Welcome back to The Vibe. This week, the playlist is a little bit more genre focused than in the past, with good reason behind it.
I mentioned a band in last week’s article, Not That I Care. I reached out to them and got invited to check out a performance not too far from where I live. A triple bill at The Rec Room, featuring Doghouse Rose and The Creepshow with Not That I Care headlining. Seeing all three of the acts perform really reignited my passion for that punk and metal rhythm. The gritty and rough sound with anarchical lyrics speaking out against things you don’t agree with. The black leather, ripped jeans, safety pins, and mohawks. The voice of the counterculture, and their voices are just as needed in the sphere of music as anyone else's.
I said before, music helps us translate our hearts. Whether that’s in the form of anger or joy. Here are a handful of punk songs that make me want to crank up the radio. Anarchy! WOOO!
Never Fight a Man with a Perm - IDLES - Joy as an Act of Resistance (2018)
Produced by IDLES & Paul Frazer - Written by Mark Bowen, Lee Kiernan, Jon Beavis, Adam Devonshire & Joe Talbot
A lovely song about some of the more toxic parts of modern masculinity. Not all jocks or gym meatheads are that bad, me being both a huge NFL fan and frequent gym attender. This one focuses more on the hyper aggressive and straight up assholes.
“He hates me
I like that
Two arms like big baseball bats”
These lyrics run as an almost inside joke within my circles. Anytime one of us drops an “I like that” in casual conversation, it is quickly followed up with a chorus of “Two arms like big baseball bats”. If you’ve got a few minutes, check out their performance of this at Glastonbury in 2019. Fire behind that performance!
The Clap - The Chats - High Risk Behaviour (2020)
Produced by The Chats - Written by Eamon Sandwith, Matthew Boggis & Josh Hardy
More of a goofy one, The Clap is a quick minute and a half about never being safe. A beat you can bob your head to, with that skate-punk sound to it. Reminds me of something you’d hear in a late 90s,early 2000s skateboarding video. With over half a million monthly listeners, myself included, it shows that this type of sound is far from dead. A fantastic goofy song that is sure to put a smile on your face, and to make your friends laugh when you belt out the lyrics. Take the warning and maybe triple wrap it, fellas! First time I heard this was a Spotify Discover Weekly, so don’t skip on it and give yours a listen.
Last Caress - The Misfits - Beware EP (1980)
Produced by Tom Bejgrowicz & Dace Achelis - Written by Glen Danzig
“Sweet lovely death
I am waitin’ for your breath
Come sweet death, one last caress”
Bringing in a whole new genre of punk to the masses in the form of horror punk, the Misfits played the role of the monsters. Skulls, bones, black and white face paint, songs about horror. This one is largely considered one the the best songs they ever produced, if not the best. To me, Last Caress is the confessional of a killer waiting on death row, admitting his crimes before welcoming death back to him.
One of the most memorable performances of this song goes to Metallica, however. At the 1996 MTV Europe Music Awards, as the story goes, Metallica was told to play King Nothing, that they were not allowed to use pyro, and not allowed to use expletives. Upset with the rules laid before them, they “agreed” to the rules, proceeded onto the stage, and performed Last Caress as well as the expletive filled song So What? originally performed by the Anti-Nowhere League. Metallica was promptly banned from MTV events following the performance.
Burnout - Green Day - Dookie (1994)
Produced by Rob Cavallo, Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt & Tré Cool - Written by Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt & Tré Cool
What a way to start a song, and to hit home with every young adult working a minimum wage job.
“I declare I don’t care no more
I’m burning up and out and growing bored”
I’ve been at that point at many jobs. No passion for the work, whether it is soul crushing or just stuck in the rut of the “Same shit, different day” atmosphere that comes with working at a young age.
“I’m not growing up, I’m just burning out
And I stepped in line to walk amongst the dead”
It isn’t a song about zombies. It’s a song about losing your youth to working life. The dead are the people who have committed to the nine to five lifestyle. The dead don’t change. It’s mad at the way life has become, not about giving up. Life gets better with passion behind it, and that’s why I write about music now for a living.
The Kids Aren’t Alright - The Offspring - Americana (1998)
Produced by Dave Jerden - Written by Dexter Holland
Speaking of growing up, getting in the rut and looking back, we’ve got this classic from The Offspring. I remember seeing the album art for Americana for the first time when I was no older than eleven. I remember thinking “What an absolutely bizarre cover for an album”. Since then, I’ve started collecting vinyl and this is one of those albums in my collection. The song itself looks back at what it was like being kids, and wondering what happened in life to make us so jaded with our lives. What happened to those kids that we used to be? Where did we go? Of course, not every one of these stories ends in tragedy in real life, but the ones referenced in the song do. That does happen. We do lose friends and lose touch of our dreams, but I do think that with a little spark, our dreams and passion can be reignited into something truly great.
The Rock Show - Blink-182 - Take Off Your Pants And Jacket (2001)
Produced by Jerry Finn - Written by Mark Hoppus, Travis Barker & Tom DeLonge
I know it seems like every week, I say another band is up there as one of my favorite acts, but Blink-182 is up there too. Mark Hoppus is one of the bassists that inspired me to learn myself, along with Lemmy Kilmister, Les Claypool, and Flea. The Rock Show is your classic song about young love, plain and simple. With all the trials that come along with it. Check out the music video for the best uses for $500,000!
“She’s getting kicked out of school ‘cause she’s failing
I’m kinda nervous, ‘cause I think all her friends hate me”
I recently learned that this song was angrily written by Hoppus in less than 10 minutes. Manager Rick DeVoe didn’t hear a “Summertime single” on the album, to which Hoppus reportedly responded with:
“You want a fucking single? I’ll write you the cheesiest, catchiest, throwaway fucking summertime single you’ve ever heard!”
Hoppus wrote a banger. And to the credit of DeVoe, I listen to this every summer!
In Too Deep - Sum 41 - All Killer No Filler (2001)
Produced by Jerry Finn - Written by Greig Nori & Deryck Whibley
Onto the complete opposite end of the spectrum when it comes to young love. Canada’s own Sum 41 tells a different tale of two people together.
“It’s one thing to complain, but when you’re driving me insane
Well then I think it’s time that we took a break”
Another album that I have on vinyl, this album was one of those early to mid 2000s releases while the pop-punk and skate punk genre was really taking off. Another notable Canadian talent around this time was Simple Plan, who I will likely also talk about in a future blog.
In Too Deep always makes me think of Lego Rockband, and playing this song as the encore on the pirate ship. Loved playing those games, and still love playing them now.
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