I know some people consider listicles to be the lowest form of online publishing, but Jay and I are not doing this for the purposes of generating clicks with hot takes. We wanted to reflect on some bands we've been listening to for 25-35 years that you might A) fondly remember, B) vaguely remember, or C) never have heard before. I'm not saying these are my ten favorite or the ten "greatest" or the ten most influential '90s punk bands. But these are the bands I'd tell you to check out first if you wanted to know why the punk rock music of that decade was so important to me. And I hope that some of you will check out some of these bands and like what you hear. I'm purposely leaving out certain bands like The Humpers, Beat Angels, and Bobbyteens that I would not become huge fans of until the early 2000s. I really wanted to focus on the bands I was digging in real time in the '90s.
Given that the combined number of extraterrestrials and Gen Z punk rock enthusiasts who read this blog is probably not much larger than zero, it's likely that this article is mainly an exercise in preaching to the choir. But, hey! Anything I can do to get people thinking and talking about '90s punk rock is a worthy endeavor.
Here we go (in no particular order)!
The Stitches
Jay and I have not revealed any of our selections to each other, but I know The Stitches will be on his list as well. If you were into throwback old school punk rock any time from the mid-to-late '90s, a new Stitches release was always a major, highly celebrated event. At the time, The Stitches may have been dismissed by some as '77 punk copyists. But to me, they helped define a new era of punk rock — one that took inspiration from the past but still felt like something new and different. The Stitches were a force of nature, and I'd put Michael Lohrman up there with the greatest punk vocalists of any era. By the time they finally got a proper album out the door in 2002, they had changed quite a bit stylistically. But their singles (later compiled on the Unzip My Baby LP) and their 8 x 12 EP are rightfully the stuff of legend. All those classic tracks still explode out of the speakers!
The Prostitutes
Obviously this is a band I've been championing from day one. After The Prostitutes imploded in 1998, Kevin McGovern rebooted the band numerous times with numerous different lineups in numerous locations, finally retiring the brand in 2022 with the release of the "last two" digital single. For the purposes of this feature, I'm focusing on the original iteration of The Prostitutes, which released the singles "Get Me Sick," "Living Wreck," and "Twenty-Two" plus the full-length album Can't Teach Kids Responsibility. When it comes to snotty punk rock with a genuine air of danger and post-adolescent rage, it simply doesn't get any better than this band. If you could buy only one punk collection from the '90s, I would urge you to go with The Prostitutes' Complete Recordings 1995-98.
Loli and the Chones
If I could name the single most essential punk rock album of the '90s, it would be P.S. We Hate You by Loli and the Chones. That record is punk rock perfection. Marrying the Angry Samoans and the Ramones to the budget rock ethos of the times, this trio took the idea of snotty, hate-fueled punk and somehow made it catchier and more fun than ever. A follow-up titled Total Fucking Genocide was pretty great as well and certainly lived up to its title!
Moral Crux
Like a lot of people, I first heard Moral Crux on the Lookout! Records Punk USA compilation. The band had been going strong since the '80s but seemed to really hit its stride in the '90s with the albums ...And Nothing But The Truth, I Was a Teenage Teenager, and Something More Dangerous. I cannot emphasize enough how important this band was to me — not just because of its urgent, politically-minded punk-pop anthems but also because of its influence on my punk rock education. Moral Crux was one of a couple of bands (along with Boris the Sprinkler) that was my gateway to first wave punk — to this day, my favorite music of my entire life. Some people may have found it odd that a band that a band so closely tied to the '90s pop-punk scene was writing songs about revolution, resistance, and the rejection of the status quo. But the magic of this band was that it demonstrated that punk music could have a message and melody. Political punk rock could make you think and inspire you to act and still be enjoyable to listen to. Seriously: why bother writing anthems if they're not going to be catchy?
