When I was in elementary school I had a friend whose house I would spend a ton at. He was a little rough around the edges despite growing up in a really affluent family, and had an older brother who always had a collection of CD’s that were super interesting and (most importantly) had the “Parental Advisory” label attached to them. Whether it was Notorious BIG, Sublime, Limp Bizkit, Nirvana, or (in this specific case) 311, any time I would go over to his house I’d get exposed to a new band that my relatively conservative parents would absolutely never allow in the house. And I absolutely loved it.
311 was one of those 90’s bands whose genre-blurring fusion sound defined what I remember about that era. They had alternative, reggae, funk, and hard rock all combined together (very similar to Incubus in many ways) that created a distinct musical identity. The band carved a niche with both skater punks and beach bums with their signature blend of upbeat grooves and introspective lyrics, focusing always on the groove as their gravitational center. It’s a band and an album that made it easy to bob your head along to, a vibe that once showed me the power of genre-busting in the name of finding a sound that simply sounded cool AF.
Standout Songs: “All Mixed Up”, “Down”, “Jackolantern’s Weather”
