Crumbsuckers

Like New York City contemporaries such as Agnostic Front and the Cro-Mags, the Crumbsuckers were one of the original purveyors of 1980's crossover: the bridging of metal and hardcore that temporarily united the two divergent tribes of metalheads and punks into one, bloody, unified mosh pit. Getting their start in 1983, the band were soon an integral part of New York's Lower East Side-based hardcore scene, cutting their teeth at the legendary dive A7 before moving on to CBGB's famed Sunday matinees, as they and the movement gained strength. Come 1986, the Crumbsuckers consisted of vocalist Chris Notaro (ex-Krackdown), guitarists Dave Wynn and Chuck Lenihan, bassist Gary Meskil and drummer Dan Richardson, and delivered their Life of Dreams debut into a peeking crossover craze. A strong if rather conventional example of the genre, Life of Dreams featured a wall of razor-sharp thrash guitars, manic drum-work, and punk-grown social and political criticism, culminating in the standout "Super Tuesday," which criticizes the 1984 presidential election. Unfortunately, the Crumbsuckers would soon fall afoul of their fans (as did Agnostic Front, around the same time) by delving too deeply in heavy metal with their 1988 sophomore release Beast on My Back (a.k.a. "B.O.M.B."), featuring shred-happy new guitarist Robert Koebler. This effort, with its longer songs and blatant metallic overkill, wound up alienating most of their longtime hardcore followers and the band was frankly dead on arrival by the time they hit the road with yet another new guitarist in former Carnivore Marc Piovanetti. In the end, even more than their hit-and-miss albums, the Crumbsuckers' lasting legacy may well have been the numerous bands which later sprung up from their ruin. Meskil and Richardson went on to...