The 5 Best Punk Rock Albums of the '90s, Part 1

The decade is almost over, and the barrage of "Best of the 2000's" lists are swamping the internet. Of course, this calls for a celebration of the best punk rock music of the '90s. Why not?! Maybe it's nostalgia, maybe it's just a general disgust with the lists these hipster blogs are compiling, but it seems like a perfect time to revisit the music I cut my teeth on as a wee lad. To be honest, I think the '90s will go down in history as the last golden age of music. Y'know, when it actually took hard work and skill to pick up some instruments and put out a record that people actually paid for?! Yeah, I'll be 30 in two months and I kinda sound like a crotchety old man, but just look at the recorded evidence. The next Random Old Records podcast will be chock-full of badass '90s punk rock, and I'll be counting down the five best punk albums of the decade this week. Here's number five!

5. The Get Up Kids - Four Minute Mile

(Doghouse, 1997)

Sure, you can lay blame on the Get Up Kids for encouraging the likes of Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance and fostering their crimes against music. In fact, you'd be forgiven for casting a suspicious eye on their lofty place on this list. But remember, when they busted out of Kansas City in 1997, the Get Up Kids were packin' a sound that no one had ever heard before. Marrying the buzzsaw pop-punk of the early '90s Lookout Records sound to the artsy, aggro energy of the San Diego emo scene, stirring in Sunny Day Real Estate-style drama, then leavening it with a dollop of early '80s new wave sweetness, the Get Up Kids created a sound that resonated with every pissed off and bummed out young person who bothered to listen.

No lie, Four Minute Mile sounds like a high school notebook set to music: awkward, obnoxious, confused, and full of energy. The recording is honest and blunt, documenting every cracked vocal and fumble-fingered guitar riff. Emo has gotten such a bad name thanks to the fashion model crabcore set, but the Get Up Kids captured it back when it was vital and, well, EMOTIONAL! No detached irony, no overly long song titles, just real talk, honest and naked. From the Cars-style keyboard stabs of "Don't Hate Me" to the "I'll be here if you need anything!" explosion in "Stay Gold, Ponyboy" to the gloves-off, screaming conclusion of "No Love," Four Minute Mile documents the eloquent stupidity of growing up better than any other album I can think of right now.

Tune in tomorrow for #4 on the list, and don't forget to subscribe to the Random Old Records Podcast by clicking the iTunes link to your right!

Random Old Records Podcast #13 is out now!

Yes indeedy, Random Old Records Podcast episode #13 is out now and ready for your downloading pleasure! This is the Nuggets of the '90s edition, featuring an hour of rare, obscure, and forgotten alternative, indie, and punk from the last golden age of music. Remember bands like China Drum, Letters To Cleo, Adorable, Grant Lee Buffalo, Compulsion, Archers Of Loaf, or Hazel? Yes? No? Well, they're all here, along with a selection of vintage PSAs featuring Christopher Reeve and the cast of Saved By The Bell. Some of my favorite songs of all time are up in this thing, so make sure you check it out!

As always, you can stream, download, or subscribe to the podcast by pointing your internets over to http://rorpodcast.mevio.com. You can also subscribe to it in iTunes by clicking the iTunes icon directly to your right. By subscribing, the new episodes download directly to your computer as soon as they are posted, so you'll never miss an episode!

Don't forget, you can hear Random Old Records streaming every Wednesday afternoon at 4PM EST on Real Punk Radio! Go to http://realpunkradio.com and check it out! It's a new site that offers punk, garage, and rock n' roll 24/7, featuring BADASS shows like Burrito Electrico and Cincinnati's own Mottey's Garage. I'm happy to be a part of the lineup, and it's only gonna get better from here! Also, don't forget to become a fan of Random Old Records on Facebook! I'll be posting exclusive content there, so add yourself and don't be a square. Here's a taste of the new podcast, the classic "Web In Front" from the Archers Of Loaf!

