for '' Leaders Not Followers: Part 2'' *

Municipal Waste Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the United States and rubbish in Britain, is a waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. "Garbage" can also refer specifically to food waste, a ...

Discography

Albums

* ''Dead Serious'' - Demo 1985 * ''American Paranoia'' - LP 1986 * ''The Good, The Bad, The Obnoxious'' (12", as Attitude) - EP 1987 * ''No More Mr. Nice Guy'' - EP 1988 * ''Out of Hand'' - LP 1991 * ''True to the Trade'' - EP 1996 * ''The Collection'' LP 2010 * ''No Way Back'' - 2011 - Taang records * ''Terrorize'' - EP 2016 - Beer City Records

Compilation albums

* ''Rat Music for Rat People, Vol. 3'' ( CD Presents, 1987)

References

External links

MyspaceRick Strahl's site
{{Authority control Thrash metal musical groups from California Crossover thrash groups Musical groups established in 1985 Hardcore punk groups from California 1985 establishments in California