Someone has to say it: A lot of things from the ‘90s just don’t hold up by today’s morally complete standards. Except of course for skate punk, which is a tiny little mini-genre that was the bridge between hardcore and pop punk. Somehow, after all these years, skate punk still sounds and looks fresh. That being said, here are the top 30 skate punk songs from the 1990s that aged way better than anything else to come out of that decade. (Listen to the playlist while you set up your new World Industries deck with a Flameboy graphic that’s 7.67″ wide)
30. Good Riddance “Weight of the World” (1996)
A lot of fashion from this decade just doesn’t stand the test of time. There are simply too many trends to name here. However, if you wore Vans, had a Jonathan Taylor Thomas haircut, and listened to Good Riddance: Congratulations, you made it through with limited embarrassing photos.
29. Diesel Boy “Titty Twister” (1996)
“The Net,” “Hackers,” “The Lawnmower Man.” Movies about computers, the internet, and the cyber world in general just look like crap today. It’s like they had no idea that technology would one day evolve into big tech and social media giants controlling and forcing us to look at a six-inch phone screen all day in between looking at our 50-inch TV screens at home and 16-inch laptop screens at work. Luckily, you can play Diesel Boy on all these.
28. Ten Foot Pole “My Wall” (1994)
In 1995, if you wanted to have a full-on discussion with your friend about Ten Foot Pole or bands on Epitaph Records you had to use something called a landline phone. Not only that, you had to remain in your house to use this device that didn’t even have TikTok on it. This is the stuff of nostalgic nightmares.
27. No Use For a Name “Justified Black Eye” (1995)
Not to mention, you actually had to write down your friends’ phone numbers on a piece of paper or, worse yet, memorize them. That is not what your brain is for. It’s for consuming skate punk bands like No Use For a Name and that’s it.
26. Guttermouth “End on 9” (1994)
If you wanted to research anything, you had to physically show up at a location called a library and touch a book. Gross. My iPhone 5 has all the information you need, like that Guttermouth is from California. Do libraries even have a Wikipedia section?
25. Frenzal Rhomb “Punch in the Face” (1996)
In 1999, Budweiser launched a marketing campaign that featured a bunch of dudes saying “whassup?” to each other over the phone. People across the nation started to mimic it instead of listening to Frenzal Rhomb. This trend lasted seemingly years and could still be heard today from the most out-of-touch uncles out there. This is the actual reason conservatives should’ve boycotted Anheuser-Busch products.
24. Satanic Surfers “Worn Out Words” (1999)
In the ‘90s, the internet literally came through your landline phone. You had to manually dial it up and it would make a bunch of weird beeps and boops before finally connecting you to your favorite Satanic Surfers chat room. It was a different time back before the internet was all around us, in our pockets, and slowly rotting us from the inside out.
23. Unwritten Law “Obsession” (1994)
Try making a Spotify playlist with an Unwritten Law song in the ‘90s. Almost impossible. You had to painstakingly tape a cassette from another cassette by pressing physical buttons on a stereo. Dragging and dropping was just not in the cards back then.
22. Hi-Standard “My Sweet Dog” (1997)
But then again, you also had CDs. Oftentimes, you couldn’t test out the compact disc before buying them. As a result, a lot of people had unwanted Spin Doctors CDs because they kind of liked “Two Princes” before listening further and slowly realizing they wasted 25 bucks at Borders Books. Luckily, you were fine if you bought any Hi-Standard or skate punk CD.
21. Me First and the Gimme Gimmes “Country Roads” (1996)
Remember Alanis Morrissette’s “Ironic”? That aged just fine. But the people that were like, “Well, actually, that’s not what irony means” aged like shit. Thankfully they’re all dead today. I don’t think these kinds of people could’ve handled Me First and the Gimme Gimmes covering this track.
20. Tilt “Old Skool Pig” (1998)
At some point, a bunch of financial nerds wanted to invest in a small stuffed toy known as Beanie Babies. They thought for sure it would make them millionaires. Clearly they were wrong. Instead, they should’ve invested their time listening to Tilt and other Fat Wreck Chords bands. You would’ve come out just as broke in the end.