The 5 Most Underrated Albums of the '90s Part 5

5. Letters To Cleo - Go!
(Revolution/Warner Bros., 1997)

Rounding out the list of the most underrated albums of the '90s is the third LP from Boston's Letters To Cleo. Yeah, that's the band who landed their song "Here & Now" over the credits on Melrose Place and perfomed "I Want You To Want Me" by Cheap Trick at the end of 10 Things I Hate About You. They were a band so tied into '90s pop culture that listening to Go! makes you instantly wistful for the slightly hedonistic, candy-colored optimism that filled the latter part of the decade before the millennium ended and 9/11 happened. It's like a 11 track jolt of pure sunshine.

Listening to it now, Go! sounds like nothing less than the last gasp for radio-minded, perfectly-produced guitar pop. Seriously, when was the last time you heard a three minute song on the radio loaded with big, real-sounding guitars and vocals without Auto-Tune? Last time I checked, everything was processed and compressed to shit, sounding like angry buzzing bees. It's a far cry from the vibrant, polished, but still organic tunes on display here. Vocalist Kay Hanley overdubs massive walls of vocals, harmonizing with herself, but you can still tell there's a real person behind the studio walls. Opener "I Got Time" sets the tone perfectly, bursting out of the gate with fast, punk energy and twisty lyrical images (lilies in the toilet? spiders driving cars?). The stop-start rhythms recall the nervous energy of '90s power pop heroes Material Issue, and of course, it has handclaps, which is scientifically proved to make any song amazing.

I Got Time - Letters To Cleo

Unlike most albums that came out in the latter part of the '90s, Go! doesn't have a single filler track. Every one has a memorable chorus or wicked vocal or guitar hook, and none of them go over four minutes long. "Co-Pilot" is a mish-mash of classic '60s bubblegum pop and the end credit music for any number of '90s teen comedies. It's a little cheesy, but the performance is just too damn sincere. The regal horn blasts throughout the song are reminiscent of any number of classic '60s AM radio standards. The whole album is loaded with bratty, fun-loving punk rock attitude that you just don't see much of anymore.The band broke up after this, and Kay Hanley's gone onto be an in-demand pop songwriter. Don't forget to check out Go! It is pure '90s pop perfection.

Co-Pilot - Letters To Cleo

Now, it's time for some exciting news on the Random Old Records front. Starting this week, you can hear the podcast streaming at 4 PM every Wednesday over at http://www.realpunkradio.com. Real Punk Radio is a kickass new site featuring punk, garage, hardcore, and all kinds of great tunes streaming 24/7. Tune in and check out badass shows like Mottey's Garage, Burrito Electrico, and more! Watch out for the new episode of Random Old Records Podcast on Monday: The Nuggets of the 90s Edition featuring a tight selection of obscure, classic '90s indie and punk! Enjoy your weekend folks!

The 5 Most Underrated Albums of the '90s Part 4

4. The Joykiller - Static

(Epitaph, 1996)

The Joykiller was the '90s brainchild of legendary TSOL frontman Jack Grisham. After getting kicked out of his own band in the early '80s, Grisham kicked around southern California, doing time in failed projects like Tender Fury and Cathedral Of Tears, and got mired in drug problems and petty crime. By the release of 1996's Static, he was healthy, sober, and fronting a kickin' band loaded with punk rock lifers. The band's name was taken from an early 20th century slang term for a nagging wife, and as expected, the album is filled with vivid tales of the battle between the sexes. There is a "love meter" in the fold-out artwork, and the levels range from "vindictive" to "vengeful" to "spiteful," so don't be expecting any sweet songs of romance. This is a whiplash quick, 30 minute suite of confusion, hatred and loss, full of huge harmonies and choruses.

