Tag: Skate Punk
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Propagandhi ‘How To Clean Everything’ (1993)
How to Clean Everything introduced Propagandhi as one of the sharpest and most self-aware voices in the early wave of skate punk. The band was signed to Fat Mike’s record label Fat Wreck Chords after playing a show with NOFX in the early 90’s. As dutiful readers know, that record label would soon define the…
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MxPx ‘Pokinatcha’ (1994)
I’ll be seeing MxPx live in a few months alongside The Ataris, which is basically gonna be me living out my 13-year old self’s dream show at the age of 38 years old. I’ve talked about my love for MxPx a few times in past (especially my personal history with their 1995 album Life In…
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Rancid ‘Rancid’ (1993)
Rancid is one of the best piss-and-vinegar pure punk rock bands still operating out there today, which is pretty incredible considering it has been over 30 years since their debut LP from 1993. I’ve waxed poetic about the band’s 1995 magnum opus …And Out Come The Wolves (still one of my favorite all-time albums hard…
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MxPx ‘The Ever Passing Moment’ (2000)
I’ve previously waxed poetic about MxPx and how they were one of “gateway” bands into the magical world of punk rock music during my middle school years. I’ll always hold Life In General a notch above everything else in their discography for the simple fact that it was the first album of theirs I listened…
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The Vandals ‘Look What I Almost Stepped In’ (2000)
The Vandals are one of those bands I loved before I had any idea of their significance in the punk rock genre. I first stumbled upon this album during middle school when I was basically mainlining punk records directly into my veins and it stood out for a couple of reasons. The first was how…
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The Offspring ‘Smash’ (1994)
From the road rage glorifying “Bad Habit” to the sloppy vocal intro and self depreciation of “Self Esteem”, The Offspring always had a great sense of bringing dark humor to the seedier parts of life and turning them into massive anthems. I’ll always appreciate them for that.
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Bodyjar ‘How It Works’ (2000)
Hearing How It Works first song “Not The Same” always manages to bring me back to the glory days of middle school. I was a pretty religious video game player back in the day and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater was an absolute go-to. That series was a defining part of my childhood and digging back…
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Millencolin ‘Home Sweet Home’ (2002)
Home From Home found Millencolin stretching out and showing just how much range lives inside their high-speed, melodic punk DNA. While rooted in the band’s Swedish skate punk core, this album isn’t afraid to take detours across a wide variety of punk genres. There’s a garage rock looseness to tracks like “Man or Mouse,” a…
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Sum 41 ‘Half Hour of Power’ (2000)
Hate to be the old head hucking around hot takes, but Half Hour of Power is my favorite album by Sum 41. I’m not claiming that it’s their best album or the one I would recommend to folks listening to them for the first time (that would obviously be All Killer, No Filler). But Half…
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Fenix TX ‘Fenix TX’ (1999)
I went on a bit of a pop punk bender this weekend busting out some of the old classics like Blink-182 and Sum 41 which usually leads to a “Shirtless Saturday” type situation with my toddlers where we take our shirts off and dance around the house like crazy (I swear I’m a good dad…
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Descendents ‘Milo Goes To College’ (1982)
Milo Goes to College by the Descendents is widely celebrated as a punk essential, landing on critics best-of punk rock lists from industry luminaries like Spin and Rolling Stone. Critics praise its punchy, fast-paced tracks that capture teenage angst with humor and honesty– it was effectively the blueprint for modern pop punk as we know…
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Green Day ‘Dookie’ (1994)
In 1994 Green Day’s Dookie exploded onto the music scene like explosives duct-taped to someone’s spine (yes that is a “Having A Blast” reference), vaulting the band into the mainstream. They were born in the gritty punk clubs of California’s East Bay right up the road from me, in an underground scene where DIY ethics…
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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The Ataris ‘Blue Skies, Broken Hearts…Next 12 Exits’ (1999)
In 8th grade The Ataris were my favorite band. No band was even close. They had a mainstream breakthrough moment with 2003’s So Long Astoria based off their cover of Don Henley’s “The Boys of Summer”, but Blue Skies, Broken Hearts…Next 12 Exits will always and forever be my favorite record by them. It is…
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NOFX ‘So Long & Thanks For All The Shoes’ (1997)
NOFX has been at it for 40 years now, which is frankly incredible for a punk band. They are one of the most commercially successful independent bands of all-time, has never been signed to a major label, and has stayed unwavering in their dedication to their DIY roots. 1997’s So Long & Thanks For All…
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