Paranoid Time

History of the record

Minutemen's first record occurred almost immediately after they opened for Black Flag in Minutemen's hometown of San Pedro, California. Black Flag guitarist Greg Ginn offered the group a chance to record and release a record, and a late night session at Media Art Studio in Hermosa Beach, California was booked.

The group recorded all seven songs in the order in which they appear on the record, with no overdubbing except for backing vocals by the group and drummer George Hurley's brother Greg. At the beginning of "Joe McCarthy's Ghost", bassist Mike Watt can be heard telling guitarist D. Boon and the Hurley brothers, "You just sing 'Joe McCarthy', want to do that?". A discussion between the four participants can be heard underneath George Hurley's previously recorded drum introduction.

Ginn later told Minutemen how to put out a record, which spurred Watt and Boon to form New Alliance Records later that year.

The EP also appears as part of the My First Bells cassette (1985) and the Post-Mersh Vol. 3 CD. Two tracks from the EP, "Paranoid Chant" and "The Maze" appeared on the SST compilation The Blasting Concept.

A sample of the intro to "Joe McCarthy's Ghost" can be heard on one of the radio ads compiled on the "Crass Commercialism" track on Black Flag's Everything Went Black album.

Early released copies of the EP were printed with black artwork. All other editions are green.

Track listing

1. "Validation" (Tamburovich, Watt)
2. "The Maze" (Boon)
3. "Definitions" (Watt)
4. "Sickles and Hammers" (instrumental) (Boon, Watt)
5. "Fascist" (Boon)
6. "Joe McCarthy's Ghost" (Watt)
7. "Paranoid Chant" (Watt)

Personnel

Production