During 8th grade I was just beginning to get into punk music. Bands like The Ataris, NOFX, MxPx, Blink-182, Green Day, and Pennywise were my gateway into the genre. Listening to those bands today has a way of transporting me back almost immediately– and while some albums have aged well (and others not so well) the nostalgic butterflies in my stomach I feel when each of them comes on for the first time in over a decade is palpable.
Back in those days you didn’t have the amazing convenience of streaming services. You housed your entire record collection in CD sleeves that you’d have to lug everywhere with you. It made listening to an album a sort of experience that you don’t get nowadays (not necessarily a bad thing fwiw). But there was a very real sense of wonder and excitement in looking through the collection you’ve amassed over the years, and sharing that experience with your friends as you both flipped through each other’s CD case and denated which album to play next. You couldn’t just brazenly skip a song from your phone like you can today.
Hard Rock Bottom was the album that got me into No Use For A Name (great band name) and it always made me laugh seeing that album cover in my CD collection. It’s a funny cover in a middle school humor kind of way– it’s the kind of album cover that I would have wanted for an album I would have released at that time. No Use For A Name (again, great band name) always had an “underground” feel to them– they were popular in the punk rock scene, but never really broke out of it in a way bands like The Ataris or Blink-182 did. I always felt like I was in a special little club whenever I would listen to Hard Rock Bottom (or anything off Fat Mike’s record Fat Wreck Chords for that matter), and No Use For A Name was especially “cool” because the lead singer grew up and went to high school 10 minutes from my house in Cupertino. It always connected me with them just a little bit more. And I’ve always enjoyed them for that.
Standout Songs: “International You Day”, “Dumb Reminders”, “Let Me Down”
