This Is Boston, Not L.A.

Consisting of only previously unreleased material, This Is Boston, Not L.A. was originally released in May 1982, as LP[nb 2][6] and Compact Cassette,[nb 2][7] on Modern Method Records.[8][9] A second vinyl pressing of the album would be released later that same year.[10]

In his review for AllMusic, Alex Henderson said:

Unsafe at Any Speed
EP by various artists
Released	Late summer 1982
Genre	Hardcore punk
Length	11:48
Language	English
Label	Modern Method

A few months after releasing This Is Boston, Not L.A.,[nb 2] Modern Method issued a follow-up companion record, the 7-inch EP titled Unsafe at Any Speed,[nb 1][9][11] featuring one unreleased song apiece from six of the bands which had appeared on the original compilation.

Also featuring a Phil In Phlash's photograph of a mosh pit, and bold typography, the record's front cover is of a similar design to that on the original album.

The tracks that make up the EP resurfaced in 1995 as the last six songs on the CD re-release of This Is Boston, Not L.A.[nb 3][12][13][14]

After the record's release, Boston natives took to mocking the title with T-shirts that proclaimed in large type: "This is L.A. (Lower Allston), not Boston" in reference to Allston, Massachusetts. In the early to mid-1980s, the T-shirt appropriately mimicked the NBA rivalry between the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers.

The Boston-based ska-punk band Big D and the Kids Table printed T-shirts referencing the song and compilation. They featured "L.A" with a strike through it on the front and "This is Boston Not L.A." on the back. South shore pop-punk band A Loss for Words also made shirts that featured a modified version of the Celtics logo and the same saying on the reverse side. This alludes to both the compilation and the Celtics' victory in the 1984 NBA Finals.

In 1994 Zafio Records released the This is Berkeley Not West Bay 4-way split EP with Black Fork, Dead and Gone, Screw 32 and AFI on it. As a response, in 2000 the Amsterdam-based Kangaroo Records label released the compilation EP This is Kangaroo Not Berkely, with 12 bands from different countries playing 'straight forward hardcore. Like the way it SHOULD be.'[15]

The compilation was mentioned by the punk rock band NOFX on their song "We Got Two Jealous Agains", featured on their album The War on Errorism, released in 2003. A verse of the lyrics reads: "But when I saw Christ on Parade, and This is Boston, Not LA, I knew you were the one".

In 2012, appeared an unlabeled self-released EP titled This Is Boston and S.J., displaying on its cover art the same photograph and graphic style of the 1982 LP, but instead of it saying "Not L.A.", it's crossed off and says "and S.J.". Hostage and Swamps from Massachusetts share the record with Bad Times Crew, and True Hearted from San Jose, California.[16]

In October 1995, This Is Boston, Not L.A. was re-released as a remastered CD[nb 3][13][14][17] on Newbury Comics' in-house record label Wicked Disc,[14][17] a short-lived follow-up to the demised Modern Method Records.[18] This edition included, as bonus tracks, the entire Unsafe at Any Speed EP.[nb 1][14][17]

On July 29, 2016, Newbury Comics re-released the album as a limited repressing of 1,500 copies on colored vinyl,[nb 2][19] in four different design variations.[20]

In the original LP from 1982, "Straight Jacket" is spelled "Strait Jacket" on the side A disc label[6] and on the inner sleeve, while "I Don't Know" appears as "I Don't Care" on the back cover and on the side B disc label, and "This Is Boston, Not L.A." is shortened to "Boston not L.A." on the back cover and on the side B disc label. In the Compact Cassette version, also from 1982, "I Don't Know" appears as "I Don't Care", and "This Is Boston, Not L.A." is shortened to "Boston not L.A."[7]

• Blush, Steven (2001). "Boston Not L.A.: The Kids Will Have Their Say". American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Second ed., 2010. Port Townsend: Feral House. ISBN 9781932595895. pp. 177–191.
• Hurchalla, George (Zuo Press, 2005). "Bend My Ear, Twist My Arm". Going Underground: American Punk 1979–1989. Second ed., 2016. Oakland: PM Press. ISBN 9781629631134. pp. 197–214.
• Quint, Al (September 1982). "Various Artists: Unsafe at Any Speed (Modern Method)". Suburban Punk (1).

• Henderson, Alex. "This Is Boston, Not L.A.: AllMusic Review by Alex Henderson". AllMusic.
• Erich (July 15, 2008). "V/A Unsafe at Any Speed- Compilation 7″EP (Modern Method Records, USA, 1982)". Good Bad Music for Bad, Bad Times!