15. 88 Fingers Louie “Newspaper” (1998)
In the ‘90s, people would straight up call things “gay” or use the “R” word as a conversation starter. Vocabulary was limited back then and therapy hadn’t been invented yet, so no one knew how to interact with each other. On the other hand, whatever this opening bass riff is doing will probably hold up until climate change engulfs us all. The climate was also another thing that didn’t age well.
14. Pulley “Cashed In” (1996)
You may remember this one from one of the several dozen “Punk-O-Rama” compilations that came out in this decade. Skate punk compilations like these will probably never come back, which is a shame because they aged so well. I guess we’ll just have to succumb to Spotify’s algorithmic “Made For You” Daily Mixes and pretend they are assembled by an actual person who cares about music.
13. Descendents “Coffee Mug” (1996)
There was a certain sophistication to ‘90s skate punk. For instance, all you needed was 30 seconds for a fulfilling entertainment experience, like this Descendents track. On the other hand, “Titanic” (1997) was over three hours long. At least Descendents had the decency to respect our time, unlike that time-sucker James Cameron.
12. Goldfinger “Question” (1998)
Let’s take a quick moment to discuss something that actually aged like a fine skate punk song. That is, of course, this Goldfinger track. Also, every song on this list. And Mario Kart. But that’s it. Nothing more.
11. The Vandals “Let the Bad Times Roll” (1995)
There was a period of time where, as a society, if you wanted to listen to a song, you’d have to open up a binder of CDs, shuffle through 30 pages of unalphabetized compact discs, put a physical circle into a stereo, and manually skip songs until you found the one you wanted. Thankfully, we no longer have to do that for Vandals music because of streaming services. All it took was not compensating musicians fairly for their work.
10. Pennywise “Homesick” (1993)
To talk about ‘90s skate punk and not mention Pennywise would be like discussing comedy movies from that decade and glossing over the rampant homophobic, fatphobic, and trans jokes. These didn’t age well, and someone should probably tell the conservative-leaning comedians of today.
9. Blink-182 “Carousel” (1995)
Like Blink-182, Kid Rock also became big in the ‘90s. He had a song called “Bawitdaba,” 99% of which is just the lyric, “Bawitdaba, da bang, da dang diggy diggy diggy, said the boogie, said up jump the boogie.” Clearly, any adoration you had for this decade should solely belong to skate punk and nothing else.
8. Bad Religion “American Jesus” (1993)
Artificial intelligence used to be badass as hell back then. For example, you had “Terminator 2” showing how murderous it could be in a fictional world. However, now it seems AI is all about taking our jobs. It doesn’t yet know that having a career and forcibly participating in capitalism aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. No one knows this better than Bad Religion. And please don’t murder me, Dell computer.
7. MxPx “Punk Rawk Show” (1995)
There are no less than 1,000 articles about how the show “Friends” doesn’t hold up today. But we never have a conversation about how the show’s theme song is hot garbage. Things might’ve been different if MxPx wrote the opener.
6. The Bouncing Souls “Lamar Vannoy” (1995)
Speaking of “Friends,” songs about your alcoholic best buds named Lamar are always going to get better with time. This is mainly why “Friends” didn’t age well. Not enough people getting blackout drunk on the show.
5. NOFX “Linoleum” (1994)
The height of novelty products came in the form of Big Mouth Billy Bass, which was an animatronic fish that sang popular songs like “Don’t Worry Be Happy.” Did this age poorly? Yes. Mainly because it didn’t do any renditions of any skate punk songs like “Linoleum.” Piece of crap.
4. Strung Out “Too Close to See” (1998)
You know what always ages well? Two guitar solos at the same time and technically precise bands like Strung Out. The same can’t be said about video game graphics of the era. That’s why, to this day, no one plays video games and everyone listens to skate punk.
3. Millencolin “Bullion” (1996)
Millencolin made some extremely likable music during this time and still do now. But if anyone ever used the phrase “gettin’ jiggy with it” right before putting this band on, we might be talking about this band the way we discuss Mark McGrath’s frosted tips.
2. Lagwagon “May 16” (1998)
When you write an opening guitar riff that makes you feel like you are ascending into another plane of skate punk existence that allows Lagwagon t-shirts and jeans at a formal function, you just know it’s only going to get better as the decades roll on by. Unlike Zack Morris.
1. Face to Face “Disconnected” (1992)
Nothing in the ‘90s had more staying power than Face to Face and their skate punk peers. Besides, have you heard any of the other tracks from this decade? Something called Chumbawamba was once considered acceptable. But was “Tubthumping” good or was it just stuck in everyone’s heads for three or four years? We may never know. But now that we have distance from the decade, it’s clear “Disconnected” is superior.
Listen to the full playlist:
Continue Reading:
1 2