The return of Moral Crux!

What a thrill it is, in the year 2015, to again be writing about Moral Crux! When I was a young pup coming up in the world of punk rock record reviewing two decades ago, Moral Crux was one of the first bands I championed. Releases like the 7" "Victim Of Hype" and the LP Something More Dangerous were among my favorite records of the '90s. Today I would cite Moral Crux as not just one of my favorite bands of all-time but also one of the biggest influences on me coming to love '77-style punk rock. And after a 12-year break, we finally have new material from this incredible band! The record is called Revolution, and it's coming out on 7" vinyl on the excellent pop-punk label Mooster Records. Moral Crux, I'm happy to report, hasn't changed a bit over the past dozen years. Hell, the band hasn't really changed over the past 32 years! What has worked for decades continues to work now: a classic poppy punk sound a la Ramones/Buzzcocks/Generation X with intelligent political lyrics. With dissent and social protest gaining traction in recent years, now seems like the perfect time to have Moral Crux back on the scene. Lead track "Revolution (Shouldn't Be So Hard)" is vintage Moral Crux. It will have you bobbing your head and humming along, but it also has a great deal to say about the state of the world. James T Farris X remains one of our great social commentators, and a song like "Timeclock" finds him more inclined than ever to rail against the military-industrial complex. The record also contains a newly recorded version of "Heart On Trial" - a Moral Crux classic from its 1993 album ...And Nothing But The Truth. Hearing how well this song holds up after 22 years, I really have to commend this band for the timelessness of its music and its message. And truthfully, I would not be able to say the same thing about a lot of other political bands.

Revolution is now available for download from iTunes, Amazon, etc. You can pre-order the vinyl here. Snag the limited purple vinyl while the getting is good! For more information on Moral Crux, check out the band's ReverbNation page!



-L.R.

https://moosterrecords.bandcamp.com/album/moral-crux-revolution-ep 
http://moosterrecords.com/ 
https://www.facebook.com/MoosterRecords 
https://www.reverbnation.com/moralcruxofficial 

Top Ten albums of 1987

I usually do these "retro lists" to coincide with significant anniversaries: the music of 10, 20, and 30 years ago. So why am I going back 28 years to 1987? Because Travis Ramin challenged me to do so, and there's nothing I love more than a challenge! The most difficult part of this endeavor was to find enough music from 1987 that actually fits in with the musical scope of F & L. By this particular point in the '80s, most of the good hardcore bands had gone metal. Straight-up '77 punk was close to extinct. Power pop was far from thriving, and garage punk as we know it was a few years away from taking off. I knew it would be reaching to bring up, say, Guns N' Roses or Flesh For Lulu. But after significant inspection, I was able to come up with a list that affirms that '87 was a fine year for punk rock and non-mainstream music. All of these groups at least started out as punk bands. And if a few of them had evolved or widely expanded their horizons by '87, that's not necessarily a bad thing. So here we go!

10. (tie) Ramones - Halfway To Sanity
It's not without reason that the Ramones' late '80s output is much maligned. Starting with Animal Boy's ill-fated attempts at sounding current and culminating with the seemingly phoned-in Brain Drain, '86'-'89 clearly marked the irreversible decline of the greatest band that has ever existed. But to me, Halfway To Sanity was a final gasp of inspiration - and the last Ramones album truly worth buying. If not fully successful, it was at least an attempt to get back to that classic Ramones sound of yore. Sonically, the band hadn't sounded this aggressive in years. And while the album has its share of clunkers, it has its ace tracks as well. If I'm making an ultimate Ramones best-of mix, "I Wanna Live", "Weasel Face", and "Go Lil' Camaro Go" are making the cut. While not a great Ramones album, Halfway To Sanity is at least a good one.

Moral Crux - self titled
Moral Crux was one of those rare bands carrying the torch for '77 style punk in the mid-to-late '80s - combining the pop stylings of the Ramones and Generation X with intelligent lyrics about politics and social issues. The band would become a celebrated part of the '90s pop-punk scene, eventually signing to Ben Weasel's Panic Button Records. And while I love all of this band's albums, the self-titled debut remains one of my personal favorites. I love the way it marries catchy pop melodies to early '80s hardcore punk influences. "Kick It Over", "Strange World", "Voices Of Reaction", and "Law + Order" are classic tracks from one of the best and most criminally overlooked punk bands of the last 30 years. New 7" coming out this year on Mooster Records!

