[tws]

Okay, before I lunge into pleasant-memory zone, I have to start with some bad news. Strangeland Records is going out of business. It's a great store, though fairly specialized (metal/industrial/punk/smattering of indie) and in a less-than-great location. Strangeland is yet another casualty of this nationwide culling of independent record stores that's engulfed Orpheus (checkit) and others. Go to them, patronize the shit out of them to at the very least help these people alleviate their debts, and get some great items in the process. 

Anyway, I walked away this weekend with some great modern punk on vinyl, including albums by Pennywise, J Church, and a compilation of Odds n Ends by NOFX. One of the songs included on "45 or 46 Songs That Weren't Good Enough to Go on Our Other Records" was the multi-movement, ever catchy "We Threw Gasoline on the Fire and Now We Have Stumps for Arms and No Eyebrows." I remembered it was the opening track on the third Epitaph Records compilation, released in 1998. Curious, I went downstairs and pulled out the comp, and I'm revisiting it for the first time in years. It occurred to me that this disc is probably one of the single most influential albums I've ever bought. Well done, Epitaph! 1998 wasn't such a bad year after all.

Of the 25 tracks on here, a good portion of them were the first time I heard several bands that would go on to become favorites at some point. Here is the breakdown, and that track's influence.

1. NOFX - "WE THREW GASOLINE ON THE FIRE AND NOW WE HAVE STUMPS FOR ARMS AND NO EYEBROWS"  (Great). This song is a great way to kick off this comp, since NOFX were something of a flagship for a while. Fat Mike admitted in the "45 or 46" liner notes that he wrote it on the fly since Epitaph wanted a non-album song for the comp, which makes it even more strange to hear how clever it is.
2. DWARVES - "EVERYBODY'S GIRL" (Awesome)  The Dwarves were FUCKED UP. And still are, which is a credit to them. This song is fucking amazing, considering the three-part harmonies they pull out, and the fact that their subject matter isn't that far from the normal 'Blood, Guts and Pussy'-type stuff.
3. ALL - "WORLD'S ON HEROIN" (Great)  I love Chad Price's vocals, I don't think he wrote them, though. I think this was before I discovered the Descendents, but I ran out and bought All's 'Mass Nerder' for this song.
4. THE BOUNCING SOULS - "SAY ANYTHING" (Awesome, Most Influential Track on Here) YES! A little less than ten years ago, about junior year of high school, this band was the world to me, and this sampling off their S/T album started it all.
5. VOODOO GLOW SKULLS - "DELINQUENT SONG" (Awesome) VGS remain the single coolest band I've ever met, nicest guys in the world. This song is spectacular, really full-on kick you in the ass cali-punk with horns and some ska influence.
   
6. H20 - "EVERREADY" (Great) H20 are pretty much classic NYC-hardcore, but much more sweet than the Madballs out there.
   
7. STRAIGHT FACED - "GREEN MOTIVATES" (Crap) I've never listened to this song all the way through in the nearly ten years I've owned this CD.
8. ZEKE - "TELEPATH BOY" (Meh) 50 seconds of old school-sounding hardcore. Nothing special.
9. UNION 13 - "NEVER CONNECTED" (Okay) Notable for the fact that they're Chicano and sing most of their songs in Spanish, but other than that not spectacular or anything. They did an okay cover of Rancid's "Roots Radicals" en espanol.
10. AGNOSTIC FRONT - "GOTTA GO" (Good) I didn't realize these guys were legends until much, much later. Nothing really special about their late-90's output. CBGB's this is not.
11. NEW BOMB TURKS - "DEFILED" (Good)  Is that a mixed-down sax I hear?
12. THE CRAMPS - "HAULASS HYENA" (Okay)  This, along with any Cramps song I've heard, has failed to get me into the The Cramps. I know they're also legends, but maybe the fact that I never saw them live doesn't help. Psychobilly, am I right, people!?
    
13. RANCID - "RATS IN THE HALLWAY" (Good) The only Rancid album I don't own, before Lars Fredrickson (yes, the guy with the crazy hair) joined. They were still trying to figure out what the hell they were doing in the post-Operation Ivy wake. Tim Armstrong does rap, though.
14. THE HUMPERS - "STEEL-TOED SNEAKERS" (Meh) Kind of dumb, four guys who dress like the Ramones and play Oi!-esque songs about kicking the shit out of the proverbial you.
    
15. WAYNE KRAMER - "BAD SEED" (Okay)  Ah, the man who basically meshed punk rock together in some trailer park in Michigan about 40 years ago. "Kick Out the Jams," please.
16. GAS HUFFER - "ROTTEN EGG" (Great)  I've come thisclose to buying this album on vinyl at Orpheus, and probably will eventually. I love this song, but nothing about the band really stuck to me. Probably the most Ramones-sounding song on the comp, but more "Animal Boy"-era.
17. RED AUNTS - "POISON STEAK" (Meh) Girl-punk band sounding exactly the way people who don't like girl-punk bands assume they sound. Pass.
18. DOWN BY LAW - "NO EQUALIZER" (Good) A fine song, catchy enough, but still nothing that got me full-on into the band.
19. OSKER - "ALRIGHT" (Great)  I think this dude was 17 or 18 when he recorded this. A bit annoying but the chorus is impossible to not like.
    
20. TEN FOOT POLE - "A.D.D." (Great)  I didn't really get into TFP until I saw them with Voodoo Glow Skulls in the summer of 2002 at some skate park in Western MA. They were pretty great, genuinely good songwriting and driving rhythms. Nice guys, too.
    
21. MILLENCOLIN - "LOZIN' MUST" (Great) These guys are Swedish, and it shows in the first line. "When I am, who's the master of conversation!" Ja!
22. BAD RELIGION - "YOU" (Good) Deep breath, don bullet-proof vest...Bad Religion are over-rated. Run.
23. I AGAINST I - "ORDINARY FIGHT" (Meh)  I wish more bands that named themselves after their favorite band's song titles were better. Pretty Girls Make Graves are okay. What I'm waiting for is an awesome band named after a Simpsons reference.
    
24. PULLEY - "IF" (Okay) Enough time-signature changes to stay interesting, but pretty run of the mill.
    
25. PENNYWISE - "WAKE UP" (Good) PW are one of the few "if it ain't broke don't fix it" bands that I would defend on that circumstance. This song's not bad at all. But... yeah.

In conclusion, kudos to Epitaph for doing good things with the piles and piles of money that the Offspring earned for it then raped it out of. No, I think that was Green Day with Lookout! Records. Either way, the Offspring sucked but kept Epitaph with power and influence (very positive, in my case) for years. Just like Death Cab and Barsuk Records, Nirvana with Sub Pop. The 90's didn't suck at all. They just didn't know what the hell to do with themselves. Punk, for all of it's faults, really wasn't that bad back then, and I'm glad I latched onto it when I did.

Here's a conveniently placed Seeqpod with the 5 or 6 best tracks on here. Sorry about the Live "Say Anything," it's all they had. Still great, though.