The saga of this New York punk outfit from the early 1980s concludes on a grim note. Reagan Youth formed in 1980 while its founders, Dave Rubinstein—later known as Dave Insurgent—and Paul Bakija, who performed as Paul Cripple, were still attending high school. After getting underway, the group began appearing at Manhattan punk venues and even recruited one of their teachers to handle roadie duties. Regional gigs soon expanded into cross-country tours, placing Reagan Youth on bills alongside the Dead Kennedys, Bad Brains, and nearly every prominent punk act of the period. Their songs matched the band’s name in tone: sardonic, insolent, and pointed. During their run they issued several singles along with two albums; the group’s activity wound down in step with Ronald Reagan’s departure from the presidency. Years of relentless road work and substance abuse had taken a toll. Insurgent struggled with a severe heroin dependency, and after his mother died in a car crash and his girlfriend was murdered by serial killer Joel Rifkin, he took his own life in 1993. In 2006 Paul Cripple put together a fresh Reagan Youth lineup, yet the band’s history closed when he succumbed to cancer on September 21, 2024.