9. Fastbacks - ... And His Orchestra
While a little rougher around the edges than later Fastbacks albums, this long-awaited debut (the band had been going since 1979) is pretty close to a classic in its own right. Great poppy punk from Seattle's original alt rock sensations. Who doesn't love "Seven Days" and "K Street"?

8. Thee Mighty Caesars - Wiseblood
This was trashy garage punk before they actually had a label for such a thing. 

7. Descendents- All
This is supposedly a "lesser" Descendents album, yet it's got "Pep Talk", "Clean Sheets", and "Coolidge". That tells you a lot about the greatness of The Descendents.

6. Mad Parade - A Thousand Words
In the era of crossover thrash, at least one band stayed true to the classic SoCal punk sound...

5. Husker Du - Warehouse: Songs And Stories
About the only thing I don't like about this album is that dreaded "late '80s production". I swear there was a conspiracy among recording engineers back then to make all drummers sound terrible! Otherwise, it's amazing how consistent this double LP was. Here was Husker Du coming out with their fourth album in three years, and they were not lacking for quality material. For a lot of bands these days, four albums is a career. If it's apparent that Mould and Hart were going in way different directions at this point, you can't accuse either of coming up short. Warehouse melds the adult pop leanings of the previous year's Candle Apple Grey to the buzzing melodic punk of the band's classic mid-'80s albums. All in all, not a bad way to bow out!

4. Celibate Rifles - Roman Beach Party
In the mid to late '80s, it seemed that most bands had either forgotten the roots of punk or were running away from them at full speed. But that was not the case in Australia - where Birdman and The Saints were still worshiped and Detroit rock loomed large. Celibate Rifles were equal parts Ramones and Stooges, and the hard-hitting Roman Beach Party is probably their best album. Kicking off with the scorching "Jesus On T.V.", this should have been the album that made them huge. But alas, who had any use for ferocious, intelligent rock n' roll in 1987?

3. Red Kross - Neurotica
Neurotica is one of those albums that made a modest impact in sales but an immeasurable one in influence. Here you had these legends of early '80s LA punk who had not fully outgrown their loud/fast hardcore roots. Yet into the mix, they had thrown The Beatles, KISS, and a whole array of '70s pop culture references. If you heard this album, you couldn't quite define what it was. Punk? Bubblegum? Metal? Power pop? It was a little bit of all of that, and uniquely Red Kross. Numerous alt rock and "grunge" bands in the early '90s would capitalize on the idea of mashing up punk, metal, and pop. But I'll take Neurotica over any of those bands' albums - Nevermind included!

2. Pink Lincolns - Back From The Pink Room
The classic debut album from one of the most underrated punk rock bands of all-time. These Floridians were doing snotty-as-hell three-chord punk rock when almost no one else cared to. These guys caught on in the '90s due to a close association with The Queers and Screeching Weasel. But Back From The Pink Room has just in much in common with, say, Black Flag or the Angry Samoans. "I've Got My Tie On" is pretty much the best song ever.

1. Replacements - Pleased To Meet Me
Having recently proclaimed that Tim is the best Replacements album, I'll add that Pleased To Meet Me comes a very close second. Perhaps The Replacements were never quite the same without Bob Stinson. But Paul Westerberg's incredible run of songwriting circa the mid-'80s peaks on Pleased To Meet Me. And while Jim Dickinson's production scrubs clean any last remnants of The Replacements' rough edges, the big, soaring sound is a perfect fit for these tunes. "Alex Chilton", "Can't Hardly Wait", "The  Ledge", and "Skyway" are up there with the best of the best Replacements songs. "Valentine" is one of Westerberg's most overlooked gems. And even seeming throwaways like "Shooting Dirty Pool" remind us that The Replacements were still at heart a rock n' roll band. That, sadly, would not be the case on subsequent releases. But Pleased To Meet Me, like Tim before it, is an album that justifies The Replacements' standing as the great American band of their time.

So I suppose I should start working on my 1985 list next...unless I get sidetracked by another "challenge"!

-L.R.

1995 Revisited

These 20-year flashback posts are always a lot of fun, but this one has been especially enjoyable to prepare. 1995 was the year I got my start in the record-reviewing racket. And while my brief "retirement" circa 2008-2011 precludes me from truly saying I've been in the zine/blog game for 20 years, I feel a special nostalgia now that we're exactly two decades removed from 1995.

