Tag: Punk Rock
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The Gun Club ‘Fire of Love’ (1981)
The Gun Club’s Fire of Love is raw and visceral, a unique blend of the ferocity of punk rock with a distinctive Southern gothic blues rock edge. Released in 1981 off the heels of the punk rock explosion in the UK, Fire of Love captures the chaotic spirit of the early 80s punk scene but…
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At the Drive-In ‘Relationship of Command’ (2000)
At The Drive-In’s Relationship of Command stands as a watershed moment in the post-hardcore genre, blending frenetic energy with intricate lyrical depth. Released in 2000, the album captures the raw intensity of the band’s sound, characterized by Omar Rodríguez-López’s frenetic guitar work and Cedric Bixler-Zavala’s impassioned vocal delivery. Tracks like “One Armed Scissor” and “Pattern…
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AFI ‘All Hallows EP’ (1999)
If you’re looking for an absolute ripper of a Halloween album to put on today it’s hard to beat AFI’s 1999 extended play All Hallows EP. Clocking in at a tidy 13 minutes across four songs, the band blasts through some Halloween-inspired fare in a way that only old school AFI could muster. The songs…
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Adolescents ‘Adolescents’ (1981)
Emerging from Fullerton, California, in 1980, Adolescents carved a significant niche within the punk rock movement, helping to shape its sound and ethos during a transformative period. With their self-titled debut album the band blended melodic hooks with raw, energetic instrumentation, setting a template that would influence countless punk bands in the years to come.…
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Lagwagon ‘Let’s Talk About Feelings’ (1998)
Lagwagon’s Let’s Talk About Feelings stands apart from a lot of its late 90’s skate-punk peers by exploring darker, more introspective themes while avoiding the toilet humor and sexism that dominated a lot of that genre. Joey Cape’s lyrics tackle personal struggles and frustrations, blending vulnerability with sharp commentary. The album’s tight, melodic punk sound…
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Mannequin Pussy ‘Patience’ (2019)
Outside of the stellar band name (you’re lying if this one didn’t catch your eye immediately), Mannequin Pussy is a pretty exceptional punk rock band. I first heard Patience earlier this year and was immediately gripped by its earnest accessibility. The album strikes a balance between chaotic energy and profound vulnerability, filled with intricate melodies…
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Refused ‘The Shape of Punk To Come’ (1998)
When you look at the history and development of punk rock music it’s easy to reference some of the most iconic albums throughout it’s forty year run– there is of course what I refer to as The Holy Trinity of Punk Albums (Ramones self-titled debut, The Clash’s London Calling, and Sex Pistols’ Never Mind The…
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The Matches ‘Decomposer’ (2006)
My love for The Matches was first sparked by their debut album E. Von Dahl Killed The Locals. It was one of the first pop punk albums that truly felt personal to me in a significant way– as I wrote earlier this year when reviewing the album: There was a point in high school where…
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Omnigone ‘Against The Rest’ (2023)
Tomorrow night I’ll be going to see The Matches live for the first time in over 15 years. They’ll be doing a reunion show in San Francisco celebrating the 20 years anniversary of their debut album E. Von Dahl Killed The Locals and I couldn’t be more excited about it. Omnigone is going to be…
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Smoking Popes ‘Destination Failure’ (1997)
Smoking Popes lead singer Josh Caterer was famously obsessed with big band tunes, and that love affair helped him develop a vocal style that was decidedly unique in the punk rock world. You can hear the influence Caterer had on his contemporaries when you listen to Alkaline Trio bassist Dan Andriano, whose vocal style and…
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Hot Snakes ‘Jericho Sirens’ (2018)
Hot Snakes’ Jericho Sirens marked a triumphant return for the garage punk band, delivering a raw, electrifying blend of punk rock and post-hardcore that captured the ferocious energy and unrefined edge that defined Hot Snakes’ sound during the mid-aughts. The record is notable for its urgent, driving rhythms and jagged guitar riffs, hallmarks of their…
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Rise Against ‘Appeal to Reason’ (2007)
As a certified Warped Tour kid I’ve always had a deep appreciation for some of the more veteran punk rock acts that are still going strong and cranking out meaningful music. Much like their contemporaries Bad Religion and Hot Water Music, the Chicago-based hardcore punk outfit Rise Against has carved out a really nice career…
