Back in the ’90s there was more than just boy-dominated grunge music.  In the U.S. and the U.K. in particular women and men who love women played a passionate music that was not afraid to confront thorny issues like rape and abuse.  Garden Of Delights records put out a terrific compilation record in the mid-’90s as a benefit for a women’s aid group featuring amazing honest songs by the like of AZALIA SNAIL, TELEVISION PERSONALITIES, JOWE HEAD, The PETALS, CUB and GOD IS MY CO-PILOT amongst others.  Hear the entire compilation and fave tracks by bands on the comp on this episode.  Love and respect toward women always, fellow passionate geeks!

Was New Wave just a clever marketing scheme of the early 1980s?  Probably, and this week’s featured compilation LP set makes a strong case for that hypothesis.  Released in 1981 by Columbia Records as “a cheap peek at today’s provocative new rock”, it places artists as disparate as LOVERBOY and BOOMTOWN RATS in the same musical genre.  Hear the results of misguided corporate marketing on this episode of Geek (Ema)Nation along with quasi-anti-corporatist rants from host The Rock’N’Roll Nurse.  Don’t believe the historical (hysterical?) hype, fellow music geeks!

In 1981 2 sampler records of so-called “New Wave” music were released by Columbia Records as an inexpensive introduction to a bunch of newly signed bands, including The PSYCHEDELIC FURS, OMD, and TOMMY TUTONE among others.  Hear how a second “cheap peak at today’s provocative new rock” attempted to market and sell New Wave just as Slash Magazine’s Claude Bessy was declaring that “there is no such thing as New Wave”.  Hear the sounds used to sell the scam, fellow skeptical music geeks!

Way back in 1983 (30 years ago!), some hipster employees at Warner Brothers Records came up with the inspired idea to make an LP filled with the best B-sides of various “new wave” singles put out on the label.  The resulting compilation album series called Attack Of The Killer B’s contains some rare pleasures indeed by the likes of The PRETENDERS, TALKING HEADS, RAMONES, ROXY MUSIC and LAURIE ANDERSON among others.  Take a trip back “new wave” lane with your host The Rock’N’Roll Nurse, fellow music geeks!

Voxx Records brought ’60s garage-rock into the ’80s in a big way, and the compilation known as Beasts From The East took up where the amazing Battle Of The Garages series left off with tracks by 8 notable bands from the Midwest and parts eastward.  Listen to 1986 recordings by the likes of The LIBERTINES, The SKEPTICS, The TIME BEINGS, The ENDORPHINS, The DWARVES, The CYNICS, GREEN, and The C*NTS as they strive to make the world safe for raw teenage rock.  Time to ride the garage wave, fellow music geeks!

In 1995 the estrogen-powered indie label Candy Ass Records released a monumental and highly influential compilation devoted to female empowerment, complete with a 75-page booklet with stories and self-defense tips.  This episode features the entire 2-LP set (featuring the likes of LOIS, TEAM DRESCH, and pre-SLEATER-KINNEY bands HEAVENS TO BETSY and EXCUSE 17), along with highlights from the booklet read by host The Rock’N’Roll Nurse.  Grrrrl power NOW!, fellow womyn-loving geeks!

Ebullition Records was a major force in the ’90s punk underground, sporting bands like ECONOCHRIST and SPITBOY.  One of the label’s earliest releases was the Give Me Back compilation in 1991 which featured a variety of bands, including the mighty BIKINI KILL, with songs about gender issues.  It also sported a thoughtful 20-page booklet (12″x 12″ pages, no less!) with great essays on a variety of issues from homosexuality to rape to abortion.  Hear all the music and much of the writing contained in this comp, delivered with aplomb by host The Rock’N’Roll Nurse.  Body respect and liberation for all, fellow music geeks!

Our good neighbors to the North have produced some of the greatest punk and hardcore bands of all time, including S.N.F.U., D.O.A. and NOMEANSNO.  Hear those bands and many others known and obscure as host The Rock’N’Roll Nurse plays the entire It Came From The Pit compilation from 1985 and some tasty Canuck punk from his personal collection.  Righteous skanking, eh, fellow music geeks!

The Hardcore Punk scene of the mid 1980s often eschewed the nihilism of many of its punk predecessors, with many bands espousing strongly leftist ideals and fiercely anti-war messages.  All of that came together in a big way on a sprawling 2xLP compilation released in 1984 appropriately entitled P.E.A.C.E.  Hear the entire set with commentary by your host The Rock’N’Roll Nurse.  Morph those guns into plowshares, fellow music geeks!

If it weren’t for Dangerhouse Records, we would be missing a lot of the amazing music that was part of the L.A. Punk Rock explosion 1977-1981.  Thankfully they were around to bankroll and archive incredible early performances by the likes of X, ALLEYCATS, AVENGERS, WEIRDOS, BAGS, DILS and many others.  Hear some of those historical and often hysterical recordings, along with later recordings from the personal collection of host The Rock’N’Roll Nurse on this exciting episode.  Take the aural pain, fellow music geeks!