Stark Raving Sad

This was the debut album for the Third-Rate Reprobates. By this point they had been a band for just under a year after being expelled from school. The album was recorded in band member Dan Lochlan’s garage with a cassette recorder. As a way of promotion the band made hundreds of copies of the tape to give out and sell to anyone who wanted one. When Dekaf Records got on board with the group, they helped remaster the album as the original quality was pretty poor as you would suspect from an amateur tape recording.

The name of the album was suggested by Timmy as the songs on it were rather melancholy and the play on words fit perfectly with their style. The theme of the songs told of the band’s hatred of living in suburbia, their disdain for school, and the longing for more fun in their small town.  Song writing credits were all shared between the whole band even if one had written it by themselves. Three of the songs on the album, Freshman Trim, The Jock and the Dweeb, and The Kids Need Help! were written while attending an English class at school as a special assignment.

The album contains a “secret track” named Scram. The 15 second track was recorded outside a local 24 hour store where the band were loitering late on a Saturday night. The voice you hear on the track is the shop owner telling them to get lost and go home as they were disturbing him and his customers. 

Another classic on the album was College Apathy. The band left high school without any qualifications and had to rely on their music to make a living. The song is about their hatred of the idea of college and how they would rather chance it rather than be stuck in another educational institution.