I was super surprised when I picked this up — a U.S. promo Saints 45 that somehow isn’t on Sire. It’s the kind of anomaly that makes collectors tilt their heads like confused owls. You start wondering if some rogue A&R guy in 1986 just said, “Eh, let’s press a few and see what happens,” then wandered off to lose his job at TVT.
Apparently the video even got MTV rotation, though I have zero memory of that. To be fair, I wasn’t watching much MTV at the time because I was buried under textbooks, caffeine, ramen, and existential dread that pairs beautifully with late‑70s Australian punk with the kind of sleep schedule that makes raccoons look responsible.
I used to see Saints LPs on TVT for cheap — the kind of cheap where you assume the shrink‑wrap is hiding a fatal flaw, like warped vinyl living inside the jacket. But I never bought one until I found a radio‑station copy in Colorado Springs two years ago. Beautiful condition… except for the station’s call letters scrawled across the cover in marker so large it could be seen from orbit. Classic radio‑station behavior: “We love this record so much we’re going to vandalize it.” Nothing says “collectible” like graffiti from a bored DJ.
The Saints even toured last year with Mark Arm from Mudhoney stepping in for Chris Bailey, who we lost four years ago. I’ve watched clips of this version of the band, and while Mark is great, replacing Chris Bailey is like trying to replace the sun with a really bright desk lamp. And honestly, Mark couldn’t be replaced in Mudhoney either — some front men just come factory‑installed. and are so baked into the DNA of their bands that swapping them out would cause a minor tear in the fabric of punk reality.
