Monday, April 4, 2011

No more NOFX - Ribbed

Released on Epitaph; Exp. 03/26/11
Punk Rock is a genre of music that means different things to different people.  Often political and usually loud, it's the bastard step child of music, and which bands qualify as "punk" is a debate that can sometimes result in a boot to the head.  


For a lot of people (senior citizens), punk rock means The Sex Pistols (Never Mind the Bollocks, Here's the Sex Pistols; Exp. '97) or X (Los Angeles; Exp. '00).  For others, it's Black Flag (Damaged; Exp. '01) or The Dead Kennedys (In God We Trust, Inc.; Exp. '01)

Me?  I'll admit it, I like my punk with melody.  It has to be fast, and I prefer it to be loud, but if there's no hook then I usually lose interest.  NOFX has always ranked #1 on my list of favorite punk bands.  Their DIY style combined with humorous lyrics and regular use of wordplay make them my go-to punk band for all occasions.  (#2 would probably be Bad Religion).

Fat Mike and his crew have produced 11 studio albums with a twelfth due to come out in 2012.  Of those albums, three have expired. "Ribbed", "S&M Airlines (Exp. 09) & Liberal Animation (Exp. '08).  I sort of feel bad for people who haven't embraced the punk rock bands from the 90's and later, because at this point they're all that's left.

Of course, that's not entirely true.  The Ramones have three studio albums left, The Stooges released an album in '07 called "The Weirdness."  Operation Ivy continues to release remastered versions of their two studio albums.*  So there's that....

Even though I'm bummed about "Ribbed" and the others, I won't REALLY be upset until next year when "White Trash, Two Heebs and a Bean" expires in November.

*I'm not exactly sure where I stand on remastered versions of expired music, but for now I will still consider them expired.

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