The Slackers
The Question
Hellcat 80410-1 2xLP / 80410-2 CD, released 1998 (U.S.)
Hellcat 0410-2 CD (Europe)
Epic/Sony ESCA 7379 CD (Japan)
Whatevski WHTVSKI-39205 2xLP, released 2013 (U.S.)
Jump Up! SPTAPE001 Cassette, released 2017 (U.S.)
Self-released 2xLP, released 2018 (U.S.)
The Slackers' third had a little bit of everything. They threw a lot of material into this one. Very good overall. Released as a CD and a black vinyl double LP, which went out of print pretty early on. There were only 250 of these, so the price escalated quite a bit over time. It was getting up close to $100 for a while, but came back down with the re-presses. It's still expensive, but down from its peak.
Whatevski Records was responsible for the first re-presses, starting in 2013. There was a crowdfunding campaign to get it all done. The 2013 version was identical to the 1998 version. The only way to tell the difference was by the trail-off wax codes. Oh, and they did a color vinyl version in addition to black for this one. The black one was (again) limited to 250 copies. The clear ("coke-bottle blue") version was limited to 40. 40! And it was only made for those who funded the Kickstarter campaign at a certain level. That one is brutal to find if you want one.
But why stop there? In late 2013, Whatevski and The Slackers pressed a small run of these on random color vinyl, and the band sold them at their holiday shows. The sleeves were the same, but I guess they had run out of labels, because the labels were just plain white (leading some to believe they were unofficial pressings...not the case). According to Whatevski Records, there were fewer than 100 copies on random color vinyl. Known colors: dark turquoise, light pink, dark pink, mint green, orange. Whatevski Records emailed me the following in 2014: "There was a wildcat pressing for their xmas tour run. It was somewhere between 78-100 copies and was done in a variety of colors...the totally mix and match set we called "The Loaded Question" edition (came in at least 4 colors like dark turquoise, dusty pink, dark pink, mint - it was whatever they had left over), and the orange dirty swirl version for Florida run was called "Orange you glad you asked The Question" edition." I am not 100% sure whether the orange ones were a separate pressing or whether they were part of the 78-100 on random colors. I THINK they were a separate run. I'm treating them that way.
The band did their own re-press in 2018, for sale at their shows. There were 1,000 of these, all on black vinyl. They looked very similar to the previous black vinyl pressings, but the labels were stripped of the Hellcat logos and credits. They also had difference matrix codes from the previous editions. It's kind of crazy - with 1,000 in this pressing, there were more pressed than all previous pressings combined.
How to tell the black vinyl pressings apart:
- 1st pressing - side A matrix code: #80410A S-39205 MASTERED BY TRUTONE PA 8-98
- 2nd pressing - side A matrix code: DIP-39205-A (plus an illegible production mark)
- 4th pressing - side A matrix code: PIRATESPRESS - THEQUESTION A 169451E1/A (also, no credits on the labels)
| Version | Value ($) | Scarcity | Price Trending |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hellcat 80410-1 2xLP Black | 50-60 | 7 | Stable |
| Whatevski WHTVSKI-39205 2xLP Black | 45-55 | 7 | Stable |
| Whatevski WHTVSKI-39205 2xLP Clear | 75-100 | 10 | ? |
| Whatevski WHTVSKI-39205 2xLP Random Color | 75-100 | 9 | ? |
| Whatevski WHTVSKI-39205 2xLP Orange | 75-100 | 10 | ? |
| Self-released 2xLP Black | 30-40 | 3 | Stable |
 1st Pressing Black |
 2nd Press Test Pressing |
 2nd Pressing Black |
 2nd Pressing Clear |
 3rd Pressing Random Colors |
 3rd Pressing Orange |
 4th Pressing Black |
| Test Pressing | 2nd Pressing: Black vinyl, generic Brooklyn Phono labels, stamped matrix code and date |
|---|
Recent Sales Data - Original Black Vinyl:
| Year Sold | Quantity | Median Price ($) | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 9 | 54 | Discogs, eBay |
| 2018 | 9 | 63 | Discogs, eBay |
| 2017 | 4 | 51 | eBay |
Recent Sales Data - Clear Vinyl:
| Year Sold | Quantity | Median Price ($) | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 0 | N/A | N/A |
| 2018 | 1 | 51 | Discogs |
| 2017 | 0 | N/A | N/A |
Recent Sales Data - Random Color Vinyl:
| Year Sold | Quantity | Median Price ($) | Platform |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 0 | N/A | N/A |
| 2018 | 1 | 80 | eBay |
| 2017 | 2 | 68 | Discogs, eBay |
This page was last updated on February 21, 2020.