I came upon the punk world a little differently than the typical person. I grew up on classic rock and metal and did not, as a teen, have much awareness of any music outside of the mainstream. That very much changed in the wake of Nirvana mania, and the latter half of my college years were largely spent in vast explorations of this new and exciting world of indie/alternative/underground music. I read every alt-rock rag I could get my hands on and bought all kinds of new music without any regard for specific sub-genres. Some of it I liked, and a lot of it I didn't. And after a couple years of trial and error, it became obvious to me that the punk stuff was what really spoke to me. So much of what was passing for "alternative" music struck me as a little too high-brow or just simply not my taste. But punk rock was pure simplicity and excitement, and I just loved the way it mixed a primal aggression with catchy songs you could sing along with. I knew this was my music. And while I didn't particularly care for the offerings from the bigger punk labels like Epitaph and Fat Wreck, the underground pop-punk scene and nascent '77 punk revival were so exciting to me that I was inspired to start spreading the gospel via the printed word. These were exciting times to be a fan of punk music. You'd see an ad or a review in Maximumrocknroll, stuff some cash in an envelope, and wait by the mailbox for 2-3 weeks anticipating the arrival of your prize. There was never any guarantee that you were going to love every record you bought, but there was always that thrill in taking chances on bands and labels that were entirely unknown. As I look at my list below of the best punk rock records of 1995, I realize that I had not heard of most of these bands prior to that year. And it should also be noted that many of these bands became longtime favorites of mine. That's what I mean when I say that 1995 was my 1977. 

On to the list!

Top 12 Albums of 1995

12. The Loudmouths - self titled
Straight from the band bio: "In the hell for leather tradition of three-chord sleaze n' roll, The Loudmouths spit out angst-ridden, feline-charged power trash and booze-soaked thrash that taps into the energy of early '80s hardcore and leaves behind a trail of blown ears and broken beer bottles." Yeah, that pretty much sums it up! Two decades later, Dulcinea is still going strong with Midnite Snaxxx!

11. Green Day- Insomniac 
I always liked Green Day and never particularly cared whether they were "punk" or not. My first "big move" in the zine world was to make it clear that I did not side with the punk purists and anti major label zealots who made a sport out of bashing Green Day in the mid-'90s. My favorite Green Day albums are still the first three, but I'd put Insomniac in a dead heat with Nimrod for fourth. 

10. Trash Brats- The Joke's On You
The glam-punk thing was still a few years away from really catching on, but in 1995 the Trash Brats were already longtime fixtures in Detroit's rock n' roll underground. With its perfect marriage of Cheap Trick and the New York Dolls, The Joke's On You was perhaps five years ahead of its time (or maybe 18 years behind it!). Either way, this album is a true classic of its form. If "Downtown Nowhere" doesn't make you happy to be alive, there's probably no hope for you.

9. Riverdales- self titled
Say what you want about old Ben Weasel, but this album is a fine example of what Ramones-core is supposed to be.

8. Electric Frankenstein - The Time Is Now!
Electric Frankenstein was one of the bands most responsible for reviving "old school" punk in the mid-'90s. Released on the heels of several outstanding singles, this monster collection combined the aggressive guitars of Detroit rock and Aussie punk with the snarl and sleaze of bands like the Dead Boys. Over the years a lot of bands would come on the scene with their own blends of hard rock and punk, but nobody did it better than E.F.!

7. The Queers- Move Back Home
If it seems like The Queers put out a great album every year between 1993 and 1996, that's because they did! Absolutely the greatest pop-punk band of the '90s.

6. Boris The Sprinkler - Saucer To Saturn
Still the Boris album I'm most likely to listen to. Fave tracks: "I Wanna Get To Third Base With You" and "Superball Eyes".

5. Motards - Rock Kids
A true classic of down-and-dirty drunken garage punk awesomeness. Then, as now, Austin had it going on.

4. U.S. Bombs- Put Strength In The Final Blow
When I think about '90s punk rock and why it ruled, the Bombs are always one of the first bands to come to mind. They put their own So Cal spin on the classic '77 sound and consistently made great albums. I don't think they fully hit their stride until War Birth, but I do love the pure rawness of this debut LP.