The secret weapon of The Joykiller is keyboard and piano player Ronnie King, who crams the songs with pounding chords and crashing rolls, adding heft and thickness to the band's already bruising sound. Piano in punk rock music is such a good idea that I wonder why more bands haven't tried it. Combining it with rise-and-fall Bad Religion-style backing vocals and post-hardcore LA skatepunk results in a deadly force. The songs fade in and out of each other, as well, adding a healthy dose of ambition to an otherwise lazy genre. The one-two punch of "I Don't Know" and "Brainless" cements Static's classic status. In the first track, Grisham croons about being suffocated by married life over some super-fast thrash, resorting to knocking back a drink and sneaking off to the movies for a little peace. Instead of a heroic guitar solo, King scampers up the piano like a drunken cat-and-mouse chase, with notes tripping over one another towards the exit.

I Don't Know - The Joykiller

In contrast, "Brainless" finds Grisham on the outside looking in. With a mid-tempo showtune swagger, he hides outside his beloved's bedroom window waiting for her dad to go to sleep so he can plead his hopeless case. "You once would have begged me to come over there and see you" but not anymore. The "oohs" and "ahhs" in the background lift the song into punk rock West Side Story territory. Such dramatic flourishes were why the album crashed with a thud compared to the other standard-issue Epitaph punk bands like NOFX, Rancid, and Guttermouth. After one more album, the even more pop-oriented Three, The Joykiller disbanded and Grisham reformed TSOL with 3/4 of the original lineup. They have released three albums since, but those are more suited to a "most underrated albums of the 2000s" list.

Brainless - The Joykiller

So, there's one more album on the list, so tune in tomorrow to see what it is!

The 5 Most Underrated Albums of the '90s Part 3

3. The Boo Radleys - Giant Steps

(Creation/Columbia, 1993)

Even back in 1993, epic albums were already in short supply. In particular, UK bands were crafting songs for the singles market, fighting for precious column inches in the NME instead of shooting for something a bit more ambitious. Ambition is something the Boo Radleys had in abundance though, naming their third LP after John Coltrane's classic album from 1960. The title just begs for attention, and describes perfectly the massive leap in songwriting skills since their earlier records, which were mired in My Bloody Valentine worship.

Clocking in at seventeen tracks in around an hour, Giant Steps definitely feels like a classic epic. It's a happy coincidence that fall is in full swing, since this might be the best fall album ever. Shot through with a particularly British sense of whimsy, the Boo Radleys sound at once both bratty and wistful, mixing lazy dub reggae rhythms with deliberate acoustic guitar strums and sudden blasts of feedback. Guitarist and main songwriter Martin Carr crafts dreamy beds of sound, perfect for staring out a picture window on a cold November morning. Vocalist Sice floats across the mix sounding positively childlike and giddy. Childhood memories are a large part of one of the main singles, "Barney (...And Me)." No it's not about everyone's favorite purple dinosaur, but New Order frontman Bernard Sumner. The steady acoustic melody turns into a massive feedback freakout at the end before morphing into the next song.

"Butterfly McQueen" is everything good about Giant Steps squashed into one three minute, thirty second track. Ringing acoustic guitars kick off the song into a sing-songy intro, then it fades into a drum and bass dub-reggae vamp. Sice explodes with a huge trumpet fanfare as the dub rhythms build into swirl of sound until the track takes another direction into a forceful, 80's-style jangle-pop tune before finishing up with a patented feedback blowout. If that sounds like a lot, you're right. This song is an overload in every sense of the word and leaves you breathless. The album was a huge hit with critics when it came out, but never has gotten the classic album status or huge sales that it deserves. America just ignored the band, since it didn't sound like Guns N' Roses or Nirvana and it was made by a bunch of funny talkin' Brits. Giant Steps is one of many British albums that slipped through the cracks before Oasis made it OK for Yanks to like British music again. It is an all-time classic that you need to get, like now!

Check back tomorrow for #4 on the list, and keep your eyes and ears for Random Old Records Podcast #13 out later this week!