It's not a storied scene like the ones that thrived in London, New York, Los Angeles or Washington DC, but Milwaukee was, like most cities in the late 1970s, a hotbed of rebellious musical activity, spurred on by the old-school likes the MC5, The Stooges and The New York Dolls and the new wave of Americans like Patti Smith and the Ramones and Britain's Sex Pistols and Clash.

So, while "punk" bands like Green Day shift millions of units, Milwaukee's punk past has been relocated to a few dusty 45s in the basement. Until now, that is.

Veteran Milwaukee scenesters Clancy Carroll, Scott Krueger, Jeff Menz and Dave Luhrssen have spent the past few years scouring the city for tapes of the best Milwaukee bands of the era for "History In Three Chords: Milwaukee Alternative Bands, 1973-1982," a double-disc set that gets its official launch, Thurs., May 31 at the Cactus Club, 2496 S. Wentworth Ave., in Bay View.

At the free party, which starts at 7 p.m., the landmark double-disc set, which collects 51 rare and/or unreleased tracks by 43 bands, will be played in it's entirety and "The Prosecutors," Milwaukee's Super 8 punk rock classic film by P.P. D'CaCa will be shown at 8:30 p.m. At 9, a "History in 3 Chords" video companion will be screened. This video includes archival video footage of a number of the bands represented on the CD compilation, and was assembled by Ron Faiola of Push Button Gadget Inc.

"History In Three Chords" opens with the Death's surprisingly upbeat 1973 recording of "Depression" and closes with "All White," a 1982 track by Die Kreuzen, who were one of Milwaukee's contributions to the "hardcore" scene of high-speed punk bands that emerged at the dawn of the '80s. Along the way are lo-fi rockers from lesser-known bands like Arousing Polaris, Dominoes and Soko, alongside legendary Brew City bands like The Haskells, Oil Tasters, Einstein's Riceboys, Red Ball Jets, Ama Dots and even nationally-signed bands like Yipes! (Millennium), Colour Radio (A&M) and Violent Femmes.

An eight-page booklet, in punky black and white, splashed with blood-red and a single grainy color photo contains an essay by Luhrssen, founder of the X-Press fanzine that lives on in the Shepherd Express.

Look for an OMC interview with the creators of this great set in the coming weeks. In the meantime, be sure to check out the disc and the release party.