3. The Muffs- Blonder And Blonder
In my personal experience, the debate as to whether the second Muffs album is better than the first Muffs album has led to many shouting matches and late night brawls. I still think the self-titled album is just a little bit better overall than Blonder And Blonder. That said, I will say that side one of Blonder And Blonder is as good as any album side I've ever heard. It still boggles my mind that this album was on a major label at the absolute peak of the alternative rock craze and still couldn't get a lick of radio support. What kind of clueless fucktard actually thought that Jars Of Clay or Dishwalla were more worthy of airplay than The Muffs? No wonder the "music revolution" failed!

2. Oblivians - Soul Food
Without question one of the most important and enduring artifacts of '90s garage punk, Soul Food managed to throw The Stooges, Sonics, and Killed By Death comps into a blender with the traditional sounds of Memphis to create a musical concoction unlike anything the world had ever heard. A masterpiece of wild and trashy rock n' roll.

1. Swingin' Utters - Streets Of San Francisco
The Utters in the mid-'90s were pegged as modern disciples of The Clash and Stiff Little Fingers, and to a certain extent that was true. But they were so much more than that. Their songwriting (largely by guitarist Darius Koski) took some influence from traditional American genres like folk and bluegrass. And lyrically, the band was surprisingly poetic for a group so often pigeonholed as "street" punk. In more recent years, the Utters have more overtly embraced the sounds of Americana. But circa Streets Of San Francisco, they were still incorporating the spirit of those influences into a straight-ahead punk rock sound. Streets Of San Francisco is fiery, passionate, and hands down one of the best punk LPs of the 1990s. 

Honorable mentions:
Beatnik Termites - Taste The Sand 
Gaunt - Yeah, Me Too
Zoinks! - Bad Move Space Cadet
Sicko - Chef Boyrudum

As good as the LPs were in '95, the EPs and singles are what I recall the most fondly. A top ten would be insufficient - so here's 20!

Top 20 Singles/EPs of 1995

20. Moral Crux/Boris The Sprinkler split 7"
19. Hormones- Cartographer Of Love
18. Parasites- Burnt Toast
17. Dead End Cruisers- The Suave The Distant The Gay The Scummy 
16. Connie Dungs- Missy And Johnny
15. The Invalids - Punker Than Me
14. The Queers- Surf Goddess
13. Vindictives- Alarm Clocks
12. Registrators- Monkey
11. Jake and the Stiffs - Spike  
10. Boris The Sprinkler- Drugs and Masturbation
9. Automatics - All The Kids Just Wanna Dance
8. Problematics - Blown Out
7. The Crumbs- I Fell In Love With An Alien Girl 
6. The Rip Offs - Go Away
5. Johnny Bravo- She's Walking Out Again
4. The Beltones - Lock And Load
3. Teengenerate - Out Of Sight
2. Nobodys - Politically Incorrect 
1. The Stitches - 8 x 12

Honorable Mentions:
Teen Idols/Mulligan Stu split 7"
The Rehabs- Here Come The Rehabs
Grieving Eucalyptus- Johnny Made Me Do It

Of course the above lists don't even begin to summarize the wide variety of punk music that came out in 1995. But they do give you an idea of what I was listening to in '95 and why I might have been inspired to start writing about music. I didn't really start getting into garage punk until a couple years later. But when it comes to the '77 and pop-punk stuff on these lists, I pretty much bought all of it when it was new. And if it seems my tastes haven't changed a whole lot in 20 years, I'd say that's very true!

-L.R.

The Top 13 Albums of 1994

Having traveled back to 2004 earlier this year, I now set my time machine for 20 years ago. For me personally, 1994 was a highly pivotal year. In '94, I got heavily into a lot of music that inspired me to start doing zines the very next year. I used to cite 1995-2000 as the golden age of the "punk rock revival". But once I started taking a closer look, I realized that 1993 was the definitive start of punk music getting really awesome again. And '94 kept things going strong. I bought quite a few of these releases when they were new, and they strongly influenced the type of music I would listen to and write about going forward. Others I came to love in later years as I continued to educate myself on the wonders of garage, punk, and power pop music. Sitting here dignified and old (ha ha), it's hard to believe that I was 22-23 years old when these albums were released. If you had told me back then that I'd still be listening to all this stuff 20 years later, I would have said you were nuts! I think that says a lot about the staying power of punk rock music. It also says a lot about how good these particular records are!

Alright! On to the list....

13. D Generation- self titled
Coming out as it did at the height of a zealous backlash against all things glam, this release was sadly misunderstood and poorly marketed. It was largely written off as some kind of hair metal thing, and D Generation's mix of Hanoi Rocks and the Dead Boys failed to connect with the alternative nation. The glossy production didn't help, and it was no surprise that the band re-recorded a lot of these songs when they made the much harder-edged No Lunch two years later. But this album is worth hearing just for songs like "Sins Of America", "Stealing Time", and "Feels Like Suicide".

