Saturday, November 15, 2025

The Rip Taylors - Negativity Bias


It seems I'm on quite the Mom's Basement Records kick right now, and why shouldn't I be? My roots in this whole underground punk rock universe are in pop-punk, and I just keep going back to this stuff. It's feeling like 1995 up in here! The Rip Taylors have one of the greatest band names of all-time, and their music is pretty dang good to boot. This Nashville-based trio plays snotty, ballsy pop-punk that isn't afraid to wear its love for Screeching Weasel and The Queers on its sleeve. I'm also reminded quite a bit of the heyday of Mutant Pop Records, and that's surely a positive checkmark in my book. Mikey Livid is on vocals and guitar, and he's backed by just about the most star-studded rhythm section you could imagine: Ryan Sweeney from Sweet Time Records is on drums, and the mighty Classic Pat is on bass. Lyrically, this is traditional pop-punk fare pulled off with a wink and a nod. Song titles like "I'm Not Stupid," "I Don't Know How to Be a Decent Person," "I Gotta Bad Attitude," and "I Don't Wanna Be Alone With You" make it clear that The Rip Taylors are not attempting rocket science. Every song title on the album begins with the pronoun "I," so it's not wrong to call this a concept album. And as Niek wrote, the sheer catchiness of these songs is at an A+ level. It takes some real smarts to make songs this dumb so utterly irresistible. 

When it comes to pop-punk, it's not the style that makes or breaks a band. It's the execution. And The Rip Taylors execute this style with energy, enthusiasm, and earworm hooks for days. Why let negativity get you down when you can harness it in such a satisfying way?

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