Description
The Leaving Trains – Rock N Roll Murder – Blue Vinyl 7 Inch Record
Released in 1987 on the legendary SST Records, Rock ‘n’ Roll Murder is a brilliantly chaotic, sleazy, and confrontational 7 inch by The Leaving Trains, a band that embodied the reckless, anything-goes spirit of the 1980s LA underground. Fronted by Falling James Moreland, a charismatic and infamous figure in the punk scene, the Leaving Trains stood out by combining punk energy, glam swagger, garage rock grit, and art-punk weirdness into a sound that was both intensely personal and wildly unhinged.
By the time Rock ‘n’ Roll Murder came out, The Leaving Trains had already built a reputation in the LA punk scene for their rowdy live shows, often filled with drunken improvisation, wild storytelling, and an unpredictable sense of danger. The band occupied that fascinating no man’s land between the collapsing first wave of LA punk and the emerging post-punk and college rock underground—too messy for the purists, too smart for the hardcore kids, and too weird for the mainstream.
SST, home to bands like Black Flag, Hüsker Dü, and Minutemen, gave The Leaving Trains a perfect platform: a label that embraced experimental misfits who didn’t fit neatly into any scene box.
The record is a love letter and a suicide note to rock and roll itself, embracing its excess, stupidity, brilliance, and inevitable self-destruction. It’s punk’s romantic and nihilistic impulses wrapped up in messy barroom poetry.
Rock ‘n’ Roll Murder never went platinum or topped the charts, but within the LA underground, it became a touchstone for people who saw punk not just as a sound, but as an attitude—a commitment to telling ugly truths, breaking aesthetic rules, and making art out of failure and excess.
Falling James would go on to become a legendary character in LA’s music scene, with his reputation as a gender-bending, politically outspoken, romantically tragic cult figure growing long after the Leaving Trains faded. His influence extends to bands who see punk not as a uniform sound, but as a license to do whatever the hell they want—from the Gun Club to Royal Trux to early Hole.
Rock ‘n’ Roll Murder is a beautiful mess, a portrait of a band living too fast and burning too bright, but somehow capturing the truth about rock and roll’s glorious stupidity and heartbreaking beauty. If you love your punk with storytelling flair, garage rock sleaze, and dark humor, this record is essential listening.
Brand New, Never played but top corner is promo cut
BLUE Vinyl
SST Record 1991
Track Listing
Rock N Roll Murder
Fuck You God
Kids Wanna Know