12. Boris The Sprinkler- 8-Testicled Pogo Machine
Boris would go on to make better albums - but this one will always be my "sentimental favorite". I like that's it's all over the place in terms of musical style, and honestly it has really held up well over the years. If I were making an ultimate Boris mix, "Girls Like U", "She's Got A Lighter", and the classic "Drugs & Masturbation" would all be on it.

11. Sicko- You Can Feel The Love In This Room
When I think of the classic albums of '90s pop-punk, I almost always think of Lookout! Records. But here's one that wasn't on Lookout yet no doubt rates as one of the defining landmarks of the genre. Fast and lovably dorky tuneage, perfectly produced by Kurt Bloch. If hearing "The Sprinkler" doesn't brighten your day, I gotta wonder about you.

10. Moral Crux- I Was A Teenage Teenager
Moral Crux was one of the bands most responsible for getting me into the throwback '77 punk thing that became my niche in the late '90s. This band had The Clash's soul and Generation X's hooks. I Was A Teenage Teenager was the fourth Moral Crux LP - and one of its best!

9. Pink Lincolns- Suck & Bloat
Snotty three-chord punk rock par excellence from these criminally underrated Floridians.

8. The Humpers- Journey To The Center Of Your Wallet 
Do yourself a favor and buy everything this band ever recorded.

7. Queers- Beat Off
Man, these were the days when The Queers ruled the hardest! Seems like they were putting out a great record just about every year. Beat Off remains one of the band's classic albums. "Drop The Attitude Fucker", "Ben Weasel", and "All Screwed Up" are all-time favorites of mine.

6. The Figgs- Lo-Fi At Society High
Without a doubt, The Figgs have been one of the greatest live rock n' roll bands of the past 25 years, and they've had a long and fruitful career in the studio as well. But while I'd recommend just about anything this band has ever put its name on, this debut LP (they had two tapes prior to that) is where you have to start. Great power pop/alt rock with punky energy and clever lyrics channeling the angry young men of new wave. When I want to listen to The Figgs, this is the album I usually reach for.

5. Green Day - Dookie
Can you believe it's been 20 years since this album was released? It was fashionable to hate on it back then for entirely stupid reasons. But I loved it from the very first note, and still do to this day. If there's a holy trinity of '90s pop-punk albums, I put this album in it along with The Queers' Love Songs for the Retarded and Screeching Weasel's My Brain Hurts.

4. New Bomb Turks- Information Highway Revisited
The Turks, who released one of the greatest punk albums of all-time one year earlier, came right back with another sonic kick in the teeth. A classic in its own right!

3. The Waldos- Rent Party
The closest thing we'll ever get to a second Heartbreakers album. Hell, it might have actually been a slightly better record than L.A.M.F.! Produced by Andy Shernoff.  

2. Teengenerate - Get Action
Often imitated but never duplicated, this is the standard by which all trashy garage-punk is measured. 

1. Rip Offs - Got A Record
Let me tell you: it was a very tough call between #1 and #2. If I were to re-do this list in three months, it easily could end up the other way around. You're talking about arguably the two greatest garage punk albums ever made. But in the end, I kept going back to the songs. "Cops", "Zodiac", "She Said Yeah"...that's the stuff! Teengenerate might have been more sonically ferocious, but I give The Rip Offs the slight edge in the tunes department.

So, who did I forget?

-L.R.

The Ten Greatest Punk Albums of 1993

I love doing these anniversary lists! This year I've already listed my picks for the best punk albums of 1983 and 2003. Today we go back 20 years to 1993, and I've got to say this particular year was one for the ages. Nearly every album on this list is a classic! The whole '77 revival thing was still a year or two away from really taking off. But garage-punk, punk rock n' roll, and pop-punk were in their absolute days of glory. If you were still stuck on the alterna-grunge bandwagon back in '93, here's some of what you missed...

10. (tie) Fastbacks - Zucker  
Mr. T. Experience - Our Bodies Our Selves
You know it's a great year when these two legendary albums are holding tenth place! Zucker, in my opinion, is one of The Fastbacks' best albums. And amongst the highly impressive MTX back catalog, I've always had a soft spot for Our Bodies Our Selves. "Even Hitler Had A Girlfriend" is the best song Dr. Frank ever wrote.

