In 1992 I was 17 years old. I was a straight-edged hardcore kid living in South Jersey. I was part of what was basically a 3 man crew. I was the punk rocker, my friend Thomas was the metalhead and my friend Brett was the hip-hopper. The early 90’s was a crazy time time for the music industry and, to me, it was really cool when heavy music music started filtering out to hip-hop and “alternative rap” groups began to spring up. Sometimes hip-hops acts would play with hardcore bands so we’d all pile into my car and drive to D.C. to try to see Swiz play with Public Enemy or up to City Gardens to see Ice-T bust out a mini Body Count set out at a hip-hop show.

The Goats were Philly’s answer to those times. They were a politically charged inter-racial hip-hop group with a live band backing them. I remember that they had thee coolest t-shirts at their merch tables and they their shows would get out of hand A LOT - this may have been because of the mix of hip-hop heads headnodding and hardcore kids moshing and stagediving…sometimes the two groups didn’t understand each other and a scuffle would break out. I left more than one show with a bloody nose and a smile on my face.

Anyway, this is the video for “Typical American” off of their debut - Tricks Of The Shade. It reminds me of a lot of fun times that I used to have. Someone sell me a Goats t-shirt!