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The Donnas ‘Spend The Night’ (2003)
I remember The Donnas pretty vividly during my early high school years. I saw them live at Shoreline Amphitheater at BFD Festival the summer after graduating 8th grade and was blown away. Keep in mind this was during the garage rock revolution of the early aughts and at peak Plank testosterone production levels– all I…
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Fucked Up ‘David Comes To Life’ (2011)
The words “rock opera” and “hardcore punk” usually don’t go together for obvious reasons– rock operas are typically self-indulgent affairs with highly detailed musical accompaniment that unveils the story over a protracted period of time, while hardcore punk is raw and emotionally charged that attempts to get to the point quickly. Marrying the two together…
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Fall Out Boy ‘Take This To Your Grave’ (2003)
Despite the fact that Fall Out Boy is absolutely one of the most prolific pop punk bands of all-time and their debut album Take This To Your Grave was released only two years after Sum 41’s All Killer No Filler and four years following Blink-182’s 1999 album Enema of The State, in my mind the…
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Simple Plan ‘No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls’ (2002)
During the rise of pop punk in the early aughts there were a ton of bands that plied their trade on MTV’s Total Request Live. Few were better than capturing the silly teen angst of being a 13-year old than Simple Plan, whose debut album No Pads, No Helmets…Just Balls captured exactly what it felt…
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No Pressure ‘No Pressure’ (2022)
I’ve been a huge fan of The Story So Far for a long time now. Their album Proper Dose is one of my favorite pop punk albums of all-time, a seminal record in the genre. As I wrote earlier about it: Whether it be the perils of substance abuse (“Keep This Up”) or a triumphant…
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We Were Sharks ‘Lost Touch’ (2018)
Crunchy guitar riffs, fat drums, and catchy vocal hooks. We Were Sharks Lost Touch slams just about every pop punk trope into the album’s 28 minute runtime with a slight dose of Canadian flair that helps keep things interesting. The band certainly cuts a path down well-traveled roads but there’s a time and place for…
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Blink-182 ‘Dude Ranch’ (1996)
For myself and countless other millennials who got into punk rock during our early tweens, Dude Ranch is the album that started it all. Blink’s 1999 album Enema of the State was the one which shot them into global superstardom, but real ones know that things started to get real when Mark Hoppus, Tom Delonge,…
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Red Hot Chili Peppers ‘Californication’ (1999)
Is there a song that’s skippable on Californication? That’s the question I posed to a friend of mine in the midst of injecting the Red Hot Chili Peppers magnum opus into my veins over this past Memorial Day weekend. Out of all the top-end albums in the Peppers discography, from Stadium Arcadium to Unlimited Love…
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The Dead Milkmen ‘Big Lizard In My Backyard’ (1985)
Punk rock has a long history of sardonic wit and apathetic humor, especially during the mid-80’s after the self-seriousness of the genre which dominated the late 70’s had begun to fall on deaf ears. The Dead Milkmen carved out their own spot in this niche, displaying an affable sense of comedic timing mixed with jangly…
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New York Dolls ‘New York Dolls’ (1973)
New York Dolls is a seminal punk rock band and their 1973 self-titled debut laid the groundwork for bands like The Clash, Ramones, and Sex Pistols to send punk rock into the stratosphere later in the decade. Borrowing elements from glam rock (if the cover art featuring the entire band dressed in drag didn’t give…
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Hot Water Music ‘Caution’ (2002)
It’s hard to fully explain how much I respect the hell out of Hot Water Music. This is a band that formed in 1994 and is still at it today with the majority of band members pushing 50 years old. That’s a hard task to do in the music business, let alone one as unrelentingly…
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The Kinks ‘Kinks’ (1964)
One of the most influential guitar tones in the history of rock and roll comes off 1964’s Kinks. Its lead single “You Really Got Me” inspired artists like Led Zeppelin and Jimi Hendrix in subsequent years to crank up the distortion and fuzz, effectively reshaping the sonic landscape of rock and roll for decades to…
