Tag: Punk Rock
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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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Meet Me @ The Altar ‘Past // Present // Future’ (2023)
Along with having perhaps some of the most impressive uses of typographical symbols in both their band name and album title (the dual solidus in the Past // Present // Future is a chef’s kiss, frankly) Meet Me @ The Altar turns in a refreshing rendition of 2023 pop punk throughout their debut album. All…
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Green Day ‘Nimrod’ (1997)
While not as artistically impactful as their pop-punk powerhouse 1994 album Dookie, or as critically lauded as their commercial smash-hit American Idiot in 2004, Green Day’s 1997 album Nimrod is a seminal album that would have a massive impact on the punk rock genre as a whole and frankly could be considered a magnum opus…
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Alkaline Trio ‘From Here to Infirmary’ (2001)
Alkaline Trio has always held a special place in my heart for one simple reason– their obsession with the macabre. Combining relatively simple and straight forward skate punk chord progressions with references to corpses, rotten milk, scars, chainsaws, and alcohol (yes, lots and lots of alcohol) has always been a recipe for success for primary…
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Bad Religion ‘Christmas Songs’ (2013)
Earlier this year I spoke about the impact Bad Religion had on the punk rock music I grew up on in my write-up on their 1988 album Suffer. A brief refresher in case you missed it: It’s hard to overstate just how influential Bad Religion was on the punk rock I grew up on during…
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Minor Threat ‘First Two Seven Inches’ (1981)
Despite playing together for a mere three years Minor Threat’s influence on the American hardcore punk scene is indisputable. They were the harbingers of the DIY aesthetic (eschewing corporate influence to do everything from music production to concert promotion themselves), were fiercely unapologetic in their straight edge ideals (avoiding illicit drugs, alcohol, and promiscuous sex),…
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Stiff Little Fingers ‘Inflammable Material’ (1979)
Born in the late 70’s in Belfast, Ireland in the midst of “The Troubles”, a period of time where ethno-nationalist conflicts and police brutality dominated the lush Irish scenery, Stiff Little Fingers were basically thrown into a living situation that was perfect for their fast and aggressive punk rock to flourish. Capturing the mayhem and…
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Blink-182 ‘One More Time…’ (2023)
Yesterday Blink-182 released One More Time…, their first album with Tom Delonge since 2011’s Neighborhoods, closing a 12-year hiatus that saw the band go through a rather tumultuous breakup that roiled through the music industry. The personal challenges between Delonge and bassist Mark Hoppus and drummer Travis Barker have been well chronicled, but effectively the…
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Bad Religion ‘Suffer’ (1988)
It’s hard to overstate just how influential Bad Religion was on the punk rock I grew up on during the mid-2000’s. Bands like NOFX, Pennywise, Green Day, The Offspring, Hot Water Music, Alkaline Trio, and Rancid all owe a debt of significant gratitude to the forebears of that distinct sound for a handful of reasons,…
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Hole ‘Live Through This’ (1994)
An album cover can be worth a thousand words, and Hole’s Live Through This certainly is one of those album covers. A manic pageant winner, mascara streaming down her face after a bout of tears, holding up a bouquet of flowers while an almost comically ostentatious tiara adorns her head. It’s a picture that evokes…
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No Use For A Name ‘Hard Rock Bottom’ (2002)
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)…
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Millencolin ‘Pennybridge Pioneers’ (2000)
If you played Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater as a kid it’s an absolute guarantee that you’ll recognize the first song off Pennybridge Pioneers. That game was a defining part of my childhood and many of my generational peers, and “No Cigar” was a mainstay on the game’s soundtrack. It’s a perfectly put together skate punk…
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Anti-Flag ‘For Blood and Empire’ (2006)
Anti-Flag has enjoyed a 35-year extensive career in the punk rock scene, dedicating their music to activism and left-wing politics since forming in Pittsburgh during 1988. If their name didn’t give it away already, their songs are focused on political discourse and the horrors of war, governmental overreach, corporate greed, and animal cruelty (all members…
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Pennywise ‘Land of the Free?’ (2001)
As a middle schooler Pennywise was one of my first forays into politically oriented punk rock, with Land of the Free? being one of the most prominent albums in my rotation. I spun this specific CD too many times to count on my blue Walkman, and later in high school actually covered “Fuck Authority” with…
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Tiger Army ‘Music From Regions Beyond’ (2007)
Produced by the late great Jerry Finn (whose contributions to late 90’s / early 00’s punk rock were unparalleled, as we covered relatively extensively in our writeup of Blink 182’s Enema of the State), Music From Regions Beyond is an album that draws significant inspiration from horror punk and goth rock. A great reference album…
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MxPx ‘Life In General’ (1995)
At one point in my life during middle school MxPx was my favorite band. The lyrics filled with young teen angst, straightforward vocal melodies, fuzzy electric guitars, and snap crackle drums sounded absolutely perfect to my 12-year old ears. They were also one of the rare punk bands approved by my mom to listen to…
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Dead Kennedys ‘Fresh Fruit For Rotting Vegetables’ (1980)
Known for their brutal and sardonic political commentary, Dead Kennedys were a prominent figure in the early wave of punk that rose to prominence in the early 80’s. Their satirical take on everything from political figures, the punk movement itself, and the banality of American consumerism was controversial at the time and led to a…
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The Wonder Years ‘The Greatest Generation’ (2013)
Pop punk has been having a moment in the past few years, experiencing a resurgence since it lorded over the pop music culture in the early 2000’s. And Pennsylvania’s The Wonder Years, who have been carrying the torch since the late aughts, are a huge part of that resurgence. It’s sort of funny to think…
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The Stooges ‘Funhouse’ (1970)
