Punk-Tober: The Aquabats

I may have said that there are only 6 sub-genres of punk but I might need to add a seventh just for these guys: Comedy Punk!



If just that video doesn't get you interested, you have lost your sense of humor. They are quite literally a ska band dressed entirely in blue spandex writing and performing nonsensical music based on fantasy themes and high school humor. It can be a little hard to consider them punk anymore as they have changed their sound quite a bit to more nerd rock (even coming really close to the sound of the song in "Revenge of the Nerds" in the song above.) These guys embrace their goofiness with such passion that you just can't help but love them. That and drawn-on mustaches are totally rad. I never latched onto the band's bandwagon (lol...) when they were more popular but I do have a great related memory. I was trapped in the Mataguay Scout Reservation when the entire area was on fire and after a long ordeal trying to leave, we were trapped in a dry field waiting to squeeze out. We all piled in one of the older scout's car (Robby Winebarger) and blasted Aquabats at full volume with the fire everywhere while watching small fires start in the field we were parked on. SO AWESOME!!

I may not have as many songs available as many of the other bands featured lately, but what is here is really good. Purevolume has two tracks including the classic "Pool Party."  Nitro Records has "Fashion Zombies" available as a free download and after some real digging I found a cover of the classic "Holiday Road" but I can't find the link anymore. When I find it I will update this page...

UPDATE: Finally found the link to "Holiday Road" here. It's at the bottom of the page amid many other Christmas tracks.

I just had to post this video below of a television show based on the Aquabats that never happened but is unbelievably awesome.



Enjoy and spread the love!!

Punk-Tober: Dropkick Murphys

After my frustration of posting NOFX last week, it feels great to be getting back to a band that actually excites me. Two of my favorite genres colliding (punk and celtic) makes me happy once more. Dropkick Murphys has a lot of similarities to Flogging Molly as they both occupy the same sub-genre but Flogging Molly leans much farther into alternative territory while Dropkick Murphys remains grounded in punk. As much as I absolutely love Flogging Molly, I've actually grown to like Dropkick Murphys almost as much. If that praise doesn't get you interested than try them for yourself.



One of Epitaph's sub-labels, Hellcat Records, has plenty of free tracks available from what I think is all of their albums. The older the music is, the harder the punk influence is whereas the later stuff falls closer to alternative and is much more user-friendly. From oldest to newest; two tracks from Do Or Die, two tracks from The Gang's All Here, two tracks from The Singles Collection: Vol 1, two tracks from Sing Loud, Sing Proud, two tracks from Live On St. Patrick's Day, three tracks from Blackout, one track from The Singles Collection Vol 2, and two tracks from The Warrior's Code. I easily believe that Blackout and Warrior's Code are their two best albums and the free tracks are awesome. PLEASE try the music and enjoy!!!

Punk-Tober: NOFX (sucks...)

QUICK WARNING: THIS MUSIC SUCKS REALLY REALLY BAD!!!

NOFX is the counterpoint to Bad Religion on the shock punk scale. Whereas Bad Religion actually holds a meaningful place and makes an effective argument, NOFX revels in just disgusting its listeners with ever more depraved and perverted subject matter. Even the album names are offensive with CDs named S&M Airlines and Heavy Petting Zoo. Although I have to admit that I like the album name Punk in Drublic... The music is vulgar, racist, biased, offensive in every meaning of the word, and has little to offer for enjoyment unless you like the hollow shock of their content. And the actual music sucks too. Normally I would not have even considered putting a band like this on my site, but they are a large band (WHY????) with a lot of free music and they make a great example for how to *#@% up punk. The music if you choose to try it is available once again from Epitaph with two here, one here, two here, two here, two here, one here, two here, and two here. I'm not even going to post the album names. Bands like this are what give punk a bad reputation and hold no value whatsoever. Did you notice that I don't like them?

And there will not be a video or a playlist to accompany this entry. I'm not stooping that low. PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK!

UPDATE: Okay, so maybe I was a little harsh. I had forgotten that there is some decent music buried in their catalog but the free tracks all suck. And there are actually a lot more that I forgot to link to from another record label... They are here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Don't forget that this is the other half of the material that got me in such a rant above...

Punk-Tober: Bad Religion

I've been thinking about the different genres of punk that I've been distinguishing since the beginning of this month and think I've finally split the genre into 6 sub-genres. Just to note, many punk bands stride the line between several styles of punk. Ex: Rise Against = (Alterna + Thrash)

First is classic punk, stuff like the Ramones and the Sex Pistols, powered by a strong hard rhythm but is also the least plentiful style in this day and age.

Second is alterna-punk, a modern mainstream re-envisioning of the sounds created by the classics and often mixing influences of other genres as well. Most bands that you will have heard of like Green Day, Rise Against, Blink-182, The Bouncing Souls and even Flogging Molly fit into this category.

Third is thrash punk composed of blistering fast rhythms and usually raspy vocals and often not very good. Many bands have songs that fit into this category (Pennywise, Dropkick Murphys) but it is hard to isolate a popular band that fits here throughout their whole lifespan (seeing as how both Pennywise and Dropkick Murphys have turned to a more alternative sound recently.)

Fourth is Ska which is often separated into an entirely separate genre but does belong here as well. Mostly noted for the use of horns, bands like Reel Big Fish, Less Than Jake, Streetlight Manifesto, and Catch 22 are prime examples of this genre done right.

Fifth is skate punk which in retrospect is hardly its own genre and more of a mixture of alterna-punk and thrash but has carved out its own niche with bands like Millencolin leading the way.

