Background
Following the release of their 1981 full-length album Dance with Me through Frontier Records, T.S.O.L. moved to Alternative Tentacles, the label run by Jello Biafra and East Bay Ray of fellow California hardcore band the Dead Kennedys. Weathered Statues was recorded with producer Thom Wilson and released in 1982 as catalog number VIRUS 10. Singer Jack Grisham credited himself as Jack Ladoga on the sleeve, following a tradition of using a different pseudonym on each release both to confuse audiences and to hide his true identity from the police. Drummer Todd Barnes credited himself as Todd Scrivener, deriving the pseudonym from the name of the street he lived on.
In comparison to T.S.O.L.'s prior releases, Weathered Statues had melodic leanings that presaged the direction the band would pursue on their 1983 album Beneath the Shadows. Steven Blush, author of American Hardcore: A Tribal History, writes that "the experimental nature of Weathered Statues bewildered some fans". Greg Prato of Allmusic described the song "Thoughts of Yesterday" as one of the band's best from their early material, calling it "a surprisingly low-key and melodic number, which sticks out like a sore thumb amidst other furious thrashers." "Word Is" stands out as a reggae-influenced track.
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