9. Moral Crux - ...And Nothing But The Truth
I've never heard a Moral Crux album I didn't love. But this one I especially love. It contains some of the band's best songs - like "Beat of Despair", "Soldier Boy", and "Democracy (From the Barrel of a Gun)". Phenomenal pop-punk with political lyrics.

8. Bad Religion - Recipe For Hate
This was Bad Religion in its absolute prime, expanding on the streamlined melodicore of Generator with an album made to thrill and enlighten punk's rapidly growing audience. Accept no imitations.

7. Devil Dogs - Saturday Night Fever
Yeah, I know. It seems like a grave injustice that this is only #7. It's a tough field.

6. Screeching Weasel - Anthem For A New Tomorrow
Probably the last of the classic Screeching Weasel albums, Anthem is like a pop-punk panic attack. This is one of the albums that was instrumental in making me want to write about music. I still often catch myself singing along to "Falling Apart" in a mock Ben Weasel voice.

5. The Muffs - self titled
Still my favorite Muffs album by far. In almost any other year, this would have been #1.

4. Supercharger - Goes Way Out
The gold standard of lo-fi garage trash.

3. The Humpers - Positively Sick on 4th Street
Long before it was "cool" to play in the style of down-and-dirty '70s punk rock n' roll, The Humpers were doing it. And nobody ever did it better.

2. The Queers - Love Songs for the Retarded
With its seamless blend of snotty punk rippers, sappy songs about girls, and three-chord Ramonesy pop gems, Love Songs for the Retarded set the bar for '90s pop-punk. It would never be topped - not even by The Queers themselves! Pretty much every song is a classic.

1. New Bomb Turks - !!Destroy-Oh-Boy!!
Not just the punk album of the year, but also one of the greatest punk albums of all-time. Ohio always wins.

I always used to think that 1997 was THE year for '90s punk rock. But based on the above list, '93 appears to have the crown. It's not even close! Let the revisionist historians babble on about the "post Green Day punk explosion". The rest of us know that things had already been exploding for years.

-L.R.

My favorite punk bands, post 1980

Anytime I'm asked to name my all-time favorite punk bands, it really just ends up turning into a list of my favorite '70s punk bands. No doubt about it, '77-'79 is my era. Think about my favorite punk rock bands. Clash, Pistols, Ramones, SLF, Gen X, Buzzcocks, Dead Boys, Dickies, Undertones, X Ray Spex, Dictators, Pagans...every single one of those bands debuted in the '70s. Same for The Jam, The Boys, The Kids, Heartbreakers, Saints, Avengers, Eater, and Adverts. Or how about Lurkers, Sham 69, Slaughter and the Dogs, Ruts, Teenage Head, and Chelsea? I could do this all day. Am I that much of a dinosaur? Probably!

So I thought about it a little. What if I only included bands that didn't release their first record until 1980 or later? Could I even make such a list? Of course I could. And here it is! My all-time favorite punk bands, 1980 to present:

(In no particular order)

Adolescents
Granted, they've never topped or even equaled that first LP. But that first LP, in my humble opinion, is one of the ten greatest punk albums ever issued. When I think "classic" Southern California punk rock, this is always the band that comes to mind.

Descendents
I'm kind of cheating here, since The Descendents did put their first single out prior to 1980. But that was pre-Milo. And without Milo, it's not really The Descendents. Seriously: who doesn't love The Descendents?! Who among us hasn't worn out a cassette copy of Milo Goes To College as a punk rock rite of passage?

The Dogmatics 
'81-'86 would be one of my desert island discs. 

Moral Crux
Moral Crux was probably the band that first got me started on my '77 punk revival kick. As they say, the rest is history.

The Prostitutes
I've gone on record proclaiming The Prostitutes to be the greatest punk rock band of the '90s. I'll still stand by that.

Exploding Hearts
I put Guitar Romantic up there with almost any classic punk LP from back in the day.

The Queers
If Screeching Weasel was the best overall pop-punk band of the '90s, then The Queers' Love Songs for the Retarded was the best overall pop-punk album. I think that given what the pop-punk scene would later become, people sometimes forget how great it was when bands like The Queers were leading the way in the early to mid '90s. Joe King is one of the best songwriters the punk world has ever known. I love the early stuff with Wimpy as well.

Dimestore Haloes
This selection will surprise no one.  

