Many collectors of Killed By Death records had at some time likely had some contact with Behjan. He was one of the more knowledgeable and dedicated collectors I had ever met. I think our first contact was sometime in the mid-1990's. In the following years we traded a number of cassette tapes. Many of the records on those tapes later became more known in the rush of Killed By Death, Bloodstains and similar compilations that appeared in the late 1990's.
I didn't have much contact with Behjan over the past several years. We had exchanged several emails last year after he found me on Facebook. Like many, I was shocked to learn via the Yahoo kbd group of his passing on December 8. Here is a sample of the comments in response to the initial posting:
"Behjan was definitely one of the more interesting and enthusiastic folks I interacted with in my early days of collecting"
"very sad to hear this. behjan was a champion detective and a close ally in the 90's kbd discovery era."
"Behjan, such an enthusiastic punkrock fan, and very good at sharing music... I'm sad... Thinking of the great comp tapes he had sent and the cool bands he had turned me on... Can't believe he's gone !
RIP Behjan... wherever you are, your spirit will live on through all those who truly share music before anything else."
"His love and dedication for this music was truly amazing, and I guess his love for the oddest of odd is legendary... And he always stuck to it, even through the troubled times that he surely had...
RIP Behjan, and I hope you'll meet some of your KBD heroes wherever you are..."
"I always knew he was a true obsessed fan and championed from his heart. He loved obscure, horrible, black humored, the underdogs and dregs if there could be such a thing in Punk Rock Music."
"We should put together a compilation of all the stuff he obsessed over finding. I remember in recent times The Nothing and Monroe. If anyone want to put together a list it would be a good tribute and well in the spirit of how he interacted with his friends."
The comment from the last quote above is what lead to what you are reading now. The kbd group came up with a list of some of Behjan's favorites over the years. There was a list he made back in 2000:
.................................................................. BEHJAN MIRHADI : " 10x HEARTFELT Punk songs " .................................................................. ( NO sequence ): " STRYCHNINE " by S O N I C S ( forever ! ) 1- " hyper-exaggeration " ...ACTIVE INGREDIENTS 80us 2- " prisoners of time " ...MARK TRUTHE AND THE LIARS 79us 3- " into the 80s " ...THE NOW 79uk 4- " feel the pain " ...BUREAUCRATS 79can 5- " teenage lifestyle " ...PENETRATORS 78us 6- " les crepules de camaret " ...FATSY WATAIRE 78fra 7- " you will better know when i'm gone" ...JUMPERS 78us 8- " u.r.e. " (university radio exeter) ...SCABS 79uk 9- " someday " ...GENERICS 83can 10- " nobody loves me " ...BABEEZ 78oz
With this list and contributions from various posters the following compilation was arrived at:
Hand Grenades - "coma dos"
Nick Pagan - "this is not a test!"
XYZ - "long distance"
Les Olivensteins - "fier de ne rien faire" (FRA)
Alcoholics - "going outside"
Rock Bottom and the Spys - "rich girl"
Die Kreuzen - "pain" (from 7")
Koro - "700 club"'
Deep Wound - "lou’s anxiety song"
Willful Neglect - "(white collar) not guilty"
Breakouts - "no more" (from 12")
The Sonics - "strychnine"
Active Ingredients - "hyper-exaggeration"
Mark Truthe and the Liars - "prisoners of time"
Jumpers - "you will better know when i'm gone"
Bureaucrats - "feel the pain" (CAN)
Fatsy Wataire - "les crepules de camaret" (FRA)
The Scabs - "u.r.e." (university radio exeter) (UK)
Generics - "someday" (CAN)
Babeez - "nobody loves me" (OZ)
The Favorites - "I Can't Live (Without You)"
Circle X - "heartbreaker"
Defectors - "Cash Advance"
Nothing - "Scream'n'Cry"
The Desendants - "Unnational Anthem"
Monroe - "Polio for the people" (or "Disco Fever"??) (NL)
Spittin’ Teeth - "2nd generation" (from Siren comp)
Remod - "Life Of The Party" (or "Gaygirls Dance"??)
Hammer Damage - "laugh"
The Essentials - "turn off your radio"
The Features - "job satisfaction"
Sado-Nation - "I'm trouble"
The Fix - "signal" (from At the speed of twisted thought LP)
Hollywood Squares - "hillside strangler"
Revenge – "We’re Not Gonna Take It" (UK)
Those Intrinsic Intellectuals - "Radio Iceland" (UK)
Voice Of The Puppets - "I Don't Want To Know" (UK)
Penetrators - "teenage lifestyle"
Cardiac Kidz - "get out"
Reactors - "i want sex"
Pathetix - "don't touch my machine" (UK)
Remo Voor - "Frogrammer" (or "toilet love"??) (GER)
Opus - "Good Procedures"
Fensics - "Full Time Job"
Karanteeni - "antti" (from Anna palaa, Frank! LP) (FIN)
Helen Keller - "surfin' with steve & e.d. amin"
The Now - "Into The 80′s" (UK)
I've added the song "Hold Me" by The Victims. The other song from that acetate only recording was included on the No One Left To Blame compilation. In one his last emails to me he had mentioned how much he wanted to hear it. Sadly I never got around to sending it to him at the time.
Some of these tracks (The Nothing, Active Ingredients, Hammer Damage, The Now and Mark Truthe & The Liars) you will find over at the Punk Business Manager post for Behjan, which I trust you have already checked out.
The rest have been gathered together here as Behjan's Punk Hits. Enjoy, and whatever you drink, have one for one of the biggest fans of obscure punk rock that there ever was!
Update April 3 - I had planned to include some of Behjan's favorite Swedish bands but missed them ... so ABKK, Jonström and Morgan were added. I want more ... !!