And lastly in Sixth is what I call Shock Punk. Just as bands like Alice Cooper and KISS created shock rock with outrageous onstage shenanigans and somewhat disturbing lyrical content, punk has its own rendition of those themes. But unlike shock rock, it often takes a much more drastic and disturbing turn than just fake blood and facepaint. Often it involves disturbing content (whether lyrical or topical) either to prove a point or simply to be obnoxious and "edgy" (a.k.a. crude.) Many also fall into the rut of complaining simply to complain or argue over meaningless matters...



Long explanation to get to the band for today: Bad Religion. This band is a great example of how shock punk can be used properly. Nearly all of the songs have a political basis or focus on a current national or worldwide problem and do an honest job of pointing out the issue while also still making compelling music to accompany it. That and they are probably the most successful shock punk band of all time with their music used everywhere from mainstream radio to movies and videogames (Guitar Hero 1, Rock Band, many of the Tony Hawk games.) The music to most shock punk (including Bad Religion) fits its own genre with the most similarities to thrash but doesn't share many of the cornerstones of that sub-genre like the muffled and unintelligible vocals and uncompromisingly fast and complex instrumental parts. Thank Epitaph once again for pulling some choice cuts from most of their albums including two from Process of Belief, two from The Empire Strikes First, two from No Control, two from Against the Grain, one from Generator, two from How Could Hell Be Any Worse?, two from Suffer, one from Bad Religion EP, two from All Ages, two from Recipe For Hate, and one from 80-85. For those unacquainted, try Process of Belief, No Control, and The Empire Strikes First and explore the rest from there. Enjoy!!

Punk-Tober: Millencolin

More punk!! Who would have guessed? Considering that the first two entries this month were different kinds of punk, I thought I'd keep going with another sub-genre: Skate Punk. Millencolin have been labeled as the resident kings of skate punk probably due to their fast driving rhythms, alternative sound, and somewhat goofy lyrical content. The song "No Cigar" was featured in Tony Hawk Pro Skater 2 (one of my PS1 favs) and I was instantly hooked.

Thankfully, Epitaph once again comes through with plenty of free songs for punk aficionados. The albums are For Monkeys with two free tracks, Kingwood with two, Home From Home with three, The Melancholy Collection with two, Pennybridge Pioneers with two, Life on a Plate with three, Same Old Tunes with three, and one from Lozin' Must. There is a lot of great stuff here but you might want to start with Pennybrigde Pioneers and move onto Kingwood, Home From Home, and For Monkeys. The other three albums did not hold up well under the same scrutiny but might be worth checking out all the same.

Sorry for no video this time. The one downside to Epitaph is that they block the embed feature on all of their videos and digging through all the rest of the videos on Youtube isn't worth it when I have a working playlist below! Enjoy!!

Punk-Tober: Pennywise

Another day, another punk band. Pennywise is on a different end of the punk spectrum than Bouncing Souls. Whereas I would think that Bouncing Souls better fits into the alternative half of punk (along with Green Day, Less Than Jake, etc...), Pennywise fits more into thrash punk with fast and often unintelligible rhythms, brash and harsh sounding vocals, and a constantly fast tempo. Some of their later stuff opens up better but the roots of speed punk are still there. Normally I'd avoid this sub-genre entirely but there is good stuff in here for those interested.



Once again Epitaph Records comes to the rescue with a large spattering from most of their albums including two tracks from Full Circle, two from About Time, two from Unknown Road, two from From the Ashes, two from The Fuse, two from Straight Ahead, two from Land of the Free?, two from Pennywise, and one from Live @ the Key Club. Spinner also has one track available for download. I am quite disappointed to say that my favorite album "Reason to Believe" doesn't have any tracks available but there is some good stuff available in these links. For your first listen, try the songs from "From the Ashes" or "The Fuse" and make your way backward from there. I would also probably suggest that you avoid "Land of the Free?" and the live album but I thought I might as well put it up anyway. I mean it's free, right? Check some tracks in the playlist below and enjoy!!!

Punk-Tober: The Bouncing Souls

You may ask why the heading reads "Punk-tober" and that is because I've got a ton of punk to drop on you and because October is the only month that a heading like that works. Although Punk-uary is sort of cool too...

Another question you're probably asking is why I have such a fascination with punk and I think you deserve an answer to that. Good punk should not be about rebellion for the sake of rebelling or just to throw together as many crazy instrumental parts that it is hardly music anymore (like most people think punk is.) Real punk should be a opening to the social aspect of music, a more everyman's ballad showcasing a different side of music and society that is not commonly showcased and the revelry in the uniqueness that accompanies it. Don't think that punk means that everything has to sound like the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, or Bad Religion. I will try to keep this theme continuing this whole month and hope that you give some of them a try even if you would normally have passed right on by.

Long intro... Anyway, The Bouncing Souls is a great place to start for those not familiar with modern punk. They do a great job at varying from harder punk to an alternative sound with most of the music being really good. As I've said before, all punk can be really hit or miss from song to song no matter how good the band is but thankfully they have a lot fewer missteps than most other mainstream punk. Epitaph Records is a godsend for punk fans considering they house nearly every major punk band of this decade and offer free music for nearly all of them. The music is split based on the albums so you would normally have to do a little digging, if I wasn't doing all the work already. From the album Anchors Aweigh comes three tracks, from The Gold Record comes another two, How I Spent My Summer Vacation has one (glitched as two), Hopeless Romantic has two, Tie One On EP has one, and "The Bouncing Souls" has two (but avoid them...) My recommendations would go for the tracks from Anchors Aweigh, Gold Record, and Hopeless Romantic. And if that wasn't enough, once again Daytrotter has a session with the band covering a few of the songs found above but in a more relaxed acoustic setting. Great stuff too...



Trying something new in playlists featuring the featured music of the week. Should be a great way to preview the music without sitting through the youtube vids. Please contact me if it isn't working or has stopped working later. Thanks and enjoy!!!