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!!!
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!!
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!!
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 is one of my favorite genres not only for the down-to-earth messages and upbeat rhythms but also because it is one of the easiest genres to find free music for. I could fill this site with just free punk music (and I might...) and I thought I'd start with one of my favorites. Streetlight Manifesto lies somewhere in between the classification for punk with their pounding sound and lyrical content and ska with their powerful and ever-present horn section.
Their label Victory Records is offering 3 mp3s from 2 separate albums. Their earlier album "Everything Goes Numb" has both "Everything Went Numb" and "The Saddest Song" while their newer album "Somewhere in The Between" has the single "We Will Fall Together." Another site offers a song off of their newest album consisting of various cover songs. Definitely check out "Everything Went Numb" and "We Will Fall Together" and enjoy the music video to the latter song below. Great stuff...
