NOFX - "Pods and Gods" 7"

NOFX – “Pods and Gods” 7”

Fat Wreck Chords, 2000

Acquired: Fat Wreck Chords Mail Order, 2003

Price: $4

“Climb aboard the spaceship of nostalgia and explore the Cosmos of your 16-year old self.” I often think of my musical tastes in a Darwinian sense. When I was a little kid, I just listened to whatever my parents listened to but somewhere around 12 or so I got REALLY into oldies. It made me a primitive music lover and laid the groundwork for my affinity for hooks and catchy tunes. From there I retreated into the pond scum of nu metal only to emerge a couple years later in the blissful world of pop punk. I was pulled from the goo by Blink-182 and went from there. And then onto hardcore, and then onward and outward from there.

Pop Punk is routinely dismissed by many capital S Serious music aficionados but I never really stopped loving it. There’s something so delicious about that brattiness and the fun that is undeniably enjoyable. NOFX had a huge effect on me when I was 16. Their 18-minute long screed against modern America, The Decline, helped to shape my nascent political views in the brand new post-911 world. That coupled with a healthy dose of Jello Biafra spoken word caused the American Flag patch sewn to my hoodie to flip itself upside down. It’s all very dramatic, and kind of lame, but that’s how it really happened. It’s funny when people act like they’re born with good taste or sound political values, and it’s comforting to know that everyone was a dumb little asshole at some point.

ANYWAY, NOFX are old dudes now and they’re still acting like teenagers, which is wonderful. “Pods and Gods” is one of NOFX’s myriad excellent B-sides. It’s a solid, goofy jam that packs in a sneaky critique of religion that made my recovering Catholic teenage self do a little dance. “It’s not that I don’t believe in Jesus Christ/ It’s just I really don’t care,” Fat Mike sings. Totally. I ID. B-side “What’s the Matter With Parents Today” was one of my favorite tracks from Pump Up the Valuum. It chronicles the perils of a young person with frustratingly hip parents. “It’s absurd, you’re singing every word/ You’re not supposed to like my band/ Things I like you don’t understand!” It’s goofball rock, but the tune is catchy and well-written enough to avoid joke rock territory. Are NOFX joke rock? Who knows! And frankly, who cares if the group’s promotion of social justice and left wing politics converts some young idiots trapped in the pond scum.

"Pods and Gods"

Dillinger Four - Versus God

Dillinger Four – Versus God

Hopeless, 2000

Acquired: Mississippi Records, Used, 2013

Price: $4

 

One of my favorite places to eat in Minneapolis was Town Hall Tap. I always wanted to go to Town Hall Brewery, but it was downtown and I fucking hated going downtown. Not even for locally brewed beer. And then I found their little outpost taproom like ten blocks from our house and anytime Jenny couldn’t decide on what she wanted for dinner, I would just end up driving us over there. I highly recommend the fried chicken sandwich, it is unbelievable. So is their Masala Mama IPA. Plus all beers are served as 20 oz imperial pints and affordable. This weekend a lot of people asked us if we missed MPLS, and both Jenny and I shared the same response: “Not really. Just the food.” And the beer. And the fact that I lived in the same town that birthed Dillinger Four, one of my all-time favorite punk bands.

I equally hated going to Cedar Riverside, but I got a little chill every time I drove past the Triple Rock Social Club on my way to the Cedar or the colossal clinic we went to for our first prenatal visits. “That’s Eric from Dillinger Four’s bar!” I would tell Jenny and she would say “I don’t know what that means.” I’m sad I never attended a show there. Anyway, Dillinger Four are near and dear to my heart. I played their third album, Situationist Comedy, to death my last year of high school and I feel like my sarcastic brand of left wing politics was forged by the Versus God track “Let Them Eat Thomas Paine” (Tell me are the colors of the flag much prettier to see/ When viewed from the requisite comfort of the knees/ Were a loyal little chorus still singing out ‘please’/ I can’t understand/ Don’t tread on me” and “Where taxes paid is like a spade to a dog with a thrift store bone” are just a couple of my favorite lines). This is the shit that was vital. Eric Funk’s nasal vocals were about the most unsingery thing I had ever heard and Paddy’s gruff barking was the second most unsingery thing I had ever heard. And their vocal exchanges were just the fucking best. They still are. This is party music with a brain. Music to blare as society crumbles.

I read something on the Internet that said one’s musical/cultural taste is basically decided by the time they are 14 years old. That sounds like bullshit, but I can’t argue too much considering how much I still love the stuff I loved when I was 16, 17, 18. I have done very little “I loved that so much in high school” lately. You know, when you try to act like your tastes are so much more refined because you’re no longer listening to pop punk and The National is music for adults. I did that a lot in my mid-twenties, but now at the back half I’m settling into the shit I just fucking love unapologetically. Big, booming, bratty, hilarious punk rock in the case of D4, who’s brainy and comical Midwestern socially charged dogma is something I still very much adhere to. As they say on "How Many Punks Does it Take to Change a Lightbulb?", "I guess that the more things change the more they stay the same." 

"Let Them Eat Thomas Paine"

Neko Case - Furnace Room Lullabye

Neko Case – Furnace Room Lullabye

Mint/Bloodshot, 2000

Acquired: Kings Road Merch Mail Order, New, 2013

Price: $20

 

Furnace Room Lullabye isn’t my favorite Neko Case album, but it is definitely the one I’ve heard the most. It’s my wife’s favorite album, and we listen to it ALL THE TIME. At home, on trips, anytime the album is at hand, Jenny is apt to put it on and sing along. This is actually her album, anyway. I got it for her for our wedding anniversary (because Paper Anniversary is too easy if you work at a bookstore and I prefer a Vinyl Anniversary instead). My favorite album of Neko’s is Fox Confessor Brings the Flood (her new one, The Worse Things Get, The Harder IFight, The Harder I Fight, The More I Love You, is creeping up the ranks and may soon overtake Fox Confessor), and I think she is one of those artists who gets better album after album. Over the years she has matured from punk to alt-country chanteuse to maybe the most beloved and idolized female singer of this era. Her songwriting is better than just about anyone’s. Neko Case’s second album Furnace Room Lullabye (credited to Neko Case & Her Boyfriends) is her twangiest, but you can see the strict country vibe being outgrown. Just around the edges, because this one is still very much rooted in the genre even though Case’s pipes very clearly illustrate that she can do anything she fucking wants. Just watch her propel some of those New Pornographers songs into pop majesty or look at the a capella standout of her latest album, “Nearly Midnight, Honolulu.” Neko Case pretty much embodies the term unfuckwithable. I’ve never met someone who knew who she was and wasn’t a fan. Even though I don’t think Furnace Room Lullabye is the best distillation of Case’s talents, I still think “Set Out Running” is one of the most gut-punch great songs I’ve ever heard, and it’s the song that began my long courtship with Case in the first place. 

"Set Out Running"