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The Matches ‘E. Von Dahl Killed The Locals’ (2004)
There was a point in high school where The Matches were my favorite band in the world, hard stop, no doubt about it. I loved the fact that they were a local band (they hailed from Oakland, CA), I loved the fact that their live show was absolutely electric (I had the chance to catch…
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Title Fight ‘Shed’ (2011)
Released 8 years after their official formation, Title Fight’s debut album Shed takes all the things that made the early aughts a haven for post-hardcore bands and cranks them up to 11. Featuring heavy electric guitars that delight in dissonance, gravelly lead vocals that sit buried in the mix, and a heavy rhythm section that…
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Wire ‘Pink Flag’ (1977)
Wire’s Pink Flag is best summarized as an impressionist version of punk rock, tiny vignettes of emotional outbursts captured and distorted through the lens of a group of artists unconcerned with conventional song structures. Since its release Pink Wire has gone on to influence a myriad of art rock punk bands in the years that…
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Wipers ‘Is This Real?’ (1980)
When Wipers lead singer Greg Sage was a child he grew fascinated with cutting records on his own. Since his father worked in the broadcast industry he had access to a lathe, and spent his evenings bootlegging songs off the radio and converting those to records for his friends at school. This passion pre-dated his…
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Foo Fighters ‘The Colour And The Shape’ (1997)
Following their self-titled debut studio album in 1995 that was really the musings of a one-man band (Dave Grohl recorded every single part on that album), Grohl entered the studio in 1997 with a new stable of musicians to aid in the recording for The Colour And The Shape. The album was somewhat of a…
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Flogging Molly ‘Drunken Lullabies’ (2002)
It was St. Patrick’s Day yesterday so naturally I took some of my old punk classics out for a spin– Dropkick Murphys, The Pogues, and as you probably guessed, Flogging Molly and their 2002 album Drunken Lullabies. My daughter has really been getting into themed music as of late (if she’s wearing a tie-dyed shirt…
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Goldfinger ‘Never Look Back’ (2020)
Many will remember Goldfinger for their prominence during the late 90’s with their hits such as “Superman” and “99 Red Balloons” (you’re lying if you claim ignorance of these two songs) as well as their brand of kitschy third-wave-ska meets punk rock. In the years following lead singer and songwriter John Feldmann has made quite…
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Joy Division ‘Unknown Pleasures’ (1979)
Unknown Pleasures is the debut album from English post-punk band Joy Division. Despite not receiving any commercial success during its initial release (no singles were promoted during its release which was absolutely a rarity in the late 70’s) it has received significant critical acclaim in recent years due to its deployment of uncommon recording techniques…
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Blondie ‘Parallel Lines’ (1978)
Blondie’s Parallel Lines is a study in evolution. Originally a punk rock band with their self-titled debut in 1976, Blondie managed to break out of the underground in the US and make the jump into the Top 40 with the release of Parallel Lines. Adopting elements of New Wave and dance pop, while still retaining…
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Screeching Weasel ‘My Brain Hurts’ (1991)
Screeching Weasel is one of those bands that is your favorite band’s favorite band. A long-time fixture in the skate punk scene, Screeching Weasel has been cited as a significant influence by a metric load of bands that I grew up on– luminaries such as Blink-182, Green Day, New Found Glory, MxPx, Fall Out Boy,…
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The Story So Far ‘Proper Dose’ (2018)
Walnut Creek’s The Story So Far has been a part of the new wave of pop punk bands for going on about a decade now, bringing an emotive and earnest approach to songwriting that pays homage the foundations of the pop punk genre while updating that sound for a new generation of listeners. What sets…
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Kindergarten Cartel ‘Kindergarten Cartel’ (2024)
About a year ago I was driving in the car with my two-year old daughter and newborn son, listening to PinkFong’s rendition of “Baby Shark” for what felt like (and was certainly most likely) the 23rd time in a row, and thought to myself “there has to be a better way.” For a young father…
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