How a piece of music is presented is, arguably, of even greater importance than the song itself. A great song can be amazing. But a great album is transcendent. A truly great album goes beyond the individual songs themselves, transforming a loose collection of music into a narrative that makes the whole become far greater than the sum of its parts. So you can call this mix “just a playlist of Taco Bell commercials” all you want, but it’s still the best punk comp anyone’s put together in years.
Taco Bell has managed to do what Fat Wreck Chords, Hellcat, Hopeless, and countless others have failed to do for well beyond the last decade: compile at least two good punk songs in a row. Well, “punk-adjacent” if we’re holding accountable some of the greatest alternative record labels of all time and also Taco Bell, which of course, we should.
Let’s get this out of the way. Yes, these are Taco Bell commercials. Yes, there are voiceovers. Yes, the songs are played in six-second snippets. But, again, this is still the best punk comp since Give ‘Em The Boot Volume 2.
But just listen to these songs! There’s that one by Turnstile that many consider to be the second-best rock song of 2023, behind Brandi Carlile’s mosh pit-inducing “Broken Horses” of course. That absolute banger is followed up by easycore revival’s “Meet Me at the Altar.” Plus the Taco Bell commercial is easily the best version of that song since it doesn’t have a trace of Fueled By Ramen’s “Hello, fellow kids” style of marketing.
After that, the playlist is mostly a compilation of the best Taco Bell commercials featuring that chihuahua from the 90s, any of which could easily double as an intro track on a NOFX record. Sure, it’s not as comprehensive as the punk comps we had growing up but at least with this playlist you don’t have to sludge through a slew of awful b-sides and side projects.