19. Gob “Soda” (1995)
Let’s face it, the pinnacle of CGI entertainment back then was something known as “Dancing Baby,” which was a 3D-rendered, diaper-wearing infant cha-chaing to the beat of “Hooked on a Feeling.” Sure, the digital effects in “Jurassic Park” still look sick, but we cannot ignore the damage this baby did to computer-generated graphics for years to come. Gob still rules though.
18. The Offspring “All I Want” (1997)
The Offspring’s “All I Want” had an accompanying music video that they occasionally played on MTV. As we all know, MTV no longer plays music videos because they wanted to give Rob Dyrdek a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week time slot. Clearly, MTV didn’t age well because there is simply no way to watch this music video or Pauly Shore nowadays.
17. Screeching Weasel “Slogans” (1991)
Anyone remember baseball? In the ‘90s major league players used steroids to hit balls really far. People lost their shit every time a dude with veiny forearms cranked a homer. As a result, the MLB commissioner said none of these players are allowed in the hall of fame. I guess homeruns did not age well. Screeching Weasel isn’t in any hall of fame either. Crock of shit.
16. Propaghandi “…And We Thought That Nation-States Were a Bad Idea” (1996)
The political skate punk band Propaghandi takes a lot of stands for worthy causes. Back in the ’90s the he Vice President was Al Gore and his wife Tipper took a stand against “offensive” music and formed the PMRC, who tried to ban a bunch of songs, like a Mötley Crüe one. Banning hair metal isn’t the worst idea, but not because your wiener kid can’t handle it.
It’s mainly on this list as cocky fanboy proof that we’re aware of their pre-”Malice” music. In the Napster/Limewire days, leaked tracks like “Lie Captive” and an early version of “The Year Summer Ended in June” were our introduction to the band (and we were hooked.) Adding the name “Jordo” on the “Malice” version made it more personal and all the more real that Jesse had just been through some serious shit. In those early metalcore days, it was such a relief to see that normal dudes in black T’s didn’t need masks or rap infusions to make wildly hard tunes. It’s honestly better than many metalcore bands’ full length albums, and possibly the coolest thing about it is that, in the name of progress, a bunch of great music was left behind and not just recorded for “Malice.” This EP had talent way beyond their years, and passion and hunger that was like, “Yo, Ferret, sign us right now!” And Ferret was all like, “Oh fuck yeah, you metalcore savants.”
On the surface, it’s classic Karl-era Misery Signals. We were thrilled to get a new album that sounded a lot like “Controller.” All the things they’re known for are showcased so well, but those pesky behind-the-scenes rifts seeped in a little. Damn that human element! Some lyrics even kind of sound like, “We might be done here, right fellas?” There really are some fucking great tunes though. The soulful guitars are basically solos as riffs, and while other bands shoehorn in a violin or cello just to say “We’re growing as artists,” Mis Sigs does it right. You can tell a ton of time and effort went into it. It’s crisp as hell. Closing it out with the goosebump-enducing vocals of Fredua Boakye was a stroke of genius. “Everything Will Rust” sends chills every single time. Overall, it’s a solid album start to finish, but the fact that they barely toured it (and broke up after it) makes us think that they’d have it at this spot too.
Jesse’s back! And news of a new Misery Signals album gave us something to look forward to during that whole pandemic hoopla. When we finally got to hear it, we were treated to banger after banger off the top. Those first 3 tracks are as good an “opening 3 tracks” as you can get. Just hard and intense and everything we love about them. The instrumentals were tough-as-nails hardcore and we instantly remembered what a profound lyricist Jesse is. Every song has these, “Damn, I know exactly what you mean, dude” moments. We then get a few “middle of the album” tracks (if you know what we mean), but they bookend it with a few absolute killers to leave us wanting more. Hear that, fellas?! We want more! This O.G lineup does follow up “Malice” nicely. It has some really heartfelt, personal themes that really hit home. Sadly, it’s 16 years later and we’re 16 years older. If this exact album dropped when we were impressionable teens, it might’ve very well been our “Malice.” As we’ve seen on Reddit, this was some youngins’ first taste of the band, and they’re now going back over the discography. Lucky little bastards.
