If you are an older millennial who grew up in the suburbs, Epitaph’s Punk-O-Rama Compilations were your introduction to punk. Yes, they were. Your pre-teen ass wasn’t reading Maximum Rock-n-Roll and attending basement shows in the bad part of town. That foolishness may have flown with your equally full-of-shit college friends, but we’re not one of your little friends. Anywho, here’s our ranking of the Punk-O-Rama compilations that absolutely no one will have an issue with and threaten to doxx my family in the comments.
10. Punk-O-Rama Vol. 9 (2004)
This one is a bit confusing. I guess it’s just my fault for expecting a compilation called Punk-O-Rama to actually feature punk music and not just a random assortment of emo outfits, cringe white dudes rapping, and whoever was signed to Tim Armstrong’s label at the time. This was an hour of your life you will never get back if you’re foolish enough to actually listen to this entire thing.
Play it again: “Miss Take” by Horrorpops is a throwback to early punk bands like The Gun Club.
Skip it: “Burn in Hell” Error. Apparently Brokenycde was not available.
9. Punk-O-Rama 7 (2002)
Remember when you were in school when you were assigned a paper and had like three months to write it and it’s the night before it’s due and you haven’t written a word so you stay up the entire night to write and just pray you get a C when you turn it in? Well, here’s that in compilation album form.
Play it again: The Division of Laura Lee “Black City” is the only track that really remotely stands out.
Skip it: NOFX’s cover of “Olympia, WA.” No. Just no.
8. Punk-O-Rama Vol. 10 (2005)
Much like the beloved family dog that couldn’t really walk up the stairs or hear too well anymore, Epitaph put the Punk-o-Rama compilations out of their misery after this one. An improvement on the previous one, this one is still cursed by being punk in name only thanks to the heavy emphasis on metalcore, hip-hop, and emo. The mid-aughts were truly a terrible time. Thanks Myspace.
Play it again: “Shadowland” by the Youth Group is pretty good, though it’s more indie rock than punk.
Skip it: “Mixin’ Up Adjectives” by This is Me Smiling answers the question no one asked of what Jens Lekman covering the Hold Steady might sound like.
7. Punk-O-Rama 8 (2003)
After listening to “Punk-O-Rama 7” you might expect each subsequent compilation to get progressively worse. Fun fact: this was the first entry in the Punk-O-Rama series I hadn’t bought since I started buying them in ‘98. Though this one is definitely of its time though which can be either good or bad depending on your outlook of punk music circa 2003. (Which did not age well.)
Play it again: I listened to this one so you didn’t have to.
Skip it: Yes.
6. Punk-O-Rama Vol. 2 (1996)
Epitaph’s second compilation could’ve easily been referred to as their sloppy seconds, which per my more online friends is not a sexist term. While it added more artists including the Descendents and Millencolin that weren’t on the first, much like one’s sloppy seconds, this one is just kind of forgettable.
Play it again: No one’s going to call you poser for not having an encyclopedic knowledge of this one.
Skip it: Me First and the Gimme Gimmes “Only the Good Die Young.” And thus hundreds of Punk Goes…compilations were born.
5. Punk-O-Rama Vol. 6 (2001)
Sometimes it’s just best to quit while you’re ahead. This comp isn’t terrible, but then it has its fair share of duds and you get the sense that some of the bigger bands were just phoning it in due to a contractual obligation. A pre-conspiracy theory Exene Cervenka shows up to do a cover of “We’re Desperate” with Pennywise so it’s got that going for it.
Play it again: “Only Lovers Left Alive” by the International what the hell they were calling themselves on this one.
Skip it: “Strangled” by Osker. Even emo kids thought this one was too on the nose.
4. Punk-O-Rama (1994)
This is the only comp in the series to feature the Offspring before they signed with Columbia and that seemingly gave record stores such as Sam Goody and FYE an excuse to charge $20 for this the fucking thing while still keeping the ‘dirt cheap’ sticker on it. Of course, they’re out of business now, so guess we had the last laugh. But strangely we still yearn for the days when we got gouged on physical media at the mall.
Play it again: “Crack in the Universe” by Wayne Kramer. If you don’t know who this is, you should not be reading this website.
Skip it: None of the tracks are skippable, but a few bands have more than one track on this one which is a big no-no when making a compilation.
3. Punk-O-Rama Vol. III (1998)
With a little bit of everything under the punk umbrella circa 1998 (so, yes, there’s ska) this compilation could be the Golden Corral of the Punk-O-Rama collections. Though unlike Golden Corral, this won’t leave you spending the remainder of the evening with the trots.
Play it again: “World’s on Heroin” a jaunty punk ditty with a not-so-jaunty title.
Skip it: “Delinquent Song” Voodoo Glow Skulls. The lone ska song on this one just feels out of place.
2. Punk-O-Rama 4: Straight Outta The Pit (1999)
Stylistically and quality-wise on par with Punk-O-Rama III. What gives this comp the edge is its inclusion of Tom Waits and Refused. And if you’re going to get into a whole ‘Tom Waits isn’t punk’ argument with me, you can kick rocks. Being a pedantic nerd is for posers and accountants.
Play it again: “Don’t Panic” by Gas Huffer because I’m a slut for garage punk.
Skip it: You’d be doing yourself a disservice if you don’t listen to this one in its entirety. Even the ska track slaps.
Punk-O-Rama #5 (2000)
Am I making this one number one because it features The Hives before they got big? Maybe. I mean, what other compilation featuring some kick-ass tracks by Millencolin, Dropkick Murphys, and The Bouncing Souls is going to teach you about the metric system? Well, maybe a Metric LP, but they’re not punk technically, and yes I understand that now I look like the pedantic nerd..
Play it again: Coinflip between “No Cigar” by Millencolin and “Automatic Teller” by New Bomb Turks.
Skip it: “Badge of Pride” by Pennywise. I can’t help but think Good Charlotte was listening to this one when they wrote “The Anthem.”