Screeching Weasel
Some people are tempted to dislike Screeching Weasel purely based on all the terrible imitators they spawned. That's hardly fair. Say what you want about Ben Weasel, but you cannot deny that the guy is a brilliant songwriter. And at a time when punk music had largely lost touch with its roots, he was one of the main individuals responsible for getting it back on track. I don't think any punk band besides The Ramones has ever had a run better than Screeching Weasel circa '89-'94.

The Unlovables
Truly one of the greatest pop-punk bands of all-time. Hallie and the gang made two classic albums back in the 2000s, and you can hear both of them over at The Unlovables' Bandcamp. If you see a large bald man on the street singing "I Want A Boy" at the top of his lungs, say hello to me.

The Bobbyteens 
Of course I'm a huge fan of all things Tina Lucchesi. But I've especially got a soft spot for The Bobbyteens, who married lo-fi garage trash to power pop and the '60s girl group thing long before it was cool to do so. "Firecracker" is on all my short lists of the greatest rock n' roll songs ever. 

Zero Boys
I'd say the Zero Boys are my personal favorite of all the early '80s hardcore bands. And not just because they hailed from the Midwest! Unlike most of their contemporaries, their primary inspiration was '70s punk. They took the influence of the Ramones, Dictators, Pistols, etc. and combined it with a  raging intensity and the speed of light ethos of hardcore. Given this band's somewhat legendary status, it seems odd to say they should have been bigger. But I think you know what I mean.

Kidnappers
Funny how I went with The Kidnappers rather than some of the bands that influenced them (Teengenerate, Supercharger). These German lads were the next generation of the classic garage-punk sound, adding some serious power pop inflections to the mix. Their debut album put Alien Snatch Records on the map, and their second album was one of the last great Rip Off releases. Their most recent album, Will Protect You, was one of the first things I ever reviewed for this blog.

The Business
Classic English Oi! always hits the spot for me. It doesn't get more classic - or more English - than The Business!

So there you go. I sometimes do listen to music that's less than 35 years old! 

-L.R.

Top Twelve Albums of 2003!

Are you ready to feel really old?! All the albums listed below came out ten years ago. It seems like only yesterday that I was writing about these titles when they were brand new. I was 32. Now I'm about to turn 42. Where did the time go?!

Ah, 2003. It was the year of SARS, "Mission Accomplished", and freedom fries. LeBron James graduated from high school. Arnold Schwarzenegger became a governor. And I wrote a couple hundred record reviews. The "punk revival" of the late '90s/early 2000s had started to slow down. But there was still a lot of great punk/garage/power pop music coming out - much of it by new bands, some by (very) old bands. When I think back to the "glory days" of Now Wave Magazine, '03 was pretty much the peak. That was the year Brian "Bmo" Mosher and Vinny "Gimme Noise" Bratti came aboard my writing staff. People actually started reading my zine and sending me records. The likes of Dirtnap and Alien Snatch Records made the leap from up-and-coming labels to dominant forces in punk rock. And if you look at the list below, you can see it was one hell of a year to be writing about rock n' roll. Let us take a trip down memory lane! 

12. The Ends - Sorry XOXOXO
Probably the most underrated of all the Pelado Records groups. This is one of those bands I wish I had appreciated more in their time. They later put out an album on Dirtnap. 

11. Locomotions - self titled
Great garage punk rock n' roll from Sweden featuring Mr. Martin Savage. Remember "The American Fuse" and "Stockholm City Girls"? And they covered The Dogmatics?! Alien Snatch Records ruled '03. 

10. Buzzcocks - self titled
Yeah, this was the Buzzcocks album with the "weird" production. But of all their post-reunion LPs, this may have featured the strongest material.

9. The Spits- self titled
I think the Spits put out two self-titled LPs in 2003. Which one am I talking about here? Does it really matter?

8. Moral Crux - Pop Culture Assassins
The only band to make this list and my best of 1993 list that's coming out next month. And they're still alive and kicking! I've never heard a Moral Crux album I didn't like, but Pop Culture Assassins was a particularly inspired blast of politicized '77 pop/punk. 

7. The Minds - Plastic Girls
As I previously discussed in a post on the greatest Dirtnap albums, The Minds were the shit! 

6. Marked Men - self titled
Their debut album. How many of us forgot it came out on Rip Off Records?

5. The Briefs - Off the Charts
The long-awaited follow up to Hit After Hit, this album holds up fantastically well a decade later. "We Americans" and "Tear It In Two" are two of my favorite Briefs songs ever.