A few dummies have labeled it a “sophomore slump,” but really it’s the best possible album that could’ve been made after they had to swap one Canadian vocalist for another. What’s in the metalcore frontman waters in Canada? Maybe behind all that politeness is repressed rage to unleash on the ‘Mericans. It’s no sophomore slump. It’s a new frontman plus the band’s want to experiment a bit more than dummies may have wanted. Sit your middle-aged ass in a La-Z-boy with a neat glass of bourbon and appreciate the start-to-finish experience they want you to have! Yes, Karl had quite the task of connecting with existing fans who loved Jesse. But he brought more of a tough-guy bellow for that “hell yeah” stank face, and a whole different set of personal themes that we got behind for sure. Kicking off the album with “Face Yourself” and “The Failsafe” could send you into fucking battle. As devil’s advocate for the dummies, the very experimental midsection did lack crowd-pleasing breakdowns and anthems we were dying for at the live show. “Anchor” is a straight up banger that is honestly one of our all time favorite tracks. And the clean singing on “One Day I’ll Stay Home” is fucking sick, so back off, dummies!
Sorry. We also hate ourselves for putting the number 2 beside this album, so we’ll just nod along to the hateful comments, thinking, “Yep, you all make great hateful points, and you’re right we should jump off a bridge.” It’s a bonafide #1 on many “Best Metalcore Albums” lists, and was possibly even your gateway into metalcore. It was a perfect storm of the band’s hunger, youthful energy, love of brutally heavy music, and solidarity after a tragic event. We all marvel at the singular piece of art that is “The Year Summer Ended in June,” even though “Five Years” is our favorite Mis Sigs track. It might possibly be the best song of all time. When we heard the soft instrumental bliss of “Worlds and Dreams” smack dab in the middle of the brutality, we (and every band that followed) knew that this genre had so much more to offer. Going directly into a track called “Murder” is the perfect example that metalcore was somehow too soft and too hard for your average metalhead at the time. And these guys were only in their early 20s! Guitar virtuoso and creative force Ryan Morgan composed songs that seasoned vets can only dream of! And his younger brother Branden just happened to be a world class drummer?! An embarrassment of riches in the Morgan household. While we’re at it, Stu and Kyle are never just strumming along. Their technicality and noodlings in and around Ryan’s lead is what fills the space and sets the band apart. Jesse’s emotional maturity was second to none. He openly discusses what the rest of us would finally spew in one big trauma-dump of a therapy session in our 40s. It’s commendable.
If you think this is simply a choice of Karl over Jesse, you’re not taking the growth of four other members into consideration. What, are you all frontmen or something? There are few albums in existence where you think “well, that was clearly the single” after every fucking song. It’s anthem after anthem of heartfelt classics that you can go to war to or hug it out with a good pal to. We have a theory as to why this album is Misery Signals and the metalcore genre as a whole at its very best. Maybe they thought, “Hey gang, we can still be our progressive “Mirrors” selves on complete crowd-pleasing “Malice” type bangers!” It’s almost as if “Malice” plus “Mirrors” equals “Controller,” if that makes any sense. “A Certain Death” is a masterpiece and one of (if not the) biggest Misery Signals hits for good reason. And Karl’s singing is shockingly great. Every song has epic lyrics we all want to scream along to, crunchy time-altering riffs that keep our head-bangs guessing, and soulful “Worlds and Dreams” type noodlings that would give B.B King that guitar solo stank face. Karl’s cavernous diaphragm on top of those full-bodied instrumentals just permeates through our entire bodies. Crank it in the car… Jesus Christ. It’s such a thick, hearty, and satiating album that we feel a few pounds heavier after a full once-over. We could go on and on, but we gotta go crank it in our car on our way to finally tell off our dad.
