The Big Apple Rotten to the Core is a hardcore punk

Hardcore punk

Hardcore punk is an underground music genre that originated in the late 1970s, following the mainstream success of punk rock. Hardcore is generally faster, thicker, and heavier than earlier punk rock. The origin of the term "hardcore punk" is uncertain. The Vancouver-based band D.O.A...

 compilation album that was released in 1982

1982 in music

This is a list of notable events in music from 1982. 1982 was a big year in music with Madonna making her debut as well as the year that Michael Jackson released Thriller which became the world's best selling album and it still holds that title today....

. It was the second release by S.I.N. Records, and was produced by Bob Sallese

Bob Sallese

Bob Sallese is a New York City manager/producer known for his involvement n the city's punk rock and hardcore scene in the early 1980s. Sallese managed the band Ism and co-produced their Diet For the Worms LP on his S.I.N. Records label. He also produced the compilation albums The Big Apple Rotten...

. It was the first hardcore punk compilation from New York City, and was distributed internationally. It included six bands regularly found at A7

A7 (bar)

A7 was a club in New York City, United States. From 1981 to 1984, it was the unofficial headquarters of the New York hardcore scene. The tiny space was located on the southeast corner of East 7th Street and Avenue A in Manhattan's East Village. Many bands which later became hardcore icons began at A7...

, a Lower East Side

Lower East Side, Manhattan

The Lower East Side, LES, is a neighborhood in the southeastern part of the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is roughly bounded by Allen Street, East Houston Street, Essex Street, Canal Street, Eldridge Street, East Broadway, and Grand Street....

 after-hours dive bar that gave the new hardcore bands a forum.

The bands were: Ism, (Queens, NYC), The Mob (Queens, NYC), Butch Lust & The Hypocrites (Brooklyn and Manhattan, NYC), Squirm (Brooklyn, NYC), Killer Instinct (Queens and Manhattan, NYC) and The Headlickers (Nassau County). Cover photos and PR were provided by Scott Eisner, one of the first writers to use the expression "hardcore punk", in a review of The Mob.

The popularity of the album prompted WLIR

WLIR

WLIR-FM is a Christian radio station as part of the WLIX Voice of Hope Radio Network. WLIR-FM broadcasts in the Hamptons-Riverhead area. Its transmitter is currently located near East Quogue, New York....

 to start a weekly broadcast called Midnight Riot, which featured the other bands on the album as well as many other local hardcore bands. It also prompted the station to put other hardcore songs into regular rotation, such as Black Flag

Black Flag (band)

Black Flag was an American punk rock band formed in 1976 in Hermosa Beach, California. The band was established by Greg Ginn, the guitarist, primary songwriter and sole continuous member through multiple personnel changes in the band...

's "TV Party."

The bands

• Ism's "John Hinckley Jr. (What Has Jodie Foster Done To You?)" and "Moon The Moonies," both of which were featured on the album, were put into regular rotation on WLIR
  WLIR
  WLIR-FM is a Christian radio station as part of the WLIX Voice of Hope Radio Network. WLIR-FM broadcasts in the Hamptons-Riverhead area. Its transmitter is currently located near East Quogue, New York....
  
  , and were the first hardcore songs to receive commercial airplay in the New York metropolitan area. "John Hinckley Jr. (What Has Jodie Foster Done to You?)" was nominated for two weeks straight for the station's "Screamer of the Week" award.

• Lenny Steel of the punk band Pure Hell
  Pure Hell
  Pure Hell was one of the earliest all Black punk-rock bands, established in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1974, during the high point of punk culture in New York City, London and Los Angeles....
  
   appeared on the lbum with Butch Lust & The Hypocrites.

• The Mob went on to influence many of the later hardcore bands that wanted to move away from the early punk rock influences and create faster thrash sounds.

• The Headlickers, who often played at A7, were the only band that did not reside in one of New York City's five boroughs, but instead came from Nassau County.

• Killer Instinct included guitarist Jet Suicide, drummer Bobby Skull, bassist Kitty Hawk, and vocalist Carolyn. Their two songs "Killer Instinct" and "Torture You First" were recorded at the band's rehearsal studio, Rock Bite. Killer Instinct's first gig was at A7 in January 1982, and the band broke up six months later, before The Big Apple: Rotten to the Core had even been released.

• Squirm's song "Fuck You Brooke Shields" received some commercial airplay (with bleeps inserted throughout the song). Bassist Igor Jakuskowas was noted for shouting the traditional hardcore count-off "1,2,3,4!" in Ukrainian. Squirm had a string of opening slots for most national touring punk bands in the Brooklyn club Zappas.

Aftermath

The album was the first New York City hardcore punk compilation made available to college and alternative radio stations nationwide. It quickly gained notoriety, but despite its success, the album seemed to be jinxed. Demand for the record's second pressing could not be met because the pressing plant would not release the masters and was bootlegging them in other parts of the country. The owner of the plant was eventually busted by the FBI for bootlegging Beatles albums. Ace In The Hole of Butch Lust & The Hypocrites died in a tragic car accident. Scott Eisner jumped off the Throgs Neck Bridge, which links Queens to The Bronx. Squirm's Igor Jakusko, who used to room with Cheetah Chrome

Cheetah Chrome

Cheetah Chrome is an American musician who achieved fame as a guitarist for Rocket From the Tombs and the punk rock band, The Dead Boys....

, hanged himself.
Jism of Ism ended up spending five years in a New York State prison after a somewhat controversial arrest.

A follow-up album, The Big Apple Rotten To The Core, Vol. 2, was released five years later by the Raw Power label. Omer Travers (infamous for breaking into Yoko Ono

Yoko Ono

is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...

's apartment and leaving love notes) appeared on this album with a song produced by Jism and Sallese. Travers and Jism were later invited onto The Howard Stern Show to promote the album.