The Muffs
Whether or not The Muffs qualified as a "punk" band is a matter of debate for the sort of people who love to debate about musical genres. I am not that sort of person. The Muffs were punk rock to me and also on my personal Mt. Rushmore of bands. Hearing them for the first time after their first album came out was a game-changer for me. If not a "pop-punk" band per se, they were certainly poppy and punky and the absolute antithesis of the miserable, overly serious rock music that was all the rage in the '90s. I loved their first two major label releases and could never figure out how why weren't massive commercial successes. But as I've re-explored their catalog this year, I've found that the less polished, more simply produced Happy Birthday To Me and Alert Today Alive Tomorrow sound even better to me now than they did back then. Kim Shattuck is remembered as perhaps the greatest screamer in all of rock 'n' roll, and that she was. But she was also a superb songwriter with a remarkable ear for melody and quite a flair for smart, often hilariously scathing lyrics. The world is far less awesome without her in it.
Dimestore Haloes
If you go way back with me, you know this was my band in the '90s. I took some flack (and deservedly so) for how fervently I sang this band's praises. Restraint was certainly not my forte in those days. But when I go back and listen to all those records and ask myself if I still love them, the answer is a resounding yes. Here was a band throwing the best parts of '77-style punk and early American rock 'n' roll into a blender with a splash of glam culture and a dash of beat literature. You still can't convince me that Thrill City Crime Control wasn't one of the best punk rock albums of the '90s. I still frequently blast the hell out of Revolt Into Style and Long Ride To Nowhere. Didn't I once predict I'd still be listening to these records 25 years later? Ha, I was low on my estimate!
Stiletto Boys
The Stiletto Boys were something remarkable in their day — a band with the edge and the snarl of the Dead Boys, the furious power of Radio Birdman, and the pure melodic joy of The Dickies. Their first EP 8-Track was one of the best 7-inch records of the decade. And from the raw attack of that debut, the band continued to refine its craft without ever going soft. The full-length albums Rockets And Bombs (1999) and Buzzbomb Sounds (aka A Company Of Wolves) (2000) still hit as hard as ever and serve as shining examples of what killer melodic punk rock ought to sound like. I would recommend starting with the compilation album When Wolves Emerge and working your way through the catalog, taking it all the way through 2013's overlooked masterpiece Liberator. RIP Sean Wolfe.
The Beltones
While their recorded output was limited to just a few releases, The Beltones in my book rate as a legendary punk rock band. Bill McFadden was absolutely the most underrated and underappreciated punk rock songwriter of his generation. He went deeper than almost all his peers, writing about things like battling trauma and wrestling with personal demons with a wisdom and honesty that was truly extraordinary for such a young man. Reviewers frequently likened The Beltones to Stiff Little Fingers, but that was really only a small part of the band's appeal. This was gritty, real music with heart and guts, and for my money, "My Old Man" b/w "Fuck You Anyway" (Just Add Water Records) was the best punk rock single of the '90s. With TKO Records, the band would go on to release the classic mini-album On Deaf Ears and the superb full-length Cheap Trinkets. While The Beltones have remained active as a live band, they have not released music in 25 years. TKO recently gave Cheap Trinkets the reissue treatment, so this might be a good time to revisit The Beltones.
The Dead End Cruisers
How could I do a recollection of '90s punk rock and NOT talk about Deep Six Holiday, the fantastic debut album by Austin, Texas's mighty Dead End Cruisers? The Cruisers, a '77-style punk band with a real-deal British vocalist, added a touch of glam and straight-up rock 'n' roll influence into the mix. They were also amazing live. While this band was short-lived, its legacy was profound. Friday Nights, the EP that preceded Deep Six Holiday, was a classic in its own right. Neil Curran was a brilliant lyricist and immensely underrated songwriter, and it always bummed me out that this band didn't stick around longer.
Jake and the Stiffs
I often talk of bands deserving more attention, but the lack of recognition for Jake and the Stiffs was downright criminal. Seriously, there were several significant record labels in the '90s that should have been heavily fined for not signing these old school punk power pop sensations from The First State. Their singles collection is a $6 download from Bandcamp, and that's the most fun you could have for so little money without breaking federal and state laws.
So that's my stroll down memory lane. Be sure to check out Jay's companion post over at Shock Treatment!
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