Wednesday warriors! Can you believe that this will mark the 40th shitty playlist I have made for you guys? I certainly cannot, given my fear of commitment...oh, you don't think I am terrified of commitment? Just ask my wife, or the bank that holds the long-term mortgage on the house we live in. Anyway, this is gonna be extra fun. This week, we have a number of great tunes, including the likes of Kid Dynamite, Conflict, Local H, The Smiths, Vision and more.
Annnnd here is the web player link for all your doinkies.
Okie dokie, we're gonna kick off this week's gem-studded playlist with New Jersey hardcore band Vision's popular anthem, Close Minded. A good first on any list, this was the opening track for their 2000 album, Watching the World Burn. Vision's lead man Dave Franklin sadly passed away earlier this year, and was mourned publicly by many in the community, with tributes pouring in from friends and comrades like Sick of it All, Shai Halud, H20 and Agnostic Front.
Our second track is courtesy of indie band Archers of Loaf. Bred in the highlands of Asheville, NC, the Archers met in 1991 and produced four LPs and a handful of EPs up until 1998 when they decided to call it quits. Although Archers of Loaf got back together for a brief stint in the early '10s of this millennia, the band members are mostly focused on new and different projects, including forming a new band, Crooked Fingers, and filling in as live accompaniment for bands like Band of Horses and Analog Moon.
Diabolical is a jangly punk tune, which is not surprising given it was written and recorded by the old ass jangly motherfuckers of Rancid. Rancid is arguably the most important and influential punk act of the 1990s, leading the charge of that decade's punk renaissance. They also, along with bands like Green Day and The Offspring, exposed the genre to mainstream audiences with a ton of radio success. Diabolical is off Rancid's latest release, the 2014 studio album ...Honor is All We Know, which was their first record in over 5 years. Time for another, boys..
Up next is iconic 90s rock duo Local H's take on Wolf Like Me, originally written and performed by the rad dudes of TV On The Radio. Frankly, this cover isn't SUPER exciting...I don't think they do enough to differentiate from the original. That being said, they do add some Local H flavor to it, like Scott Lucas' brash vocals, a tom-driven, mirage-y feeling breakdown, and infusing that up-tempo 90s rock sound throughout. Besides, Wolf Like Me is such a great tune to begin with, why change it all that much?! Local H released this as part of their first covers-only EP, Local H's Awesome Mix Tape #1 (which also has a great Agent Orange cover on it!)
Throwing in a couple Kid Dynamite tracks from their self-titled because, well, they're just one of the best melodic hardcore bands to grace this little green and blue planet of ours (oh happy late Earth day by the way). Who does 'whoa whoa whoas' better than Jason?? No one, that's who. Kid Dynamite fact of the week - guitarist Dan Yemin, despite all his punk rock accomplishments, is also a professional child psychologist. So, like, if you have problems, and you're a kid - go get your head checked out by him.
Bigmouth Strikes Again! I think that The Smiths must be one of the first bands most think of when they think the 80s. The silky baritone notes and sarcastic lyrics of Morrissey, in cahoots with guitarist Johnny Marr's Fleetwood Mac-style strumming, sets the stage for this pop barrage of a song. Big Mouth Strikes Again was released as a single shortly before appearing on The Smiths' 3rd studio album, The Queen is Dead, which dropped in the summer of 1986.
We're going to close out this week's sparkling playlist with a track from The King Khan & the BBQ Show, a band which is about as farcical and raucous as their name would suggest. This Canadian duo is made up of ex-Shapeshits members Blacksnake (King Khan) and Mark Sultan (BBQ). Zombies is a really fun song off the weirdos' 2nd full-length, 2006's What's For Dinner? Enjoy.
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