Best Before 1984

Best Before 1984
Compilation album by Crass
Released	1986
Recorded	1979–1984
Genre	Anarcho punk
Length	79:03 117:13 (Crassical Collection version)
Label	Crass
Producer	Crass
Crass chronology
Ten Notes on a Summer's Day (1985) Best Before 1984 (1986) Christ: The Bootleg (1989)

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Best Before 1984 is a compilation of Crass' singles and other tracks, released in 1986, including lyrics and a booklet ("...In Which Crass Voluntarily 'Blow Their Own'") which details the history of the band in their own words. The album was named in reference to the notion that 1984 was the band's "'sell by date", the year that they had often publicly stated that they would split up. Indeed, the band ceased gigging and recording in that year.^[2]

For many years, there were plans to release an expanded edition of Best Before 1984, which would include currently unavailable material (such as the "Merry Crassmas" and "Whodunnit?" singles) and rarities, in the same vein as the 'Crassical Collection' re-releases of the band's albums.^[3] These plans finally came to fruition in 2019, with the announcement of an expanded two-disc version of the album available for pre-order on the One Little Indian website.^[4] Between 1 and 5 April 2019, Crass made the first disc of this reissue available for free download from their social media pages. The reissued album was finally released on 2 October 2020 on the now-renamed One Little Independent Records, including CD-sized replicas of the original poster covers from the singles.