Napalm Death was originally called "Civil Defence" and started
in Birmingham, a working class city, in 1982. Information about the background of the band during this period is very scarce, since they did little recording. The band started as a punk rock project by high school student Nick Bullen, Miles Ratledge and some friends they met at school. At this stage, the band had a punk rock/hardcore sound and was strongly inspired by the band Crass and the anarchopunk scene that took place in England in the early 80's.
The band would become the fathers of grindcore, pushing the envelope of metal to new extremes of ear-splitting intensity, rejecting all notions of melody, subtlety, and good taste to
forge a brand of sonic assault almost frightening in its merciless brutality.
Building their reputation on a series of incendiary radio sessions and live dates, Napalm Death set about recording their debut album, "Scum", released in 1986 on their own Earache label. A series of lineup changes during production resulted in the record's two sides each containing almost completely different rosters, leaving only drummer Mick Harris to be featured on every track.
