It’s February 18th, 2022. Last week something deeply fucked up happened and I went a bit crazy. That is what happens. Thank the Universe I live in Mexico and if I have a tough moment, I can simply go to my home and be free. I can do whatever I need to to be okay. Too many people erroneously do not understand that by diagnosing the human condition,we negate the likely true and valid root of that human being’s behavior.
This blog was originally posted in 2019 when I first decided to create a blog honoring and documenting the bands and music from my youth and 20’s growing up in Boston.
Today we revisit a crucially important cult metal band from the late 80’s Boston Massachusetts metal scene.
The concept of sanity and insanity is a bullshit social construct developed to control the result of invalidated and criminalized trauma, which is at the core of the prison and mental health industries.
What they called (bad) crazy back home authored a book on trauma healing and recovery that has already sold 10,000 copies.
You – the person reading this blog – don’t let anyone tell you that you cannot get better!
I am the living and breathing evidence that –in spite of everything and everyone–getting better is possible!
Throughout this blog series, we intend to offer people of all ages an insight into their personal power to cope with and/or overcome the challenges in their life.
Throughout this blog series, we are telling bits and pieces of stories that would otherwise be forgotten forever.
May all who wish to be the best they can be, become the best they can be!
Now on with the show.
Recalling Temporary Insanity
My lifelong obsession with the underground, obscure and ordinarily inaccessible requires me to satiate my appetite from time to time.
I am happy to introduce to you all, the most likely previously unknown to you, late 80’s Boston Thrash Metal band, TEMPORARY INSANITY!
If you know what it means, you can imagine little long haired Crusty Craigory “attempting” to Slamdance with the big boys and some tough ladies, at age 16.
Without bands like Temporary Insanity making me feel like I mattered, as a terminally fucked up kid, I would have been dead 30 years ago.
Their singer, Glen, is a huge man. I would watch him in the pit while other bands played. It may seem trivial to those who have no idea what I am talking about, but one time, this weirdo got slammed around like a piece of overcooked spaghetti. That is what happens when you play with the big boys.
Did you know a person can both look scary and be extremely sweet, gentle and kind? It is true.
This is why I care about the underground, obscure and ordinarily inaccessible because for me, it is not just the music; it is the way the music makes me feel. This is why I write about it here.
My brain catalogs meaningful and necessary snapshots of time; I am an analog database. It is crazy; I know.
Temporary Insanity are one of this terminally fucked up kids heroes; and I want the world to know!
Craig is a punk rocker from the United States, living in Mexico, and after traveling to forty countries around the world giving talks and workshops on how he has Survived the Impossible, both professionally and for the Punx, he has been living in his mountain pueblo for nearly three years. Contact Craig directly at survivingtheimpossible AT gmail DOT com and check out his radical punk rock and recovery books, shirts and more, at Sanity is a Full-Time Job.
About TEMPORARY INSANITY, by Divebomb Records:
TEMPORARY INSANITY formed in Boston, MA during the mid-’80s, initially bashing out cover tunes by such acts as Rush, Iron Maiden, Metallica, and so forth. The band’s core lineup had been established by 1987, as founding members Michael Lucantonio (guitar) and Randy Odierno (drums) were joined by bassist Steve Cloutman and—standing 6′ 9″—towering frontman Glen Rice to begin composing their own original, thrash-leaning material.
This lineup put together a crude four-track demo before landing a spec deal with producer Chris Johnson—a relationship which led to the release of TEMPORARY INSANITY’s only official cassette, the mighty T.I.D.C., in 1989. Boasting such devastatingly mosh-inducing fan favorites as “D.S.H.” and “Arrogant Fuck,” T.I.D.C. perhaps should have catapulted the group toward the eventual success of such legendary thrash anthems as “The Toxic Waltz” or “Hello From the Gutter” with its potent brand of thrash metal that was as violent as it was fun.
With new second guitarist Jeff Kody in tow, TEMPORARY INSANITY would go on to record a whopping 13 more tracks with Johnson at the helm—from the whirlwind slams of “Toxic Spawn” to the technical fury of later cuts such as “Necrotech.” Having opened for Flotsam and Jetsam, Wargasm, Meliah Rage, White Zombie, and many more, the band caught the attention of Maze Records through the help of their friends in Biohazard. Alas, a proper record deal never came to pass, and another of Boston’s great many high-level metal prospects folded in 1991—the bulk of their recordings unreleased and painfully obscure for decades to come.
Crusty Craig “Gregorio” Lewis is a longtime contributor to IDIOTEQ. Gregorio is a punk rocker from the United States, living in México, and after traveling to forty countries around the world giving talks and workshops on how he has Survived the Impossible, both professionally and for the Punx, he has been living in his mountain pueblo for nearly four years. Contact Gregorio directly at [email protected] and check out his numerous published books, at Sanity is a Full-Time Job.