4. The Checkers - Make A Move
Remember Teenacide Records? The Checkers brought back the early '80s new wave pop thing a la Blondie/Josie Cotton, and they did it marvelously. A forgotten gem of Southern Californian power pop.

3. Star Spangles - Bazooka!!!
This came out on a major label?! Early Replacements meets Johnny Thunders with a touch of power pop. Supposedly they put out another album a few years later, but Gunther 8544 and I share a theory that that second album doesn't really exist. Either way, Bazooka!!! is a classic. 

2. The Ergs!- Dorkrockcorkrod
One of the greatest pop-punk albums ever made. 

1. Kidnappers - Ransom Notes & Telephone Calls
This was my album of the year selection back in 2003, and a decade later it still holds the #1 slot. Imagine a poppier, German Teengenerate. New album due out this year!

Honorable mentions:
Leg Hounds - Ready To Go, Dirt Bike Annie - Show Us Your Demons, Damone - From the Attic, Ruth's Hat - The Hitchhiker's Guide To Rock n' Roll

One of the reasons I like doing these lists is that I have no archives of the stuff we posted on the Now Wave site back in the day. So in some way, I'm preserving/documenting the NWM era. Given this situation, there are surely a few releases that I've totally forgotten about. And then when you remind me, I'll totally kick myself. Or maybe you've forgotten too. It has been ten years!

-L.R.

The F & L Hall of Fame: Moral Crux

It seems fitting that Moral Crux would be one of the first bands inducted into the F & L Hall of Fame. They along with the Spent Idols were one of two bands who kick-started my love affair with the ‘77 punk sound, which has spanned 17 years and counting. It was 1995, and I mail-ordered a copy of I Was A Teenage Teenager by Moral Crux after seeing it advertised in Maximum RocknRoll. It’s kind of a cliché thing to say, but my life would never be the same. It’s not quite accurate to call Moral Crux part of the ‘77 punk revival, as they’d actually been around since 1983. But getting into Moral Crux, Spent Idols, etc. really got me started on the path that would lead me to so many of the bands I’d later become associated with as a reviewer. Before there was the Dimestore Haloes or Stitches or Stiletto Boys or Dead End Cruisers, there was Moral Crux.

What I loved back then (and still do now) is that Moral Crux combined the best of two worlds. Musically they were classic ‘77 punk/pop driven by catchy melodies and actual singing. But lyrically, they had a political message and social conscience. It was as if Generation X and the Canadian Subhumans had a head-on collision at The Ramones’ practice pad. Being a typical recent college grad across-the-board liberal, I ate that stuff up. But today, as a middle-aged non-partisan, I appreciate Moral Crux even more. As it was with The Clash, the themes of Moral Crux’s music transcend youthful rebellion. One never gets “too old” to distrust institutions of power, stand up for the little guy, and question the so-called “truths” that comprise mainstream thinking. Sure: 90 percent of the time, “political” punk rock is lame. But when it’s done well, there’s nothing better. Moral Crux is one of the finest political punk bands there’s ever been, and pushing 30 years of existence the group is still going strong. Singer James T. Farris has been the band’s constant from the beginning, and along side longtime collaborator Jeff Jenkins on guitar he’s kept Moral Crux a vital force in underground punk. The band has done six full-length albums, and they’re all equally great, from the lo-fi, hardcore-flavored 1987 debut and ‘89’s The Side Effects of Thinking to the more polished pop-punk of Panic Button/Lookout issues Something More Dangerous and Pop Culture Assassins. This is a band that has never “reinvented” itself. This is a band that’s remained in its small town Washington state base for three decades, never relocating to the “big city”.

Moral Crux played a huge part in my zine writings over many years. An early print issue of Now Wave Magazine featured a full-page write-up on Something More Dangerous. I did a lengthy interview with James that appeared in Pat Grindstaff’s Rock N’ Roll Outbreak. Pop Culture Assassins was reviewed multiple times on the Now Wave web-zine in 2003. It’s a pleasure to write about Moral Crux again, and something tells me this won’t be the last time. The common thread with all great protest music, whether it’s Woody Guthrie, Stiff Little Fingers, or Midnight Oil, is that the message only resonates because the songs are great. The same is true about Moral Crux. Track down all their albums. You won’t be disappointed.






-L.R.

http://www.reverbnation.com/moralcruxofficial