The Stooges were a band seemingly lost in time, a decade ahead of their peers in the late 60’s. Throwing elements of psychedelia, American garage rock, and British blues into a blender, Fun House is effectively the first seed of punk rock that caused legions of bands to follow in their footsteps. The Clash, Ramones,…
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Blink-182 ‘Enema of the State’ (1999)
If you were in middle/high school during the early aughts it was basically impossible to avoid Blink-182. They were the most influential pop punk band in history at a time when pop punk was absolutely everywhere, looked the part with the spiked blond hair and Venice Beach skater garb, and possessed a real talent for…
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Turnstile ‘GLOW ON’ (2021)
Turnstile’s 2021 album GLOW ON was somewhat of a defining moment for hardcore music in that it broke down a lot of barriers for the genre commercially. This was an album that made multiple mainstream “Best Of” lists for album of the year (not just rock album, album album), charted at #30 on the Billboard…
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The Offspring ‘Americana’ (1998)
The Offspring’s 1998 album Americana is a trip down memory lane, a time when punk rock was having its mainstream moment and MTV was pushing those music videos with reckless abandon. The Offspring were one of the first punk bands to break out into the mainstream with their (wait for it) smash-hit Smash, followed it…
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Nirvana ‘Nevermind’ (1991)
As a skater punk during my early teens Nevermind (alongside Green Day’s Dookie) was on literal repeat as me and my buddy skated in front of his house on Cleo Avenue. To say it was a formative part of my childhood experience as I made the transition from a young kid to a young man…
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Sum 41 ‘All Killer, No Filler’ (2001)
With news that Sum 41 will finally be hanging up the guitars after 27 years together, it only felt right to dust off All Killer, No Filler and take it for a spin this week. This was the album that started it all for the Canadian punk rockers off the heels of their massive hit…
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AFI ‘Sing The Sorrow’ (2003)
I love a good epic album opener and holy hot damn does Sing The Sorrow ever have a massive album opener. “Miseria Cantare: The Beginning” gets the ol’ heart rate going immediately with those big kick drums, gang vocal chants, and epic operatic synths. The first AFI album I fell in love with was The…
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The Menzingers ‘After The Party’ (2017)
Beyond the east coast Bruce Springsteen storytelling chops, rollicking Les Pauls plugged into Marshall amps, and gritty vocal hooks, what I appreciate most about The Menzingers’ After The Party is how perfectly they capture the feeling of being an adult in your 30’s who has aged out of the punk scene but still appreciate the…
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Black Flag ‘Damaged’ (1981)
Damaged by Black Flag is the hardcore album that started it all. Henry Rollins’ testosterone-soaked lead vocals, Greg Ginn’s subtly attentive songwriting, Julio Roberto Valverde Valencia’s aggressive drumming, and the rhythm section of Chuck Dukowski and Dez Cadena punch you right in the gut and leave you keeled over wheezing for oxygen. It feels perfectly…
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Punk Goes… ‘Pop Volume 4’ (2011)
The “Punk Goes…” series has been a mainstay in punk rock since the early 2000’s and to this day I remember how impactful it was for me when I was 16 years old. I graduated HS in the class of 2006, and while original music absolutely appealed to me, hearing a punk band play a…
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Billy Idol ‘Rebel Yell’ (1983)
There’s nothing like Billy Idol’s vocals on Rebel Yell‘s title track. It’s what got me into Idol in the first place. It’s a perfect new wave punk song. Idol’s manic and uncontrolled primal energy, the undeniably hooky guitar lead line, how the overdriven guitars punch through in the chorus, the absolute shredfest of a solo.…
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The Mighty Mighty Bosstones ‘Let’s Face It’ (1997)
When I first heard Let’s Face It I was 9 years old, living in a two-bed two-bath apartment with my brother and parents. For my birthday that year I received the first three albums I would ever own. Those albums were the Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ Let’s Face It, Third Eye Blind’s self-titled debut Third Eye…
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The Hives ‘Veni Vidi Vicious’ (2000)
The garage rock revival in the 2000’s was a glorious time in music history and no band better captured that unhinged energy for high school me than The Hives. I remember popping this CD into my navy blue Walkman one day and literally playing this album over and over and over again everywhere I went—…
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The Bouncing Souls ‘Maniacal Laughter’ (1995)
The Bouncing Souls lead singer Greg Attonito has one of the most recognizable voices in the world of punk rock. On 1995’s Maniacal Laughter Attonito is the star, his vocal approach elevating the relatively straightforward punk arrangements into something more interesting than the sum of their collective parts. This 23-minute ripper, which features only a…
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The Clash ‘London Calling’ (1979)
There are three bands that stand alone in the Holy Trinity of punk rock. Those bands are the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, and The Clash. All three have combined to inspired literally hundred of thousands of kids to pick up guitars, start their own bands, and express themselves musically. All three have had a massive…
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Ramones ‘Ramones’ (1976)
Largely considered the first punk rock group in history, the Ramones had it all– black shirts, leather jackets, ripped jeans, and a cool backstory where each member adopted the “Ramone” surname as a pseudonym. Their 1976 self-title debut was the very definition of New York cool. It was loud and fast as hell. Unlike their…
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Sex Pistols ‘Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols’ (1977)
There is a primal energy that permeates every second of Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols. Raw. Visceral. Impossible to deny. Formed during a period of high unemployment and working class discontent that pervaded the U.K. in the mid-70’s, the Sex Pistols were a punk rock bomb that blew up in in the…
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Iron Chic ‘Not Like This’ (2010)
Some bands are so earnest and straight from the heart it makes it impossible not to pay attention to them. Iron Chic is that kind of band. Not Like This is that kind of album. Punk music does “earnesty” better than any other genre. I think that stems from the low barrier of entry, which…
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