I rarely review reissues. But within moments of discovering the 30th anniversary edition of Screeching Weasel's Anthem For A New Tomorrow in a Rum Bar Records care package, I knew I'd have much to say. It had been at least 25 years since I'd even played this album, yet these songs were so instantly familiar to me that it was like I'd just heard them yesterday. And my first impression was to think to myself, "My god, this album really holds up!"
It still seems impossible to me that 1993 was already 30 years ago. When you're the age I was when Anthem came out, you think music from just ten years prior is "old." Now I still think of this thirty year-old album as one of the bona fide classics of "modern" pop-punk. I'd go as far as to say this album was instrumental in spawning pop-punk as a genre onto itself. Some would argue that Green Day's Dookie in the following year was the real game-changer. But in my book, the last three decades of pop-punk largely trace back to two albums released in 1993: Anthem for a New Tomorrow and The Queers' Love Songs for the Retarded. These two very different records perfected the recipe, which has since been copied by literally hundreds of bands with varying degrees of success. As I listen again to Anthem, I'm struck by how influential it turned out to be. Just listen to Ben Weasel's snotty vocals, John Jughead's lead guitar style, and the Ramones-based chord progressions. Regardless of what you think of the countless imitators (and I like a lot of them), you'd have a hard time denying that the Weasel/Jughead/Vapid/Panic era of Screeching Weasel produced some of the greatest pop-punk ever made. And while the preceding efforts My Brain Hurts and Wiggle are also worthy of classic status, Anthem for a New Tomorrow was next level stuff. Re-reading the liner notes about sensory overload, the overmedicated masses, and the emptiness of modern existence, I'm struck by how prophetic Ben Weasel's vision was. And the music, while not quite as radical, was visionary in its own right. Anthem was the '90s answer to Wire's Pink Flag — a sprawling yet remarkably efficient expansion of the punk rock form. Why make a pop-punk record or a hardcore record or a Ramonescore record or a pure pop record or a modern punk record when you can put all of that on one album in a way that makes perfect sense?
In the wake of this latest reissue, I've heard a lot of people identify Anthem as Screeching Weasel's very best album. And I would absolutely concur. There are so many songs on this record that I'd describe as "classic Screeching Weasel," and none of them sound the same. "I'm Gonna Strangle You" is vintage "snotty" Screeching Weasel. "Falling Apart" is perhaps the band's finest pop song. "I, Robot" combines textbook Ramones worship with a critique of American society that's grown even more spot-on over the ensuing decades. "Totally" is a song you'd play for aliens to explain what pop-punk is. On the surface just a silly song poking fun at a sitcom episode, "Peter Brady" dispenses a valuable and now-more-than-ever relevant lesson about bullying and human cruelty as facts of life. "Claire Monet," a thoughtful meditation on how one can be the epitome of cool one day and boring & ordinary the next, hits me way harder in my 50s than it did in my 20s. The lovely instrumental "Talk to Me Summer" has always been one of the songs I most closely associate with this album, and it remains a standout. It inserts two minutes of serenity into an album otherwise designed to simulate a panic attack. And yet it does not sound out of place.
Remixed by Mike Kennerty and mastered by Justin Perkins, this 30th anniversary reissue of Anthem For A New Tomorrow is a joint venture between Monona Music and Rum Bar Records. If at some point over the last 30 years, you ended up selling off your Screeching Weasel albums, this one is definitely worth re-purchasing and experiencing anew. If you never bought this album because you had it in your head that you hated pop-punk, this release just might turn you to the dark side. Or if you're like me and have forgotten how good this album was, listening to this reissue will be like reconnecting with an old friend. Screeching Weasel in the early '90s was perhaps the most critical band in making me want to write about music (you have them to blame, ha ha). Listening to Anthem for a New Tomorrow today, I can hear what twentysomething me was so excited about. But I think fiftysomething me has a far greater understanding of what makes this such a remarkable record. And isn't it wild that the CD is only $13— no more than what you would have paid in 1993? Anthem for a New Tomorrow is one of those albums that just sounds like the '90s. Push play, and it's like you're hopping on a time machine. But nostalgia aside, it's one of the greatest albums of its kind ever made. If you love pop-punk, this is one of those releases you need to own.
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