Youth of Today “Disengage” b/w “Modern Love Story” and “Envy” 1990. Revelation Records. Flyer from a show they played with fellow straight-edge hardcore punks Uniform Choice, likely from August 1986, but possibly ‘87, as that was around the time Youth of Today and Uniform Choice shared Wishing Well Records as their label. I have zero recollection of the show – I saw way too many punk shows at that venue in the mid to late 80′s for them to have much memory clarity. We’d see pretty much any show that came to town: being cheap, all ages and not too far from home made it easy. If I had to guess my motivation for going to this show, besides getting out of the house and socializing at a punk show, it was likely because of Youth of Today’s connection to Seven Seconds, which we all LOVED. Their debut EP was released on Kevin Seconds’ record label, Positive Force Records and Seconds played drums for Youth of Today for awhile in ‘86.

This 3 song 7″ was the single release from their final recording (a whopping 4 song 7″ EP Youth of Today EP) before breaking up in 1990. They did reunite in 2003 for a European tour and then again in 2010 and have continued to play live periodically to present day. It’s pretty standard “Youth Crew” punk that comments on the degradation of modern society due to corruption and greed and it’s the job of youth to rise up, speak up, etc. etc. The single “Disengage” comments:

We’ve got to disengage/Can’t you see this age/Dragging us down, down to the ground/We’ve got to disengage/And I think it’s sad that our society’s gone mad/Possessed by taking more than we need/And our motivation’s a sad situation/Because it’s fueled by anger, envy, and greed