Is there anyone at home, or am I alone?...

Thanks

US 6 track, 7 inch Single

After a couple of cool Foo Fighters releases, it’s time that I put on a fine Dave Grohl related release on this blog.

I have chosen to put on one of the first official releases by Dave, while he was in his band Mission Impossible. Mission Impossible was one of Dave’s first real bands, and it was this band where he first switched from playing the guitar, to playing the drums. 

Mission Impossible came together because of the demise of his previous band Freak Baby. With whom Dave had recorded some demo’s. In this band he still played the guitar.

This particular release exsists in two forms. This release simply called “Thanks” was released in 1986, with a pressing of only 500 pieces. Because of it’s popularity, it later got re-released under a different name “Getting Shit For Growing Up Different” with a pressing of 1000 pieces and different artwork. In this piece I want to focus on the first release called “Thanks”.

This 7 inch single is a split single. This means that the guys of Mission Impossible shared the other side of the vinyl with another band called Lunch Meat. They both contributed 3 tracks to this single. Mission Impossible got to put 3 of their songs on the A-side, while Lunch Meat would end up putting their 3 tracks on the B-side.

The cool thing about this release is that it is done in a oldschool DIY manner. DIY stands for Do It Yourself. The punkrock mentality that was going on in those days. This means that al the manufacturing (besides pressing the vinyl) was done by the guys themselves. So only knowing that Dave probably folded this 7 inch or went to a copyshop to xerox the inlays is a very cool idea.

Another fun fact is that the Mission Impossible tracks were recorded at The Laundry Room, by Barret Jones, who would later produce the first Foo Fighters album with Dave.

Thanks was released on Dischord Records. A famous hardcore and punk label, founded by Ian MacKaye of the band Fugazi. To this day Dischord still exsists, and puts out lots of cool releases. Check them out.

You don’t see one of these very often, because a pressing of 500 is quite rare indeed. I had the luck of finding one on e-bay a long time ago, for a very decent price. I’ve seen one popping up a while ago, and that one went for almost 700 dollars. A hefty price for any collector. I didn’t even pay one tenth of that price, so that had te be a great deal.

I love this release so much, because it is truly one of Dave’s first real releases. A teenager who just wanted to have some fun playing music with some friends. And you definately hear his drumming potential on these recordings. Even then he was an animal on the drums.

Mission Impossible consisted of:

Chris Page (Vocals)

Bryant Mason (Guitar)

Dave Smith (Bass)

Dave Grohl (Drums)

Here’s some release info.

Tracklist:

A: Mission Impossible

A1 Helpless

A2 Am I Alone?

A3 Into Your Shell

B: Lunch Meat

B1 Looking Around

B2 No Need

B3 Under The Glare

Label: Dischord Records / Sammich Records

Country: US

Release Date: 1986

Barcode Nr: None

Here's some scans:

Front

Back

Poster L

Poster R

Lyric Sheet

Vinyl

I only added the Lyric sheet scans from Mission Impossible, and I had to scan the poster in two parts. I also added only the vinyl of the Mission Impossible side.

Hopefully, this has given you some insight in Dave's past. It's a true piece of Foo / Grohl history. If you get the chance to pick one up. Don't hesitate.